Marine Charged With 13 Civilian Murder Counts (Haditha)

MSNBC ^ | 12/21/06

[areafiftyone]

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - A Marine Corps squad leader was charged Thursday with 13 murder counts stemming from the killings of 24 civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha last year, his attorney said.

Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich was charged with 12 counts of murdering individuals and one count of murdering six people by ordering Marines under his charge to "shoot first and ask questions later" when they entered a house, according to charging sheets released by defense attorney Neal Puckett.

As many as eight Marines could be charged in the case, the biggest U.S. criminal case to emerge from the war in Iraq in terms of people killed.

The deaths occurred on Nov. 19, 2005.

Lawyers for two Marines already have said they expect their clients will be charged and it’s believed up to six others could join them.

[Marine_Uncle]

Post #392. Rather good profile of the good general. He also said just prior to leading the 1MEF in Iraq. No better friend, no worse enemy. He indicated that the Marines would first try to use silk gloves, and if that did not work then, in essence kill the bastards. Somehow I sense he realized the silk glove routine would not be appropriate. From silk gloves back to get some.
I look at his picture, and think of some of the things he has made public, and think of general George S. Patton Jr..
They probably came from the same mold.

[jazusamo]

A ping just went out for a thread you missed here.

Merry Christmas.

[PhilDragoo]

Overall and finally, as I have strayed from my main points, military personnel are trained to kill, not be policemen or referees. They kill and destroy. They are trained to react without thinking. Thinking will get you killed in warfare. The MSM, libs, and our enemies want the troops to flinch or think twice, so they will die or get wounded and eventually lose. We, as people thousands of miles away, should not Monday morning quarterback their every action and reaction.

I wholly concur. I would add the basis of the action is the heresay of the indiginous who survived three decades of Baathist tyranny by complicity. That is to say, show me a good German on May 9, 1945.

The best evidence is off limits; i.e., no exhumation due to sensitivities of the persons cited in the paragraph above.

The current action has been conducted with such political correctness that it has spared Moqtada Al-Sadr whose militia targets and murders our people, yet prosecutes our people for attempting the impossible: to pacify that which will not be pacified in our lifetime.

As this commander in chief has sacrificed the two Border Patrol agents to placate the Mexican invasion, so it seems he is too quick to sacrifice our Marines to placate a perceived Iraqi street--a street I will point out which has vetoed and constrained our freedom of operation despite the clear fact it is our blood and treasure which has spared this people the mass graves of Saddam Hussein.

As we saw in the honey trap of the Moscow Embassy and the compromise of its Marine guard, the NIS exemplifies the ineptitude of the intelligence agencies which fail to warn us of 911 but are quick to crucify our warriors preventing the next one.

How many times will the Fallujahs and Sadr Cities rekindle into murderous fires before the new tone goes on the ash heap of history and the enemy is truly joined in battle.

The loaded phraseology of "civilian" and "innocent" belies the fact there are no uniforms and the only perceived organization is designed to trap our fighters.

Is it not too fine that the new SecDef authored in 2004 a CFR report calling for negotiations with the Iran which predicts that Israel and the U.S. will disappear, the Iran which as we discuss this issue is arming and equipping and directing this "insurgency" which murders our people.

If the command structure is that mad, why ought we be pursuing the fighting man in the street.

God Bless these Marines, for they have no friends at lower levels of command.

[BykrBayb]

"Why are you afraid of being ruled by the law of the country that you're supposedly trying to liberate?" he asked rhetorically. "That's the question--it's a simple question I would like to ask the American people."

Could it be because they're demanding our Marines be executed without a trial? ("They" being Iraqi civilians, according to NY Slimes. Oh, nevermind.)

[BykrBayb]

T-shirts designed by Army Rangers

Surprise, surprise! And here I thought they were designed by Church Lady.

[Flora McDonald]

This is just breaking my heart. Prayers up for all concerned, God bless them. My son was there in Haditha just a couple of days ahead of these guys.

[freema]

Nope.

It is, "Afraid? LMAO! You lily-livered, chickenshit, hypocritical pussy, Dr Salam Ismael. Get back with me, good docktor, when you defend and respect life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all of your people and until you do-shut your pie hole. May the blessings of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost be upon you and remain with you always... and have a Merry Christmas."

[freema]

One of those, there but for the Grace of God go I, things for all of us, isn't it.

[verity]

You remain woefully misinformed.

[RedRover]

Please note that this main thread is still active but there is another new thread with new details at the link.

[RedRover]

Bless you and your son, Flora. I know this is a very hard time. Prayers up.

[Flora McDonald]

Definitely a "there-but-for-the-Grace-of-God" moment.
I pray He continues to strengthen these men and their families. They have shown such dignity and courage.

[RedRover]

I work with many entry-level 20-year-olds in my profession. They come from privileged backgrounds and Ivy League schools. Yet few can even express themselves coherently, verbally or on paper.

Then I see young enlisted men and women, interviewed on TV. Their heads are on straight and they express themselves straightforwardly and with good humor.

Wish I was in a line of work that attracted a better class of person!

[jazusamo]

Your son and other young men and women like him are what make our country great, Flora. Thank you and God Bless them all.

Wishing you and yours a Very Merry Christmas and a Great New Year.

[editor-surveyor]

You remain a personification of what an enemy of this nation is all about.

[BykrBayb]

Afraid

Well, I guess I kind of glossed over that word. Still, I think it would be stupid to allow any of our troops to be handed over to a system of "justice" that doesn't have any justice.

[RedRover]

Haditha defense seen focused on Iraq battle chaos

Fri, Dec 22 17:11 PM EST
By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Attorneys defending the U.S. Marines charged with murder in Haditha, Iraq, do not dispute that 24 men, women and children were killed -- but are expected to argue that the defendants have been made scapegoats for a sad reality of war: civilians sometimes die.

It is a defense theme that first emerged earlier this year, months before four Marines were charged on Thursday with murder and four others with dereliction of duty for the November 2005 killings: that the civilians weren't shot in a "massacre," but in the confusion of a frenzied battle against insurgents.

Iraqi witnesses claim that a squad of Marines opened fire on the civilians in their homes after a popular comrade, Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, was ripped in half by a roadside bomb that exploded as his convoy rolled through Haditha, some 60 miles north of Baghdad.

Defense lawyers counter that the roadside bomb was only the beginning of a daylong battle against insurgents, who fired on the Marines in some cases from nearby houses -- possibly including one of the homes where the civilians died.

"After the (roadside bomb) went off they engaged the way they were supposed to, and unfortunately there were civilians there when they engaged," said Neal Puckett, an attorney for Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, the 26-year-old squad leader who is charged with the unpremeditated murder of 18 Iraqi civilians.

"We will be able to demonstrate that Staff Sgt. Wuterich followed the rules of engagement," Puckett said. "The tactics that were used, as the Marines understood them, were what they were authorized to use."

Attorneys for the accused Marines also will likely mount a defense based on the rules of engagement that they are required to follow in combat situations, arguing that the men were expected to "clear" the homes where the unarmed men, women and children were inside.

The Marines, who are fighting insurgents who do not wear uniforms and sometimes cannot be distinguished from civilians, must make split-second decisions on when to shoot and hesitating can cost them their lives, defense lawyers say.

"He's a Marine. They're in a war. That's what they are trained to do. He was following orders and following the rules of engagement," said Jaclyn Sharratt, sister of Lance Corporal Justin Sharratt.

Sharratt, a 22-year-old Pennsylvania native, is charged with the unpremeditated murder of three civilians who appear from prosecution documents to be from the same family. Also charged with unpremeditated murder are Lance Corporal Stephen Tatum, 25, and Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, 24.

All of the Marines who have been charged are entitled to an Article 32 hearing, at which a military judge would decide if there is enough evidence to convene a court martial. Those hearings have not yet been set.

The four defendants charged with murder could be sentenced to life prison terms if they are convicted at a court martial. None of the remaining four Marines facing dereliction of duty charges are accused of taking part in the shooting and are likely to argue that they reported the incident as best they understood it.

[verity]

And you are still proving yourself to be a deluded fool.

[snippy_about_it]

Well said Phil. I'm so very disappointed that we refuse to let our troops be warriors. Leave the building of schools and handing out beanie babies to the charitable organizations of which our military is not, nor should be.

This is a sad state of affairs.

[RedRover]

Pinging you to the LATEST THREAD: Viewpoint: Breaking Haditha [Time Correspondent Finds Marines Guilty]

For now, this is the main Haditha thread on which updates of interest will be posted. We'll also ping you from here to new threads like this one (hat tip at BykrBayb for the suggestion!)