BTTT.
Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt on the streets of Fallujah, Iraq.
Posted on 12/21/2006 11:03:18 AM PST by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
The Haditha killings came to light when Time magazine began questioning ...
Does this mean that Time magazine is the higher-raking officials our troops are to report to?
LOL!...G'Night, Red.
BTTT.
Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt on the streets of Fallujah, Iraq.
By WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writer
Charges against eight Marines in the alleged massacre of 24 Iraqi civilians fuel hostility toward U.S. troops, according to a native of Iraq and UC San Diego medical school professor.
"It's going to be a major stigma that will tarnish the image of the U.S. military, similar to Abu Ghraib," if the men are found guilty, Wael al-Delaimy said last week.
When the photos of abuse of Iraqi prisoners surfaced in early 2004 at the now-closed Iraqi prison Abu Ghraib, it set off a firestorm of hostility against the U.S. across the Middle East. The Haditha incident adds to that rancor, al-Delaimy said.
"Because of these incidents, many Iraqis have become anti-U.S. when they were not before," al-Delaimy said.
On Dec. 21, the Marine Corps charged four enlisted men in the deaths that occurred in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005. Also charged were four officers, accused of dereliction of duty and related offenses for allegedly failing to properly investigate and report what happened.
Through their attorneys, the enlisted men from Pendleton's Kilo Company attached to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, maintain their innocence, saying they believed they were following the rules of engagement dictated to them by the Marine Corps. Attorneys for the officers also contend their clients did nothing wrong.
Al-Delaimy, a Muslim, said that if the Marines are ultimately found guilty, "the penalty should be really severe, to deter others from even thinking of doing something similar."
The simple fact that the Marines have been formally charged is a sign that there is accountability, he said.
"That is kind of reassuring," al-Delaimy said. "The unfortunate thing is that this may just be the tip of the iceberg of many more incidents where no one has been charged."
Some express doubts
While Iraq is predominantly Muslim, many Iraqis living in San Diego County are Chaldean Catholics, a centuries-old offshoot of the Assyrian Church of the East, integrated into Roman Catholicism in the 16th century.
On Wednesday morning, about 30 Chaldeans were gathered at the El Cajon Shish Kebab restaurant on Main Street in El Cajon, chatting and drinking strong, dark tea.
Several said that while the civilian deaths were tragic and the perpetrators should be punished, Iraqi militia groups and sectarian terrorists murder dozens of innocent civilians every day.
That is where the real problem lies, they said, and where the U.S. should be concentrating its efforts to stop needless bloodshed.
Chaldean and a native of Iraq, Tony Behnan, 53, said he was withholding judgment on the Marines.
"Who knows why they killed them," Behnan said. "They may have been fighting with the Americans. I hope they'll let the Marines go, because we don't know what happened.
"We can't know the truth."
Sabah Putrus, 53, said he suspected that there may have been insurgents hiding amid of the civilians at Haditha.
"That happens all the time," Putrus said.
Charges a 'smoke screen'
Jamil Gabriel, 65, is the mayor of a town approximately 400 miles north of Baghdad. He was visiting friends and family in El Cajon last week and said that he will soon return to his country.
A Chaldean, Gabriel said he was not overly impressed that eight Marines have been charged in the case. He said he believes the charges are nothing more than a smoke screen, designed to make it look as if President Bush is looking after Iraqis.
"He has killed many of our people," Gabriel said.
Another Chaldean Christian, Sevan Maro, 25, was visiting a Main Street barbershop frequented by natives of Iraq living in El Cajon. The Iraqi said that if the Marines are guilty in the Haditha incident, they should be prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law.
If not, "it would mean the American military is no good ---- we're supposed to be the good guys," Maro said.
Shiite Muslim and El Cajon restaurant owner Majed Aleesawy, 31, said he is concerned that the Haditha incident will further sway public opinion against the Americans.
"If it's true, it would make Iraqis believe in those who say that Americans are bad," Aleesawy said. "They could start to collaborate with the insurgents."
It was good the charges were filed, he said, because that will help counter the claims being made in the Arabic media that say "the Americans are trying to cover it up."
Aleesawy, who worked for the U.S. military as an interpreter in Iraq in the 1990s, said that while justice must run its course, he believes the Marines killed innocent people and should pay the price.
He saw the news coverage of the killings and "they shot them at close range." Aleesawy said.
"They should get at least life in prison," Aleesawy said.
What's ahead
Marine Corps officials last week said that the investigation into what happened at Haditha continues and that more troops could be charged.
That statement followed an inquiry by the North County Times as to why only 20 Iraqi civilians are listed as homicide victims in charging information provided by the Marine Corps, which continues to state that 24 civilians were killed.
Defense attorneys hired by the accused have been given computer disks containing thousands of pages of investigative material; they say it will take them weeks to sift through the data.
The next formal step in the legal process for each of the accused will be pretrial court sessions conducted before a military officer in what are known as Article 32 hearings. Prosecutors and defense attorneys will present their cases, and the hearing officer will then recommend whether he believes their cases should move on to courts-martial.
Pretrial hearings over evidentiary matters and related issues could take place before the Article 32 hearings, which are not expected to begin for two to three months at the earliest.
Contact staff writer William Finn Bennett at (760) 740-5426, or wbennett@nctimes.com.
Amen .... Semper Fi
DAYTON - A Marine accused of failures in investigating and reporting details related to the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians last year says he believes the charges against him will detract from the Marines' work in the country.
"I'm sad, taken aback and definitely surprised by the allegations," Marine 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson, 25, told the Dayton Daily News for a story published Saturday. "I know that this is going to take away from all the wonderful things that the Marines on the ground have done there."
Grayson, a native of Springboro, near Dayton, was in his third tour of duty when he was ordered Dec. 19 to return to his home base. He was formally charged in the United States a few days later with willfully failing to ensure that a thorough investigation was conducted into a possible war crime, making a false official statement and impeding an investigation.
Four other Marines were charged with unpremeditated murder in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005, after one of their comrades was killed.
Five men were shot as they approached the scene in a taxi and others - including women and children - died as Marines went house to house in the area, clearing homes with grenades and gunfire.
Grayson's lawyer, Joseph Casas, said his client is innocent.
"I think that there are a lot of politics involved in this case at a much, much higher level than Andrew," he said.
Grayson could be sentenced to more than 10 years in prison if convicted. Grayson is now at home with his family near Hamilton.
The charge papers filed by prosecutors allege four enlisted Marines assigned to Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, used automatic weapons, a pistol and a grenade to kill 24 Iraqi civilians in the city, the San Diego Union Tribune reported Sunday.
The papers detail the specific allegations against Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz and Lance Cpls. Justin Sharratt and Stephen Tatum.
Wuterich, the highest-ranking service member allegedly present at the killings, faces the most severe charges: 13 counts of murder, two counts of prompting someone to commit an offense and one count of making a false official statement.
"While engaging in an act inherently dangerous to another and evincing a wanton disregard for human life, (Wuterich did) murder six persons inside a house identified as House 1 by: advising the Marines under his charge, prior to the Marines' entry into House 1, to 'shoot first and ask questions later' or words to that effect," the papers say.
Now there's an understatement if ever I saw one.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20061231-020615-3215r
An unnamed defense attorney gave what was reported as a complete set of prosecution documents to a San Diego paper.
The answer to why Wuterich and Dela Cruz are being charged with murdering the same person must be in there.
Wonder how long it will take for the documents to be posted online?
I am not going to play JAG, but we all know the UCMJ has a different rule book and I can't wait to hear how that is possible.
I've sent e-mails to one of the reporters at The New County Times and received responses. You might try the reporter at the San Diego Union who broke the story. Actually, a contact there might come in handy.
I agree.
I'm hoping we'll get an answer from Odell this week. I'm assuming he'll come on board. When the fund is up, we'll have to get busy!
PS. I just noticed there's a Freepathon. It's a quarterly fund raiser to keep FR going.
Keep Pinging in the New Year...I am ready.
I just saw it too...and I totally saw YOUR name and other familiar names on the MONTHLY donor list.
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