Posted on 01/05/2007 5:00:09 AM PST by RedRover
The government hasn't even scheduled court hearings for eight Camp Pendleton Marines linked to an alleged massacre in Haditha, Iraq, but close observers of the case already say it is likely to become a tough legal battle that reverberates through the Marine Corps for years.
“This has all the earmarks of one of the great military cases in the country's history,” said Eugene R. Fidell, a noted military defense lawyer in Washington.
The Haditha case has special significance for several reasons, Fidell said. It not only involves four enlisted Marines accused of murdering 24 civilians on Nov. 19, 2005, after a roadside bomb claimed one of their own, but also four officers who allegedly downplayed or failed to fully investigate the killings.
“What also makes this case so compelling is it arises out of a tinderbox environment in Iraq where everyone is on a hair-trigger,” Fidell said. “It could certainly sour relations between U.S. forces and the local Iraqi population. It could have repercussions on morale in the Marine Corps and on the public in the United States.”
Military investigators and prosecutors have spent months building their case. They recently turned over about 10,000 pages of evidence to defense attorneys, but several legal analysts said the high volume of documents didn't reflect a foolproof strategy for the military.
The prosecution faces some major challenges, many of them stemming from the Defense Department's delay in probing the killings. Pentagon officials launched their investigations in March – about four months after the Haditha incident took place – because of questions raised by human-rights groups and a Time magazine story.
As a result, there is apparently little or no forensic evidence connecting the victims' wounds to the weapons the Marines carried.
Even if the forensic evidence existed, it might be hard to establish specific links to particular weapons because the Marine Corps didn't collect the defendants' rifles, pistols and other weaponry until months after the killings.
Investigators do have photos and video footage showing the shrouded bodies of some victims and blood stains on the walls of at least one home involved in the incident. They also interviewed relatives and neighbors of the victims, including people who said they witnessed the killings.
But several defense attorneys say the prosecution has not secured confessions or other self-incriminating statements from any of the Haditha suspects.
The lawyers say their clients followed the military's rules of engagement by countering insurgents who fired at them from nearby homes after the bomb detonated. They describe the civilians' deaths as tragedies, not crimes.
The lack of defendants' confessions might be the biggest difference between the Haditha case and the Hamdaniya incident, in which eight other Camp Pendleton servicemen are charged with kidnapping and executing an Iraqi man on April 26.
Investigators have said some of the Hamdaniya suspects admitted to helping orchestrate the killing or participating in it.
Four defendants in the case have pleaded guilty to charges less than murder as part of their plea agreements. The other four are awaiting courts-martial.
“Hamdaniya appears to be about premeditated criminal conduct. Haditha was certainly not premeditated, but I think it will be much more impactful on the Marine culture,” said Tom Umberg, a former Army prosecutor now in private practice in Santa Ana.
“Irrespective of the outcome, (the Haditha charges) send the message that U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have to be extremely circumspect before they shoot their weapons or toss a grenade,” Umberg said. “To the Iraqis, it sends a message that we are a nation of laws that have to be followed whether we're at war or not.”
Rick Rogers; rick.rogers@uniontrib.com
For the latest in the case as it happens, join the Haditha Marine Ping List. Just let jazusamo or me know that you want on.
All: BTW, the Haditha Marine main thread is still this one: Marine Charged With 13 Civilian Murder Counts (Haditha). Updates and details about the accused and the case are posted there by pinkpanther111, jaz, or me daily.
“To the Iraqis, it sends a message that we are a nation of laws that have to be followed whether we're at war or not.”
Spoken like a true JAG puke.
America has about 5% of the world's population.
America supports about 75% of the world's lawyers.
This is a perfect example of an "unsustainable population".
One can't accept anything but victory in a war. The commies/socialists/Liberals managed to cost us Korea & Vietnam with a "Limited War" chant.
Forewarned is forearmed.
Win in Iraq, and all the Middle East or destroy everything and everyone in the way. Then keep the oilfield and declare victory.
We will then have achieved what 'Lil Nevielle Chamberlain tried to to with an umbrella and failed - achieve peace in our time.
Umbrellas don't work, nukes do.
Call me crazy, but I am still hoping for the charges to get dropped.
Good Morning!
Mornin', lil! You're up with the chickens today out there in the Sunflower State.
IMO these men should be returned to duty immediately and the trial dropped.
Its a farce to ask men to fight and then prosecute them when they do.
Cluck cluck....well now that Winter, I mean Christmas break is over these kids that keep calling me mom insist on breakfast.
Cluck cluck....well now that Winter, I mean Christmas break is over these kids that keep calling me mom insist on breakfast.
Sorry about being a "repeat" offender...I will practice patience with the post button.
Drivel. Pure drivel written to make it seem, at the end, that our troops are guilty of some kind of crime.
If you end up with troops worrying about whether they should defend themselves, then this case will have seriously undermined our great fighting men and women.
This case is a perfect example of the Legal Beagles trying to run a field operation from 12,000 miles away. The Marines should be given clear objectives, and then be permitted to do their job. Lawyers, unless carrying a rifle, should keep their noises out of operations.
Bump. You think the message would have been received by now. Islamofascists are not impressed with the western rule of law. All our refinement, frills and niceities, just make Islamofascists more convinced than even that they're facing a bunch of silly girls.
No, to the Iraqis (and any other enemy) it sends a message that if our troops fire at all, they will face legal challenges.
"Irrespective of the outcome, (the Haditha charges) send the message that U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have to be extremely circumspect before they shoot their weapons or toss a grenade,”
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translation future Marines will hesitate before defending themselves and their units.
Correct me if I am wrong but I don't believe there was any autopsy performed on any of the supposed "murdered."
No autopsy no case.
These Marines will be exonerated just like Lt. Pantano was.
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Your right on both accounts, I think.
Imagine, after all they put LT. Pantano through, they were going to send him back for seconds. I don't blame him for resigning.
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