“I can’t understand how investigators could possibly separate the results of a fireteam’s actions into individual charges. We know Cpl. Mendoza shot the insurgent in the doorway. But how can LCpl. Tatum be charged, but not Cpl. Mendoza, for the other deaths in the first two houses?”....
There were two Iraqi men that no murder charges were preferred. One was associated with house #1, the other with house #2. I alwsys assumed the one from house #1 was the guy that was shot “running on the ridgeline”.
You ask how they can charge one and not another when they belong to the same fire team - Maybe the charges were distributed among various Marines in hopes of getting them to turn on each other. Also, we don’t know what kind of pressure is/was put on those who weren’t charged, but did kill Iraqis that day. Maybe the prosecution thought they could get at least one plea to build their case against everyone else. It worked in the Hamdania cases. One plea, and the dominoes started falling.
The Hamdania case was "ideal" for the NCIS. They were investigating a single event and could isolate the men, and beat on the weakest until he broke.
The Haditha case is more complicated and there's no 20-year-old corpsman to beat into submission. The NCIS couldn't handle the investigation, and their best efforts to build a case will be blown apart in court.
Military justice matters and so does reforming its police force.