Posted on 08/09/2007 12:17:06 PM PDT by RedRover
Fortunately, the Supreme Court has ruled that congressmen are not exempt from libel suits. The Sen Proxmire case settled that.
But despite that ruling, and despite the fact that Murtha gave these interviews from his campaign headquarters, the DOJ denied a request to have Murtha deposed.
Wuterich's civ lawyers (Neal Puckett and Mark Zaid) appealed the denial. Their contention is they need a deposition to know the facts. That's the state of play.
I called Mark Zaid today--and got him on his vacation in Maine. He said he hasn't read Mattis' statements yet. Hopefully, this all will be grist for the mill.
I'll post updates as we learn more.
Where do we contribute to the civil lawsuit fund against Jack Okinawa Murtha????
I hear you!
There have been no defense funds set up specifically for that. SSgt. Wuterich’s attorneys filed a civil suit last year and I don’t know the progress of it other than they are appealing a ruling against them to be able to depose Murtha.
We will provide any info if such funds are started. I don’t look for much to happen with that until all the Article 32’s are completed.
We do know, of course, that there is such a thing as an ex-Marine. It is john murtha.
All these lies and hoaxes are really getting me riled up.
It would be great if some bloggers would go after the article in The Nation as well. The one written by Leila al-Arian. As in Sammy al-Arian (like father, like daughter).
It must have been an awesome day for the Sharratt and Stone families. There will be more great days for the rest of the Haditha Marines.
Amen, Darryl. God Bless our Haditha Marines.
HOORAY!
It’s time for that slimebucket Murtha to apologize and resign.
Correct. The New York Times' burial of the story today was typical.
As this was breaking, yesterday morning, my buddy Nat Helms wrote this to a contact at the New York Times:
You might want to alert your Pentagon reporters that today at 10am CA time LCpl Justin Sharratt, his civilian attorney Jim Culp and Marine SJA Lt. Col Cosgrove, are meeting with Lt Gen J.N. Mattis in his office at Camp Pendleton, CA. It is expected LCpl Sharratt will have all charges against him (unpremeditated murder and assault at Haditha, Iraq) dismissed.
I am not being magnanimous here, I want to see if the NYT is as objective as it claims... Rep. John Murtha (Dem-PA) accused Sharratt of cold blooded murder, and massacre... NYT repeated the charges adnauseam. He is and was innocent and NYT had the means and the resources to at least look into his situation and chose not to. Now his family is financially and emotionally devastated. Is NYT now going to report what it could have reported a year ago? I will eagerly await tomorrow's newspaper to discover the answer.
Then, based on the buried report in today's Times, Nat wrote this follow-up...
As I thought... A wire story buried in another story... Shame on your newspaper. First you accuse them of murder on the front page and then when they are exonerated your editors bury it... I used to be a college professor and often used the NYT as the model for a great newspaper...My face burns with shame thinking about it. Reasons such as this are why newspapers are dying... People aren't willing to be force-fed gruel prepared by arrogant scribes who can't cook.
General Mattis has not made a decision to send the LtCol Chessani case to a court martial. The investigating officer has not yet written a recommendation.
During LtCol Chessani's Article 32, the IO (if you're hip to all this lingo) made statements that clearly signaled his intention to recommend a court martial.
Then the prosecutors asked that additional charges be added against Chessani.
This led to legal wrangling and to a new mini-Article 32 for the lieutenant colonel that is going on as I type. The last day, supposedly, is today.
As you say, it does seem that Gen Mattis is signaling a skepticism about the entire Haditha case. If the IO recommends that Chessani be tried at a court martial, Mattis may ignore the recommendation. Mattis ignored a recommendation in the Lt Phan case just recently.
Hope all that isn't too long-winded. It's hard to be succinct about all this, but I also don't want to put people to sleep trying to read more than they ever wanted to know!
Roger that!
Ok, I see. I know the military justice system works differently. If this case were in a civilian court, with the charges dropped against one defendant for lack of evidence the charges would be dropped against all the defendants. It’s just tough to think that the rest of these guys are going to have to go through Article 26 hearings when it’s already been decided so conclusively that the incident never happened. Thanks for explaining. With two sons in the Marine Corps I am following this case with anxiety.
In the first, five Iraqis were killed beside a white taxi. SSgt Wuterich is charged with their murder.
The second and third action were inside two houses and involved SSgt Wuterich and LCpl Tatum as the shooters.
The final action that day involved Wuterich and LCpl Sharratt as the shooters (I made this diagram for the Sharratt Article 32).
Does that help get a better picture of what the Haditha case is all about?
As of this writing, LCpl Sharratt is cleared for his actions, and Capt Stone is cleared of dereliction for his actions.
But the hearings go on. LCpl Tatum and SSgt Wuterich may still face court martials. And so may the officers. Even if Tatum and Wuterich are cleared, there could still be a question of whether the officers did their duty given the facts available to them.
All that aside, thank you for your sons' service and your family's sacrifice while they are deployed. May they be home soon!
Bump.
I think you are right, but that doesn't mean the courts will give the falsely accused Marines justice.
Your point goes to the reason I am so angry with Murtha. He is not about an investigation, he is about political posturing for personal gain while doing a disservice to the troops and the cause.
He could have insisted on an investigation and refused to speculate or speak to the press about it until complete. But then there wouldn't be much to talk about and the DemoRat opportunity would have passed him by.
Story #6: Haditha Charges Dropped, Drive-Bys Ignore
RUSH: "All charges have been dismissed against two Marines accused in the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha, the Marine Corps announced Thursday. Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt, 22, of Canonsburg, Pa., was charged with murdering three brothers. Capt. Randy Stone, 35, a battalion lawyer from Dunkirk, Md., was charged with failing to adequately report and investigate the Nov. 19, 2005, combat action in which women and children were among the dead. In his decision to dismiss charges, Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the commanding general with jurisdiction in the case, said he was sympathetic to the challenges Marines on the ground face in Iraq. 'Where the enemy disregards any attempt to comply with ethical norms of warfare, we exercise discipline and restraint to protect the innocent caught on the battlefield,' Mattis wrote in his letter to Sharratt." You know, I haven't seen this in the Drive-By news cycle. Have you seen this in the Drive-By Media? I haven't seen this story out there! Now, I remember when it happened we had pictures; we had allegations.
See, this is what the left does, the New Castrati. They go out there and say (impression), "See, this is the problem, Mr. Limbaugh, with the U.S. Military. This is the problem with war. This is an all-volunteer force. These are poor people that have no future in this country and so they join, and war turns them into murderous barbarians, Mr. Limbaugh!"
This is the mantra. That's one of the many clichés and action lines that the Democrats and the left have, so an incident like this gets reported, "It's true!" Just like the rape allegations against the lacrosse players at Duke. That fits another template: "Oh, it has to be true! Rich white guys taking advantage of a poor black woman? Oh, it had to happen! Lacrosse players? Absolutely!" Eighty-eight members of the faculty write a letter condemning the thing. The coach gets fired. None of it was true! None of it, and complicit in this... Nifong was the main culprit, but the Drive-Bys were the target. Why do you think he was doing what he was doing? It was to curry favor with the Drive-Bys so he could get his reelection chances up -- and now this! And where's Murtha? Where is the heroic ex-Marine conscience e of the House of Representatives, Jack Murtha on this? Have you seen an apology from Jack Murtha on this?
Thank you General Mattis
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