New Revelations in Haditha Case - SecDef Rumsfeld Set up Body to “Oversee”

EMAIL | March 26,2008 | Thomas More Law Center

[brityank]

New Revelations in Haditha Case ─ Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld Set up Shadow Body to “Oversee” Investigations and Prosecutions

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

ANN ARBOR, MI – Revelations by top Marine Generals, that former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, set up a shadow “body” composed of high-ranking administration officials to oversee the Haditha investigations, could prove to be the most damning evidence of the political motivations and influence over the ongoing prosecutions of Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Chessani, USMC, and other combat Marines involved.

Lawyers with the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which represents Marine LtCol Jeffrey Chessani, uncovered the existence of the extraordinarily unusual oversight body.

“The hysteria and media firestorm over Abu Gharib and the Pat Tillman investigations lead to fear of a similar media reaction to the Haditha incident, causing the military’s civilian bosses to set up this shadow oversight body. This extraordinary action politicized the military justice system and was a clear signal to top generals that they were expected to hold individuals criminally responsible. The investigation turned into a quest for a prosecution — not justice,” commented Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center.

The Marines are being prosecuted for their house-to-house battle to ferret out ambushing insurgents on November 19, 2005. The insurgents fired upon the Marines while hiding amongst woman and children. The ensuing firefight resulted in the deaths of fifteen civilians – a result the insurgents wanted to happen.

Details of the battle and the civilian deaths were dutifully reported throughout the chain of command. The chain of command, including the top generals, all concluded this was a tragic and unfortunate consequence of urban warfare, but the Marines were justified in their actions of defending themselves.

Months later, however, a known Al Qaeda propaganda operative instigated an inflammatory Time Magazine article written by reporter Tim McGirk—later proven to be false—calling the deaths of the civilians a “massacre. ” The military initiated at least three investigations as a result.

Proof that this entire investigation has been a politically motivated quest for a prosecution rather than justice is supported by several details of the investigations, including:

• An admission by the Director of the Naval Criminal Investigation Service (“NCIS”) that over 65 investigators were assigned to the case, which in his opinion was the largest investigative effort in Department’s history.
• Formation of “Legal Team Charlie” composed of military lawyers reassigned from other units and reserve officers activated for the purpose of prosecuting this case—all highly unusual.
• The Secretary of Navy countermanded a determination by General James Mattis, USMC, that Colonel Stephen Davis, USMC, LtCol Chessani’s regimental commander, would receive a Non-Punitive Letter of Caution, which would not be part of his permanent record. Gen Mattis’ decision was overridden by the Navy Secretary, who ordered a Letter of Censure, a more severe punishment, which effectively ended this fine Marine officer’s career. As the consolidated convening authority in all the Haditha investigations, General Mattis’ decision, under normal circumstances, would be absolute and final.

“I am deeply troubled by the fact that the desire to appease the liberal anti-war press and politicians has led to the prosecution of innocent Marines for purely political purposes. These prosecutions will become a scandal of historic proportions unless terminated by independently minded and virtuous military judges,” commented Thompson.

An Undue Command Influence motion had already been filed on behalf of the combat Marines. The Law Center intends to file its own Undue Command Influence motion on behalf of LtCol Chessani. Further startling events will be revealed at that time.

Even though LtCol Chessani was not personally present at the scene of the ambush on November 19, 2005, the Marines responding were in his battalion: the Third Battalion, First Infantry Regiment – one of the most decorated battalions in our nation’s history, and the pride of the second Battle of Fallujah. Thus, LtCol Chessani is charged with “dereliction of duty” and “orders” violations. Despite his 20 years of loyal service in defense of his country, he faces a maximum punishment of three years in prison, dismissal (an officer’s equivalent of a dishonorable discharge), and the loss of his retirement benefits. Of course, his wife and 6 children ranging in ages from 3 months to 8 years old, made untold sacrifices as he left them to defend us on foreign shores as well.

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The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life through litigation, education, and related activities. It does not charge for its services. The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization. You may reach the Thomas More Law Center at (734) 827-2001 or visit our website at www.thomasmore.org.

[jazusamo]

Thanks for the links, good to see this is getting some coverage. Not holding my breath but hopefully some in the MSM will pick it up.

Going to list some emails of various people in case some would like to distribute this.

Special@foxnews.com (Brit Hume)
Hannity@foxnews.com
Oreilly@foxnews.com
Studiob@foxnews.com (Shep Smith)
e.d.hill@foxnews.com
Beltway@foxnews.com (Barnes & Kondracke)
Friends@foxnews.com
Drudge@drudgereport.com
writemalkin@gmail.com
hhewitt@hughhewitt.com
rush@eibnet.com
captain@captainsquartersblog.com
humanevents@humaneventsonline.com (Ann Coulter)
pundit@instapundit.com
powerlinefeedback@gmail.com
CNN@cnn.com
CNN.onair@cnn.com
joe@msnbc.com
Viewerservices@msnbc.com
Letters@Newsweek.com
Letters@NYT.com
Editor@USAToday.com
Webeditor@Washingtontimes.com
Letterstoed@washpost.com

[smoothsailing]

Good links, I've sent it to Drudge,Coulter, and Brit Hume.

[brityank]

But it should be obvious that the SecDef would care more about the success of the war effort than a squad of Marines.

While I may understand the motivation, it's apparent that neither Rummy or his staff thought through the impact this type of action would cause lacking any direct explanation of the reasons behind that decision. That type of attitude is what causes unions to walk, or non-union workforces to slow down or leave. While we may be willing to allow for the marketplace to determine winners and losers in the money game -- we cannot ever allow that attitude to determine our freedom in our civilization.

[RedRover]

Also, there was the suggestion in the original reporting that Mattis had approved the letters of censure. If not, that is, as you say, VERY troubling.

[Lancey Howard]

And even though Haditha story was all enemy propaganda, it'd better to squash the Haditha Marines than to try to battle the propaganda--especially with the worldwide media against the Bush Administration.

All of this is obviously just speculation on my part. But it should be obvious that the SecDef would care more about the success of the war effort than a squad of Marines.

And ironically, surrendering to the propagandists only encourages more of the same and ultimately undermines the war effort by demoralizing the troops and offering up free ammo to our domestic enemies in the Democrat party and its newsrooms, as well as to every socialist, anarchist, and malcontent in old Europe.

If your take on Rumsfeld's motivations is correct, then that assclown can go off and have himself a circle-jerk with Robert McNamara as far as I'm concerned.

[gondramB]

Yep. I wonder what the motive would be.

[RedRover]

The fragile Iraqi government wanted to see the Marines hang. I think that's where the pressure came from on the whole Bush Administration.

[Ramius]

I don’t understand why anybody is surprised that there was an over-reaction (in hindsight) to the Haditha story.

Let’s be honest with ourselves— when that story first broke it looked really *really* bad for those Marines. It was a nightmare. As difficult as it was to believe a lot of people DID believe it, and if you’ll recall even a lot of people HERE on FR believed it.

That the DOD swung into it with both feet is what they are *supposed* to do. They’d have been derelict if they hadn’t. It wasn’t until after the investigation that the facts of the case started to look pretty fuzzy, and the accusations began to fall apart, and charges started getting dismissed.

I hope Chessani comes out of this OK. As the one in command he’s going to be expected to have handled it differently. Unfortunately, his only failure was to fail to see into the future to see what a mess the story would be blown into. It’s not his fault that the story blew out of proportion, but it may end up being his responsibility. I’d hate to see that.

We’ll see. But the Marines and the DOD couldn’t have been expected to handle it much differently. There’s procedures for this sort of thing and they followed them. Maybe the Navy Sec is an @sshat. I don’t know.

[Ken H]

[ticked]

freepmail to you.

[Guenevere]

bttt

[ticked]

bttt

[Gene Eric]

>> I’ve actually always been a Rumsfeld fan but...

I’d like to know what McCain thinks about this. He’s taken a very hard line against Rumsfeld but this issue may be too ‘hot’ for McCain’s campaign rhetoric.

[RedRover]

Got it! This belongs with the other two above.

[Chickenhawk Warmonger]

DAMN - this is certainly not what I thought happened. It is truly disheartening to think that Rummy would throw these Marines under the bus... I’m almost afraid to know how deep this goes.

I still think Winter is the ultimate link to Murtha’s claims.

[RedRover]

I think you're right, but I also think that Rumsfeld reacted as he did because he believed the allegations were true. For instance, here's what he said to USA TODAY on June 2, 2006...

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Friday defended the training and conduct of U.S. troops and said incidents like an alleged massacre of Iraqi civilians shouldn't happen.

"We know that 99.9% of our forces conduct themselves in an exemplary manner. We also know that in conflicts things that shouldn't happen, do happen," he said. While he said he can't comment on the investigation because it could taint the case, he said, "We don't expect U.S. soldiers to act that way, and they're trained not to."

[2111USMC]

Ping

[RedRover]

Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, along with the rest of the brass made similar statements as Rumsfeld (while throwing the Haditha Marines under the bus)...

"As military professionals, it is important that we take time to reflect on the values that separate us from our enemies," he said in a statement. "The challenge for us is to make sure the actions of a few do not tarnish the good work of the many."

"Of the nearly 150,000 Coalition Forces presently in Iraq, 99.9% of them perform their jobs magnificently every day," Chiarelli said. Of those troops, about 130,000 are from the United States....

He added, however, that "unfortunately, there are a few individuals who sometimes choose the wrong path."

[Girlene]

Also, there was the suggestion in the original reporting that Mattis had approved the letters of censure. If not, that is, as you say, VERY troubling.

From San Diego Union Tribune, Three senior Marines are censured in Haditha case it quotes Gen. Conway making the letters public, says Navy Sec. Winters actually issued the letters, but that Gen. Mattis made the recommendations of censure.

However in the NY Times link, Marines Punish 3 Officers in Haditha Case it says that Navy Sec. Winters issued the letters "after senior generals determined that the three officers had not intended to cover up evidence...", but then goes on to say that Gen. Mattis made the determination. I guess the NY Times article leaves a little wiggle room that the decision of Gen. Mattis may have had other influences.

However, it WAS highly unusual for these letters to be publicly announced. That alone speaks to trying to "shape public perception" using these officers' careers.

[Girlene]

And President Bush made his own statement on May 31, 2006 from Bush: ‘Troubled’ by war crime allegations

"President Bush said Wednesday he was troubled by allegations that U.S. Marines had killed unarmed Iraqi civilians and that, “if in fact laws were broken, there will be punishment.”

It was Bush’s first public comment...

... Responding to a reporter’s question, Bush said he had discussed Haditha with Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “He’s a proud Marine. And nobody is more concerned about these allegations than the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps is full of honorable people who understand the rules of war.”

“If in fact these allegations are true,” Bush said, “the Marine Corps will work hard to make sure that that culture — that proud culture — will be reinforced. And that those who violated the law, if they did, will be punished.”

“I am troubled by the initial news stories,” Bush said. “I’m mindful that there’s a thorough investigation going on. If in fact, laws were broken, there will be punishment.”

Military investigators have evidence that points toward unprovoked murders by Marines, a senior defense official said last week. "......