Posted on 03/26/2008 2:00:03 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A shadow legal body was set up by the Defense Department to manipulate the prosecutions of U.S. Marines accused of massacring Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005.
Thats the bombshell disclosure from the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm that is representing one of the accused Marines, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani.
And it could prove to be the most damning piece of evidence showing the political motivations behind the ongoing prosecutions of the Haditha Marines.
The hysteria and media firestorm over Abu Ghraib and the Pat Tillman investigations led to fear of a similar media reaction to the Haditha incident, causing the militarys civilian bosses to set up this shadow oversight body, Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Law Center, told Newsmax. 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.
The shadow legal body, called Legal Team Charlie, was composed of military lawyers reassigned from other units and reserve officers activated to prosecute the Haditha case, a move the Law Center termed highly unusual.
According to the Law Center, the director of the Naval Criminal Investigation Service admitted that more than 65 investigators were assigned, which in his opinion was the largest investigative effort in the departments history.
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, Thompson told Newsmax.
He went on to say, These prosecutions will become a scandal of historic proportions unless terminated by independently minded and virtuous military judges.
As Newsmax has been reporting almost from the outset, Marines of Kilo Company are being prosecuted for their house-to-house battle to flush out ambushing insurgents on Nov. 19, 2005.
In the firefight, 15 civilians were killed. Details of the battle and the civilian deaths were dutifully reported throughout the chain of command, including top generals, and all concluded that although this was a tragic and unfortunate consequence of urban warfare, the Marines were justified in their actions.
Months later, however, a Time magazine article later proven to be erroneous called the deaths of the civilians a massacre, setting off a media firestorm and leading the military to initiate investigations.
The secretary of the Navy countermanded a determination by then Marine Lt. Gen. James Mattis that Col. Stephen Davis, Chessanis regimental commander, would receive a 'Non-Punitive Letter of Caution,' which would not be part of his permanent record, according to the Law Center.
Mattis decision was overridden by the Navy secretary, who ordered a 'Letter of Censure,' a more severe punishment, which effectively ended this fine Marine officers career. As the consolidated convening authority in all the Haditha investigations, General Mattis decision, under normal circumstances, would be absolute and final.
Chessani was not personally present at the scene of the ambush in Haditha, but the Marines responding were in his battalion. Chessani is charged with dereliction of duty and orders violations.
The 20-year Marine veteran and father of six faces a maximum of three years in prison, dismissal (an officers equivalent of a dishonorable discharge), and the loss of his retirement benefits.
An Undue Command Influence motion has already been filed on behalf of the two combat Marines facing charges over the Haditha battle. The Law Center said it intends to file its own Undue Command Influence motion on behalf of Chessani, and promised that further startling events will be revealed at that time.
In other developments, the court-martial of one of the combat Marines, Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, will commence Friday, March 28. Newsmaxs Nat Helms is in California to cover the trial at Camp Pendleton.
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Editors Note: The Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center does not charge for its services and is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations, and foundations. The Center can be reached at www.thomasmore.org.
if a thousand people claim they were abducted by a ufo...or were the targets of a white conspiracy to infect them with AIDS, would that make it true?"
Huh?! I don't understand what you're getting at: What does Jeremiah Wright have to do with the Haditha Marines? Maybe I'm just getting slow in my old age...
Those SOBs need to be investigated, prosecuted, and the other cuted!!!
I couldn’t agree with you more, and I couldn’t disagree with John McCain more.
Not to belabor the obvious, but the point is that, just because someone says it, doesn’t make it true.
Here are your choices. 1. Bush planned it, 2. The people he surrounds himself with planned it. 3. The Clinton holdovers he didn't purge planned it.
Any way you cut it, after seven years at the reigns he is responsible. To not blame him, but heap praise on how successful he has been is wholly disingenuous.
I think I’ll just sit back and watch the shills battle (babble) it out. As the republic is sent into the crapper by the puppet masters, it’s good dark entertainment, like the downfall of Nixon, and the end of WW Nam. I gain no joy from this, but it’s sure educational.
All to find somethng...anything....
The War in Iraq is the most ethically conducted war in the history of mankind.
I've called my congressman and good senator and the White House Comment Line operators many times on this matter, always with passion, usually without obscenities. Below tonight's email to be followed by tomorrow's calls.
In 1997 a flood of calls got rid of Sara Lister for her remark "Marines are a little too extreme". Toward that end:
I ask that you intercede on behalf of the Haditha Marines and to oppose their continued persecution at the hands of such corrupt traitors as Jack Murtha.The hour is too late for the obsequious collegiality of the other body--these Marines, these honorable Marines, are being sacrificed upon an altar of political correctness. This obscene outrage must not stand.
Now, as Marine after Marine is cleared of the trumped up charges stemming from the enemy's slander, we find the Navy Department railroaded them from Day One.
From Day One these men were stabbed in the back by their superiors even as they faced character assassination from the likes of Murtha, and the outright lies of terrorist mouthpieces on the ground.
Surely there are patriots in our party--perhaps even a handful across the aisle--who will not stand for this Stalinesque show trial any longer.
We cannot survive as a nation if we destroy our most honorable to assuage the unassuagable, to appease the unappeasable.
I am depending upon your continued rock solid common sense and bedrock decency to work toward the end of this abomination.
Please consult the following article on the latest development, the discovery of the shadow prosecution stemming from the Navy Secretary himself: Haditha Bombshell: Pentagon Had Secret Committee
"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."Yeah, that's what politicized it, the extraordinary action. It wasn't the torches and pitchforks wielded by Murtha and the other DemonRats in and out of Congress, plus A.N.S.W.E.R., MoveOn, the D.U., Daily Kos...
yawn
Getting your phrases honed for the Obama Nation campaign?
Hon, you haven't got a clue what an abomination is. You remind me of my hysterical 91 year old aunt who always has a "pain that like to killed me" or a problem that "scared me to death."
I believe those straps of leather that steer the horse are called reins, pardner.
We have known for over a year that they took lawyers who were on inactive service and dragged them bak into the Military, and guess who they served? These were federal lawyers, just like the ones who Bush canned last year, they worked in their offices, and all of a sudden these people get called back to active duty to HANG Marines...
There is no more Republican Party
If you knew what I learned in the last 2 years, you wouldn’t be surprised at all.
Ok, whatever. Fine, so now I’m “Liberal”? LOL not hardly! Yeah, I suppose I’m liberal now because I disagree with you? I’ll tell you what. If you are an example of a “true, real” conservative, I’d be glad to be a “Liberal”! Not like socialist. I definitely am not a socialist, thank you!
So who cares what you think I am. But I do think you’re being a jerk! You do realize people are not Liberal (or socialist)just because they still admire our Pres. Bush? I happen to know/know of, a lot of conservatives who admire and credit our pres. for many things he has done. (including some conserv. Democrats)Yeah, they do still exist.(although I’m Republican)
So you could be a little bit more respectful of people who disagree with you? This website is still open to people who still like and support our president. It’s not just for his critics and bashers! Because I don’t think his critics are all “true, or real” conservatives! You’re certainly not the owner either. So just try really hard to be more civil, ok?
You're very welcome.
Perhaps it is one of Bush's very biggest failures (and the Republican party at large) that he is both unwilling and unable to forcefully and unequivocally set straight the daily litany of lies from Dems and the MSM. With each passing day he has become less of a principled man and more of a logroller.
This is not to diminish the good things he has done, but simply to honestly acknowledge the truth as it appears today.
You were NOT CALLED A LIBERAL. You were called out for using an illogical debating technique common to liberals. And you've just done exactly the same thing again, defending yourself from being called a liberal, when that is not the what was said.
My take on Sudetenland's comments is that he believes you are unwilling to acknowledge that Bush has done some damage to conservative causes (immigration, pandering to liberals, allowing prosecution of our border agents and military men to appease foreign govts.), notwithstanding the important and admirable things (tax cuts, security, SCOTUS) he has done. Blind support does nothing to further the truth.
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