Posted on 11/30/2009 1:57:40 PM PST by Dubya
An inquiry board will convene Wednesday morning at Camp Pendleton to decide if a Marine Corps officer should be demoted for his actions after the shooting deaths of 24 Iraqi men, women and children four years ago.
At issue is whether Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, who commanded the Camp Pendleton unit that carried out the slayings, engaged in misconduct in handling the incident.
The inquiry board is the final step in Chessani's case; prosecutors earlier this year dropped two counts of criminal dereliction of duty.
If the board finds there was no misconduct, the case will be closed. If it decides there was misconduct, it can recommend that the Secretary of the Navy order Chessani retired at a lesser rank.
Chessani's attorneys have said the veteran of three Iraq deployments immediately reported the killings up the chain of command and was not directed to take any further action.
(Excerpt) Read more at nctimes.com ...
Flanked by his wife and attorneys, Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani walks to a court hearing at Camp Pendleton earlier this year. The Marine Corps has dropped criminal dereliction of duty charges against him but is convening an inquiry board to determine if he committed any misconduct.
(File photo by Jamie Scott Lytle - Staff Photographer)
My, what can we say about lawyers?
Combine the legal training and lefty emotions and we have the Marine Corp. and Haditha. An endless process designed to punish those who did the fighting and leading. At this point it really doesn’t matter what happened. Just end it.
Bush should have put an end to this BS!
AMEN
ping
Chessani ping
Chessani's alleged dereliction of duty was failing to order a full-scale investigation.After years of legal wrangling, however, the charge was dismissed after a military judge ruled that unlawful command influence tainted the case.
After losing two appeals of that ruling, the government could have simply dropped the case, but opted instead to convene the inquiry board.
The identities of the board members won't be publicly known until Wednesday. A Marine Corps spokesman said the names were withheld so that Chessani supporters would not attempt to contact them.
The inquiry will take place in three phases.
Wednesday is limited to opening statements by prosecutors and defense attorneys. The panel will then adjourn to consider a voluminous record from prior court hearings and investigations.
The panel is scheduled to reconvene Dec. 7 to consider witness testimony. More than three dozen people are on the government and defense witness list, including Chessani, who can take the stand or give a statement that isn't subject to cross-examination. That phase of the proceedings could last a week or more.
When initially confronted in Iraq four years ago with the suggestion that the men had wantonly slain civilians, Chessani became visibly angry, a witness has testified
"My men are not murderers," he said..
It seems to me that the underlined above is an extremely prejudicial statement. "So that Chessani supporters wouldn't contact them"??? Where's the mention of all the Pentagon pukes who obviously were busy leaking details continuously through this thing. What about those who engaged in UCI? They don't have a prejudiced dog in this fight?
If it's true that a "Marine Corps spokesperson" made such an unbalanced statement, then I'd say the Marine Corps is guilty AGAIN of attempting to influence the outcome of this hearing.
This is amazing.
I'm sure those heading up this hearing or testifying will not read that statement by the "Marine Corps spokesperson" /sarcasm
It clearly takes sides.
It has ruined the careers of a number of patriots
Please don’t get me wrong, my blood boils over what they’ve had to endure as well. As a former squid and a good friend to many Marines in Oceanside, these men are patriots beyond a doubt. However, the system has worked in clearing the men of their charges. I will retract my comments if someone could please educate me with first-hand knowledge as to whether their careers have been tarnished as a direct result of the procedings.
.
Ask Frank Wuterich how his life has been these last 3 years.
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