Posted on 12/11/2009 7:09:41 PM PST by jazusamo
The highest-ranked Marine accused of bungling the military's response to the slayings of two dozen Iraqi civilians after a lethal 2005 roadside bombing displayed substandard performance, but he should not be demoted, a three-member Board of Inquiry ruled Friday.
The military board said it will recommend to the secretary of the Navy that Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, with 22 years of service and three tours of duty in Iraq, be allowed to retain his rank and not be demoted to major.
"It's been a long four years, but it hasn't been a miserable four years," Chessani told the North County Times after the decision was announced inside a Camp Pendleton courtroom. "A lot of good has come out of it, and I praise God and am thankful for all the people that have stood by us."
During the administrative hearing, which began Dec. 2, the board heard witnesses describe what happened in the city of Haditha, Iraq, on Nov. 19, 2005, and how Chessani responded to the civilian deaths.
The incident drew international condemnation and prompted a harsh critique of U.S. troop conduct in the Iraq war.
The Iraqis were slain by a Camp Pendleton squad as the troops hunted for the people responsible for the bombing that killed one Marine and injured two others. Chessani and his subordinates deemed the deaths regrettable, but the result of a legitimate combat action.
Prosecutors argued that Chessani was derelict by failing to accurately report the number of deaths and not ordering an investigation after learning several women and children were among the dead.
That failure resulted in a propaganda coup for the Iraqi insurgency, Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan argued in closing statements Friday morning.
(Excerpt) Read more at nctimes.com ...
I never thought about it but took for granted a 2-1 would be all that’s required, I may be wrong.
Same old crap from Walker with the "two dozen". And what is it with the "accused of bungling"? Where does that appear in the UCMJ?
I accuse Mark Walker of buffoonery.
I don’t know the answer to your question but I think that for practical purposes a split decision would be extremely rare. I figure they just deliberate among themselves and come to a consensus. In this case, I figure that during their deliberations one of them wondered, “Hey, is there a bone we can throw to the prosecutors?” And so they came up with the embarrassingly lame line about Chessani’s performance being substandard because he “failed to provide as detailed and accurate a report as possible.”
Most appropriate, Phil. Thanks!
“There’s nothing “mixed” about it.”
Well, the poor guy will never pin chickens on his collar.
I'll second that. Every insurgent killed in Iraq must be a "civilian" in his eyes because they didn't have uniforms on.
Okay everybody, fasten your seatbelts.
One more Marine to exonerate.
You KNOW the scumbags are going to try to hang Wuterich and they’ll be coming after him with every lie in their arsenal.
Isn't that ridiculous, at first it was he didn't report, now it's we don't like the report. They might as well have said he used the wrong color ink or paper size.
That's a ridiculous conclusion for two reason: 1. In a situation with plenty of time, who EVER provides as detailed a report as possible?
2. Given this situation in the middle of an active, insurgent uprising that lasted well beyond the Haditha incident, show-and-glow, schoolhouse-style reports just don't happen. You get the down and dirty. People's lives shouldn't be wasted because someone's writing a pretty report.
Well said, Lancey. It's time to concentrate our efforts and help SSgt Wuterich in whatever way we can.
Agreed. But we know this, Frank's case is tainted by the same UCI as Chessani's. IMO, the defense has the upper hand going in. No time to let down our guard, though.
Thanks for the prayers, MU and like you say, Frank will be needing them also. I believe many here will be helping out.
Maybe, but the Sec NAV doesn’t have to go with the Board’s decision - Look what Mabus just did to the Hamdania guys (Shumate, Jackson, Jodka and Bacos) ordered them out of service last month after their pleas deals from 2 years ago.
There is absolutely no doubt about it. I suspect that Frank's defense lawyers were waiting for this final resolution of Chessani's case before going proactive. Perhaps they'll start filing motions like crazy at this point.
The UCI in Frank’s case is definitely there as it was in this case.
I believe I read that Neal Puckett was waiting to file it in Frank’s case until the Chessani case was over but don’t know if it was the courts-martial or this board of inquiry.
You make a good point and I thought of that but didn’t want to. After him doing that with the Hamdania Marines anything is possible with him.
That's a very good point. Ubama the Kenyan communist and his jack-in-the-box clown brigade are the wild cards in this whole fiasco. God only knows what those sick scumbags might come up with.
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