Posted on 01/02/2012 10:28:48 AM PST by smoothsailing
January 2, 2012
It certainly seems appropriate that the last defendant in the Haditha case is the squad leader, SSgt Frank Wuterich. Leaders take responsibility, and SSgt Wuterich has taken full responsibility for the actions of his squad in Haditha. His stance from the outset has remained clear:
As the last Marine originally charged in the deaths of Iraqis in Haditha, Iraq in 2005, SSgt Wuterich will be seated at the defense table in his general court-martial two days from now, Wednesday, January 4th. Barring last minute motions or outright dismissal of charges, jury selection will begin Wednesday or Thursday. SSgt. Wuterich will be tried by a jury of combat-experienced Marines, and the panel will include at least two Marines from the enlisted ranks.
Much has been written over the last six years about Haditha, and links to some of the most recent news articles and commentaries are included at the bottom of this post to help bring readers up to date. For older Free Republic postings, please use this link or enter the keyword Haditha in the Free Republic search engine.
The purpose of this Free Republic thread is to serve as a "Master Post" where trial news and updates can be brought together in one place for easy reference by those interested in following the proceedings as they unfold.
Freepers Smoothsailing, Red Rover, and Jazusamo will monitor the thread, post updates, and attempt to answer questions or direct readers to information sources. Jazusamo maintains the Haditha Marine Ping List. Please ask Jazusamo to be added to the ping list if you wish to be alerted to updates.
Recent News and Commentary:
MILITARY TIMES-Haditha Marine Faces Trial
Count Down to the Last Haditha Trial
MILITARY: Two high-profile cases set for Pendleton courtrooms
Remember SSgt Frank D. Wuterich: The last Haditha Marine goes on trial
Don’t rewrite Murtha’s legacy (Haditha Marines)
I don’t know how quick it’s going to be. It’s really a huge file.
An OTH(Other Than Honorable) is not authorized because he is held past his EAOS(End of Active Obligated Service). He will get, or he will end up, awarded by the BCNR(Board for Correction of Naval Records), an Honorable discharge. He is entitled to a “type warranted by service record” characterization of discharge. Negligent dereliction of duty is an simple disorder (3 months max, no BCD[Bad Conduct Discharge] authorized). With the MJ(Military Judge) knowing there was a PTA(Pre-Trial Agreement) to negligent dereliction, he was fully protected to impose a maximum sentence — he would “look strong” on good order and discipline knowing that the G(Government) had folded on the least significant charge they could agree to and there must be some sentence limitation that would protect the accused. It was a no lose for the MJ — no courage in his decision — sentence to the max and see what the Defense extracted from the Government in a case where the G has essentially proved the defense. That this went to trial is an embarrassment to the hundreds of years of prosecutors who have sought justice.
I also like what Charlie has to say about the nature of the Iraq war, and particularly his opinion of the P's and the JA's (prosecutors)
I totally get it re: the war — we were trying to save the peeps living next door to the terrorists — that is a failed policy decision. Once the shooting started with a dead Marine in Haditha, all bets were off; it was all about Americans living and bad guys dying and I have to tell you, there is no amount of dead non-Americans that I would trade for one dead Marine. That is just me and my experience dealing with terrorist fucks trying to kill our peeps. If you feel differently, that is cool, but I doubt most LCPLS would agree.
Our war planning was a total embarrassment and this case helped to expose it. We created after-the-fact rules of engagement to address Haditha and the prosecution tried to apply the ex post facto rules to what our troops had been told at the time. The P JAs are criminals in my mind; they tried to commit a fraud by applying later ROA to the events in Haditha. At the time of Haditha, Marines were trained to conduct a a house clearing by throwing a grenade in the room and spraying the room with bullets. That the procedure later changed is fine, but the P’s tried to argue that you had to P’ID(positively identify) before shooting and that was just NOT true, as numerous officer and senior enlisted witnesses testified on cross examination during the G case in chief. Arguing to the contrary, in my opinion, is trying to perpetrate a fraud on the court. In a perfect world, the P’s would stand trial for dereliction of duty. But they saved themselves by negotiating an agreement that salvaged a conviction, even if it was totally bogus and everyone knows it.
Haditha was a bad deal, but the terrorists brought it on themselves. They chose the place; they chose the manner. It is unfortunate that innocents died, but that is war and it is a war they chose to seek in a time and place in their own country.
>> “the G(Government) had folded on the least significant charge they could agree to “
That was my initial reaction. The G is also a well-funded persecution machine, and the threat of that is nothing to casually dismiss.
>> “Haditha was a bad deal, but the terrorists brought it on themselves. They chose the place; they chose the manner. It is unfortunate that innocents died,”
Another point that I know many of us maintain as fact; it was the insurgents that knowingly exposed the innocent lives.
At the time of Haditha, Marines were trained to conduct a a house clearing by throwing a grenade in the room and spraying the room with bullets.
As I posted a couple of weeks ago, I can tell you for a fact, that is exactly the way SOI at Camp Geiger was training Marines to clear houses in the fall of 2007. Throw a grenade into every room before entering and firing. The fall of 2007 was 2 years after the Haditha ambush and more than a year after the cowardly perfumed princes of the panty-waist Pentagon ran like scared bunny rabbits from a TIME Magazine hit piece and pressed charges against a fine squad of Marine combat veterans.
That was my reaction as well. Charlie Gittins gets it.
There was something—a briefing before Haditha—where a Marine was killed when he entered a house and hesitated to fire at a person hiding under a blanket and was killed by that (insurgent). So the troops were told to shoot anyone hiding under blankets.
Anyone remember that?
I don’t remember it, but it sure makes sense, obviously a blanket can hide a weapon.
I sure do.
I compiled a folder full of "ROE" threads and articles, and if I get some time I can look it up.
Thanks much for this post Smooth. It can't be said any better than Charlie Gittins said it. On top of that Haditha was a hot bed of insurgents and everyone knew it.
Yes, and those "innocents" watched as insurgent terrorists buried a massive bomb in the road in front of their houses and paved it over to disguise it. Remember the girl who told CNN she was getting ready for school when she heard the convoy coming, so she covered her ears because she knew there was going to be a loud explosion?
Maybe those "innocents" found themselves between a rock and a hard place, I don't know, but oh well.. Look at them now. War is hell. The deaths of those people must be laid solely at the feet of an enemy that used them for human shields, with or without their complicity.
Meanwhile, everybody forgets about Miguel Terrazas.
You don’t have to look it up for me, Lancey.
The “insurgents”, with malice aforethought, put their women and kids in harms way. And they are the lowest of the low.
Our government, blaming our troops when “civilians” were killed in these engagements, was also done with malice aforethought.
And I will never be able to forgive that. I’m not even going to try.
I like Gittins. He was CPT Randy Stone’s lawyer during Stone’s Art.32 hearing. He’s very familiar with the facts of Haditha, so his opinion carries extra weight, IMO.
Thanks Girl! He also successfully defended CPT Randy Stone, one of our Haditha Marines!
There was also at least one “blanket” situation in a house, as bigheadfred described it, and some other cases where terrorists played dead only to “wake up” and take out a couple more Marines before getting killed for sure. Early in the Iraq war our guys would routinely put an extra bullet into heads to “make sure”, just so this kind of thing wouldn’t happen. Then, of course, the “embedded reporters” (yeah, what a great idea) had a field day reporting “atrocities”.
Probably so, Lancey. Fallujah was fraught with this type of stuff, as I remember.
>> The deaths of those people must be laid solely at the feet of an enemy that used them for human shields,
That’s been my argument from day one!
Regarding the use of the term ‘innocent’, I suppose it’s meant to describe the women and children non-combatants that have no explicit role in the attacks on US assets or personnel. Whether they’re innocent in the truest sense of the word is not something I can reasonably determine.
>> Meanwhile, everybody forgets about Miguel Terrazas.
Forget? There’s plenty to suggest too many don’t care.
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