Posted on 06/20/2007 3:06:06 AM PDT by RedRover
SAN DIEGO (AP) - The Marines should pursue a less serious administrative charge against a captain accused of failing to probe the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians because he was "selectively singled out" for prosecution while more senior officers escaped charges, an investigating officer said.
Capt. Randy W. Stone, 34, who is a lawyer, was charged with violation of a lawful order and dereliction of duty for failing to report and investigate the 2005 deaths in the Haditha assault. He faced up to 2 years in prison if convicted of those charges at court-martial.
After reviewing evidence at a preliminary hearing last month, Maj. Thomas McCann recommended that the criminal charge be dismissed. But he also recommended that prosecutors draw up a new charge of failing to obey an order.
In a report obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday, McCann wrote that Stone was "derelict in the performance of his duties," and negligently failed to inform his bosses that the way the Iraqis were killed posed a "possible use of force issue."
McCann recommended the new charge be handled administratively. Non-judicial punishments for officers can include forfeiture of pay and an official admonition.
Stone's attorney, Charles Gittens, did not return several phone calls seeking comment, but in a written response to McCann, he said the recommendation for a new charge was unfounded.
"It took the investigating officer five pages of tortured reasoning to manufacture this highly implausible theory of criminal liability," Gittens wrote.
McCann's recommendation for a new charge is nonbinding. A final decision will be made by Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the commanding general overseeing the case who will also decide whether to dismiss the other charges.
Many of those killed were women and children, who died when Marines threw hand grenades into bedrooms then opened fire with machine guns. Three enlisted Marines charged with murder in the case say they were clearing homes the way they had been trained.
Related threads:
IMO the Marines should pursue dropping all charges and apologizing to each and every one of the Haditha Marines. It is embarrassing to me that the USA let the enemy within carry this travesty of justice this far. The people of the United States, especially southwestern Pennsylvania, need to set aside their apathy or greed and get rid of the seditious or Marxist politician thugs like Murtha.
For the Associated Press, the above comment represents an improvement. They didn't use the word "murder." They included that the Marines claim they were just following their ROE's, which they were.
If the AP has the report, why don't we? If the report is supposed to be secure, why does the AP have it.
Perhaps Maj. Thomas McCann should be brought up on charges for dereliction and negligence.
Yes, they did.
Bingo. Drop charges against everyone and apologise for this fiasco.
It wont happen ,because like the Scooter Libby charge they have to find someone guilty of something. Its horse crap.
They havent got the evidence so they are trying to get something out of this mess so they can say they did something. Dismiss the whole thing in its entirety.
Thomas McCann was given a simple order: Give his opinion/judgement to Lt. Gen. Mattis about three (1,2,3) Specifications that NCIS had come up with. His answer was NO to all three, but, hey, I’ll come up with a new one for Mattis to consider? I didn’t know an Investigating Officer could do this under the UCMJ.
Did the man actually say these things as reported?
I will tend to assume that anything that dribbles from the diseased maw of either the AP or Reuters to be either invented out of thin air, completely misconstrued or purposely twisted out of context.
If either of those organizations published an article that had a statement within it that ensured us all that the sun was sure to rise tomorrow, I’d run out and buy up every flash light and battery I could afford because they can be counted on for only two things:
1. To lie.
2. To be wrong.
So, maybe he said this thing and maybe it is reported in context, if so, only on accident and I’ll not believe a word of it until the entire transcript is made available.
Well, you have a point about the reporting. What’s also interesting, is the AP reporter supposedly also has Charles Gittin’s, Capt. Stone’s civilian attorney, written response to the IO. So the leak appears to be the whole package that Lt. Gen. Mattis will receive.
I haven’t been following this story very closely. It sounds like these Marines didn’t actually wantonly kill civilians in Haditha, correct? They pursued some bad guys who used a residence as shelter and some civilians got caught in the crossfire, is that right?
That does not settle the entire case but it's a major step forward. There are two other enlisted Marines awaiting hearings for actions in two other houses and at a white taxi.
Two officers (including Capt Stone) have had hearings. Two more are to come. It's possible that any of the four could be found guilty of dereliction even though there was no crime in the first place (kind of like Scooter Libby).
I believe at least a couple of the accused will go to court martial while the rest will have charges dismissed.
When that happens, John ("They killed innocent civilians in cold blood") Murtha and the media will have a great deal to answer for.
If you're interested, search keyword "Haditha" every once in a while to get the latest here on FR.
Murtha is a danger to our national security. Items like this are never covered outside the finanical press...
Overlooking Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in western Pennsylvania sits a research center that has received $12 million from the Defense Department since 2003 to help companies such as Alcoa Inc. and Timken Co. improve production methods.
The man behind the center is Congressman John Murtha, a local Democrat who founded and allocated the money for it. Trouble is, the Defense Department never asked for it.
The U.S. military's budget is increasingly being diverted to fund the pet projects of lawmakers, often for purposes that stretch the meaning of national defense. The funds are sometimes taken from training and spare parts -- a "dangerous" practice at a time when the Army is spread thin in Iraq and facing threats in Iran and North Korea, says John Shalikashvili, a retired general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"It's gotten completely out of hand," Shalikashvili, 70, said in an interview. "This is the time that we need to put the Army in full readiness, and we cannot even afford to do that."
And in other news, Murtha recently announced from Johnstown a $30 million contract that the Marine Corps Systems Command was awarding to Concurrent Technologies Corporation. Wonder if the Corps wants what Big Daddy is buying them?
You’re right. Wonder how I missed that?
(old age...creeping up... :>)
Crock.
Shame on Bush.
I smell an email campaign to Gen Mattis about stopping this farce and plugging the damned leaks!
You weren’t wrong, Padre. The AP referred to murder charges—which is factual.
The AP has stopped (for now) suggesting that guilt has been established.
Well, on one hand I think it’s appropriate the charges were dropped but on the other it seems Maj. Thomas McCann may be of the CYA group when he tries to come up with a new charge. I see it as straddling the fence in a big way.
I would also like to know if this is a common occurence in Article 32 hearings as well as the leaking of this report. Don’t know if it’s actually a leak though, the other IO pretty much made his intentions known at the end of LCpl. Sharratt’s hearing.
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