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I have a question (about Haditha, that is). Ewers and Mattis said they never talked about the Chessani or other Haditha Marines' cases during those long and many meetings about Haditha. However, Ewer not only performed the interviews for the officers in Haditha (to include the three that were censored), but he testified at Stone's trial and telegraphed his opinion of both Stone, Chessani and other officers at Haditha. From North County Times, Legal affairs officer: Haditha decision not criminal

The testimony from Col. John Ewers came on the sixth day of a hearing to determine if Capt. Randy Stone will be ordered to trial for dereliction of duty. Stone was the battalion's legal officer and stands accused of criminal conduct for not investigating the killings, which took place on the morning of Nov. 19, 2005.

"He didn't cover himself with glory ... but without being asked by his commander to do an investigation, I didn't think it rose to the level of criminal dereliction," Ewers said, addressing the heart of the accusations against Stone.

Ewers was assigned in early 2006 to find out why no one from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment nor any higher Marine Corps authority ordered an investigation of the incident, which was not probed until after questions were raised in January 2006 by a reporter from Time magazine.

Ewers said his initial determination was that the incident, in which members of the battalion's Kilo Company killed 24 Iraqi civilians after a roadside bomb destroyed a Humvee and killed a Marine, was a "reckless application of the rules of engagement."

As for the decision by battalion commander Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani and others not to order an investigation, Ewer said he was "astonished," adding there was "plenty of responsibility to go around" for that decision.

Stone's attorney Charles Gittins called Ewers to testify to establish that he never read the 34-year-old Maryland native his rights before interviewing him in Iraq on March 20, 2006.

Ewers was assigned by the Marine Corps to assist U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell in a review of how commanders responded to the news that civilians had been killed after the bombing.

He also testified that he did not believe Chessani placed much reliance on Stone and that Stone was "set up to fail" because he had joined the battalion after its deployment and was never fully integrated into the command staff.

So even if Ewers never talked "directly" to Mattis about Haditha during those meetings,
- He told Mattis his opinion of Chessani's guilt quite directly through Stone's Article 32.
- After attending all those meetings, he brought the knowledge of Mattis' opinion on each Haditha Marine into the courtroom as he testified.

We know Gen. Mattis must have thought highly of Col. Ewer to make him his top legal adviser after his Bargewell assignment. If Gen. Mattis or Col. Ewers think they got around the "appearance" of UCI, they failed (IMO). It's written all over the indirect communications between the two.

Interesting point, Girl and I think you’re correct.

There’s no doubt that there’s at least the appearance of UCI.

That puts it right back to whether it was appropriate for Gen. Mattis to have chosen Col. Ewers as his legal advisor when Ewers investigated the incident early on and then tesified in Art. 32 hearings knowing that Gen. Mattis had to read and thoroughly study the transcripts from those hearings.

In this light I don’t believe it was appropriate.

Good point, Girl.
I believe this whole debacle for the Haditha Marines falls back to this:

The Marine Corps initially said that 15 civilians died in crossfire and that eight insurgents had been killed.

Despite that first report, when the Marines were charged nine months later, the service said that 24 civilians were killed and did not identify any of the victims as suspected insurgents.

In the end, the Marine Corps made death benefit payments to survivors of all 24, Stone's attorney Gittins said Monday.

IIRC, the Division PIO initially stated that all of the civilian deaths were as a result of the IED, and was lax in issuing a correction until after the story had been reported. Also, the fact that they paid off ALL of the decedents families with maximum solatia payments means they need someone to account for that expenditure. I believe evidentiary statements showed that there were AK47 weapons by the car, and 7x39 cartridge cases were collected in two of the houses.

To live in Haditha during that time, you either accepted or were an insurgent, or you didn't survive. Seems too many REMFs are making front-line decisions they are totally unqualified to make.