Posted on 01/24/2012 7:17:07 PM PST by RedRover
Camp Pendleton, Calif. – The long, lonely journey of Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich ended today when military judge LtCol David Jones sentenced the father of three to 90 days confinement and reduction in grade to Private (E-1), the lowest rank in the Marine Corps.
However, the convening authority Lieutenant General Thomas D. Waldhauser had stipulated that Wuterich will not be confined so the incarceration order was immediately vacated. Wuterich will be reduced in rank in 14 days unless Waldhauser – the convening authority – overrules the judge’s sentence and restores Wuterich to his current rank or some other lower rank of his choosing. Waldhauser is the Commanding General,1st Marine Expeditionary Force ; and Commander, U. S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command. At the time of this writing, the type of discharge Wuterich will receive is still undecided.
On Monday, Wuterich agreed to a plea deal in which he admitted guilt to one count of Negligent Dereliction of Duty in return for the government dropping 13 other charges, including nine counts of Voluntary Manslaughter, two counts of Aggravated Assault, and two other charges of willful dereliction of duty.
Negligent dereliction is a lesser included offense in Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Although a misdemeanor, it still carried possible jail time.
“Lieutenant General Waldhauser believes SSgt Wuterich did not kill anyone in House Number One or House Number 2,” lead defense attorney Neal Puckett told the military judge during his closing argument. “His integrity is unfaltering. Capt (now Major) McConnell doesn’t wear his Combat Action Ribbon because SSgt Wuterich didn’t receive his.”
McConnell was relieved of command of Kilo, 3/1 soon after the battalion returned to Camp Pendleton in March, 2006. He has since been exonerated of any charges and restored to his chosen career. The burley infantry officer, who Wuterich claims is the best Marine he ever met, sat impassively in the visitor’s gallery while Puckett was speaking.
Wuterich, now 31, was originally charged with 18 counts of unpremeditated murder, two counts of soliciting others to make a false statement, and making a false statement himself. Since then a six-year long inquiry revealed there was never any evidence to support the original charges.
His only offense is telling the three Marines following him to “shoot first and ask questions later,” an order the government says led his tiny command to believe they could kill whomever they found. When their vicious counterattack was over, some number of Iraqi civilians were dead. Fourteen of them – including 10 women and children – were civilians cowering in their homes while the battle outside raged.
Five Iraqi men died beside a white car that appeared inside the Marine’s security zone seconds before the IED decimated the squad. The government never said who the other victims were.
Although Sullivan insisted there was 16 dead Iraqis to account for after the skirmish was over, McConnell said he was only aware of 15 civilians that died, the number he reported up the chain of command the same day, he testified. In the final analysis it didn’t matter. The government withdrew all those charges during the marathon settlement negotiations that reportedly lasted from last Wednesday until Sunday night.
"The truth of this case is complex..."
“At worst, SSgt Wuterich may have failed in keeping better control of his squad, a negligent dereliction of duty. But the failure to control must be considered in the context of the combat record that took place that day. The truth of this case is complex with many facts and nuances that must be included in retelling an accurate narrative of the events in Haditha,” the defense said in a prepared statement.
When the smoke cleared from a huge IED embedded in the concrete road, LCpl Miguel “T.J." Terrazas was dead and two other Marines were seriously wounded. Almost immediately the decimated squad began receiving automatic weapons fire from insurgents hiding among houses that lined both sides of the road, several Marines testified last week.
During the sentencing hearing today, McConnell, Maj. Jeffrey Dinsmore, the battalion intelligence officer at Haditha, and Sgt Maj Ed Sax, the battalion sergeant major at Haditha who testified on Wuterich’s behalf while a prosecution witness, were among the witnesses. They told the court Wuterich was an exceptional Marine they would accept back in their commands without hesitation.
McConnell, an Annapolis graduate, was relieved of command along with former 3/1 battalion commander LtCol Jeffrey Chessani in early 2006 after Time magazine reporter Tim McGirk wrote a specious story claiming both officers had conspired with others to cover up the civilian deaths at Haditha. Like McConnell, Chessani was ultimately exonerated after a four year court fight.
Wuterich was a 24-year old infantry squad leader on his first deployment to Iraq when the hidden roadside bomb was detonated under the last Humvee in the tiny unit’s four-vehicle convoy. It was a tough situation for a Marine who had been an instructor at the School of Infantry-West at Camp Pendleton.
He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines after a tour teaching young Marines how to fight. Now it was time for him to practice what he preached. The Thundering Third had a well deserved reputation for fierceness earned during the battle to recapture Fallujah the year before and at An Nasiriyah, in 2003, when the light infantry battalion held open a road between two critical bridges during a battle later immortalized as the “Bridge Fights.”
During the two weeks of testimony proceeding today’s sentencing, witness after witness testified Wuterich did his job well, even admirably, although most of them had been called as prosecution witnesses to incriminate him.
Those witnesses testified that after tending to the wounded and calling for reinforcements, Wuterich briefed his platoon leader about what he knew. Wuterich was then ordered by Lt. William Kallop to “clear South,” a euphemism for attacking a house with rifles and grenades where his Marines said they were receiving automatic weapons fire, Kallop testified.
When the bloody deed was done, civilians were dead. It was the beginning of what is now known at the “Haditha Massacre,” arguably the most divisive incident the Marine Corps has been forced to endure since the Vietnam War.
“I went to Iraq to do my duty, to serve my country, and do the best that I could do. When my Marines and I cleared those houses that day, I responded to what I perceived as a threat and my intention was to eliminate that threat in order to keep the rest of my Marines alive. So when I told my team to shoot first and ask questions later, the intent wasn’t that they would shoot civilians. It was that they would not hesitate in the face of the enemy,” Wuterich told the court.
Today’s hearing merely put the stamp of officialdom on what the participants in the court-martial have known since Sunday. All the evidence was in, the jurors were out, and the court room was packed. Behind Wuterich were David and Rosemarie Wuterich, who have been sitting behind their son since testimony began two weeks ago.
Sitting to his left was detailed Marine Corps lawyer Maj. Meridith Marshall. On his other side was defense Haytham Faraj and Neal Puckett. Both men, former Marines, have been defending Wuterich since he was charged in 2006.
On the other side of the aisle were lead prosecutor Maj. Nicholas Gannon and his co-counsel LtCol Sean Sullivan, who has been prosecuting Haditha defendants for so long he managed to turn a reserve commission into a military career. Today, Sullivan was doing most of the heavy lifting. It was his job to inflict some vengeance into a renowned criminal case that has already seen seven defendants walk free. Sullivan came out swinging.
“The evidence clearly articulates the negligence of this order,” he said. Sullivan used the opportunity to once again address how fate and modern weapons combined to killed innocent women and children. Although Wuterich was not being sentenced for manslaughter or assault Sullivan kept the “horrific” demise of the victims central to his theme that the government deserved its pound of flesh, even if it was only a 90 day sentence. He urged the military judge to sentence Wuterich to the maximum allowed by the stipulated agreement.
McGirk responds
Tim McGirk, who has not been heard from by the Marine Corps since he wrote his sensational March 19, 2006 article accusing the Marines of massacre and cover-up, and helped prepare an equally specious follow-up report called “The Ghosts of Haditha,” finally surfaced.
Today, McGirk answered a request for an interview with Defend Our Marines by “declining our request, but I'd like to set you straight on a few points in your note.”
According to McGirk it was his New York editor Jim Kelly who forbade him from going to Haditha after another journalist was seriously wounded in Baghdad.
“A photographer, an Iraqi translator and myself had made arrangements through the military to go to the Marine base at Haditha. Two days before we were supposed to leave on the embed, an ABC reporter was shot in the head by a sniper in Baghdad, and there was a general lock-down on press movements by media organizations in Iraq. My editor in NY, Jim Kelly, ordered me not to go to Haditha. It was as simple as that. As the ace investigative reporter you say you are, you can easily check this.”
In fact, that particular fact was confirmed in 2007 by several sources who told Defend Our Marines McGirk had been forbidden by Time magazine from seeking to discover for himself what he so grandiloquently attributed to two known insurgents who had pulled the wool over his eyes.
In my Monday missive, I asked McGirk to “please help me understand” why he never bothered to look for himself, a fundamental journalistic endeavor as cherished by reporters as much as the Marine Corps cherishes it own customs and traditions. Until McGirk declined to travel to Haditha this reporter had never heard of an instance where a reporter – particularly one who works for such an august journal as Time magazine – wrote a report based on sources he didn’t know and could scarcely understand.
Had McGirk bothered to simply send an e-mail to the Thundering Third, he would have received a briefing the battalion staff had prepared for his inquisition, according to Maj Dinsmore, who helped prepare it.
“I have no doubt, Mr. Helms," McGirk wrote, "that in combat you may have found yourself in situations similar to Haditha, facing an invisible enemy who uses IEDs and then hides behind the civilian population. I've been on plenty of embeds with the army and with the Marines, in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 99 percent of the time these men handled terrible, confusing situations as professionals who never broke the rules of engagement and kept their cool. Wuterich, and the men under his command were the exception but, to my mind, that doesn't excuse them from being the subject of a thorough military investigation. Good luck with your book, Mr. Helms. I'll be reading it very carefully."
And thank you, Mr. McGirk. We hope you do.
That is McGirk’s look when he heard, “no jail time”.
Ever seen a horse gone loco? Same eyes.
Just saying...
Ah the Runaway Bride and San Fran Nan...they need thyroid exams!
I doubt that Mr . Helms is quaking in his boots. Bring it on “talliban party boy”.
I would like to thinks so, but it would be political suicide in today's sick climate. After all the publicity that helped the charges to be watered down to a single character slur against this hero. To restore him would send the message that warriors can be warriors and protect their own lives without being blamed for the horrific and cowardly tactics of the enemy. I doubt even Bush would have let Waldhauser do the right thing without repercussions - I'm positive Obama won't let it happen.
“we had no Red Book, and knew nothing about them. We were out fighting the Boers, not sitting comfortably behind barb-wire entanglements; we got them and shot them under Rule 303”
Breaker Morant
Smooth,
A time comes when you have to step aside and allow other people to do your bidding. I love this comment from a Canadian housewife. When will more people in the US wake up and take a stand.
One Pissed off Canadian Housewife
Ever notice how some people just seem to know how to write a letter?
This one surely does!
This was written by a Canadian woman, but oh how it also applies to the U.S.A. , U.K. and Australia .
Written by a housewife in New Brunswick , to her local newspaper. This is one ticked off lady...
“Are we fighting a war on terror or aren’t we? Was it or was it not, started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001 and have continually threatened to do so since?
Were people from all over the world, not brutally murdered that day, in downtown Manhattan , across the Potomac from the capitol of the USA and in a field in Pennsylvania ?
Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn’t they?
Do you think I care about four U. S. Marines urinating on some dead Taliban insurgents?
And I’m supposed to care that a few Taliban were claiming to be tortured by a justice system of a nation they are fighting against in a brutal Insurgency.
I’ll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East, start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere belief of which, is a crime punishable by beheading in Afghanistan .
I’ll care when these thugs tell the world they are sorry for hacking off Nick Berg’s head, while Berg screamed through his gurgling slashed throat.
I’ll care when the cowardly so-called insurgents in Afghanistan , come out and fight like men, instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding in Mosques and behind women and children.
I’ll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of Nirvana, care about the innocent children within range of their suicide Bombs.
I’ll care when the Canadian media stops pretending that their freedom of Speech on stories, is more important than the lives of the soldiers on the ground or their families waiting at home, to hear about them when something happens.
In the meantime, when I hear a story about a CANADIAN soldier roughing up an Insurgent terrorist to obtain information, know this:
I don’t care.
When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank:
I don’t care. Shoot him again.
When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and fed ‘special’ food, that is paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being ‘mishandled,’ you can absolutely believe, in your heart of hearts:
I don’t care.
And oh, by the way, I’ve noticed that sometimes it’s spelled ‘Koran’ and other times ‘Quran.’ Well, Jimmy Crack Corn you guessed it.
I don’t care!!
If you agree with this viewpoint, pass this on to all your E-mail Friends. Sooner or later, it’ll get to the people responsible for this ridiculous behavior!
If you don’t agree, then by all means hit the delete button. Should you choose the latter, then please don’t complain when more atrocities committed by radical Muslims happen here in our great Country! And may I add:
Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering, if during their life on earth, they made a difference in the world. But, the Soldiers don’t have that problem.
I have another quote that I would like to share AND...I hope you forward All this.
One last thought for the day:
Only five defining forces have ever offered to die for you:
1. Jesus Christ
2. The British Soldier.
3. The Canadian Soldier.
4. The US Soldier, and
5. The Australian Soldier
One died for your soul, the other four, for you and your children’s Freedom.
YOU MIGHT WANT TO PASS THIS ON, AS MANY SEEM TO FORGET!
AMEN! GOD BLESS CANADA AND AMERICA
God Bless Our Haditha Marines
Darryl Sharratt
Now that the trial is off the front page, it may be possible to save render a decision that restores Wutterich’s reputation and doe’s not discharge him dishonorably. He’s going to have a tough enough transition as it is.
I was counting on you and you didn’t let me down! Thanks!
Darryl,
I really appreciate your sharing of that.
The dear lady has a gift for words.
God Bless America, Canada, and Our Haditha Marines
Rusty
Thank you for posting this, Darryl!
This lady is so right, when dealing with barbarians they can’t be beaten by pampering them.
“God Bless America, Canada, and Our Haditha Marines”
AMEN!
Boy oh boy. Thanks for that!
BZ — it’s a different Sullivan. It was Dwight Sullivan who offered his analysis of the legal issues implicated in the Lakin case and correctly predicted what the outcome would be.
We all knew what the outcome would be. The difference is Dwight Sullivan agreed with that outcome - the decision that the lawfulness of combat orders is totally independent of whether or not combat was authorized by the only person the law allows to authorize combat.
IOW, just like with everything Obama is doing, it doesn’t matter what the laws or the Constitution say. So sayeth the “expert” lawyer, Dwight Sullivan.
Sounds like the stink is the same, though - whether it’s Dwight or Sean. Putrid.
Apparently LTC Lakin agreed as well, since he admitted as he entered his guilty pleas that he knew his orders were valid at the time he disobeyed them. He also withdrew the appeal that he would have been entitled to.
The rulings by Judge Lind explained in great detail the reasons that the orders were legal, and even Lakin’s attorney made no attempt to argue to the contrary.
I don’t recall Colonel Sullivan arguing that he agreed with the law. He simply pointed out what the the outcome would be based on what the law says, and he was obviously right. No point blaming the messenger.
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