Free Republic

Professionals that cannot change themselves from within, cannot respond to the needs of their constituencies while also inspiring the admiration and loyalty of their own members are in trouble.--"Tarnished Brass: Is the US Military Profession in Decline?" by Richard H. Kohn, World Affairs, Spring 2009 When General Conway took over as the Marine Corps Commandant, he went on the speech circuit talking about the “long war”. One speech was made at the Marines’ Memorial Association and World Affairs Council, in San Francisco, California on July 10, 2007. In that speech, General Conway stated, “we have a couple of incidents in...

<p>ANN ARBOR, MI – Nearly four years after the so-called “Haditha Massacre,” an investigation conducted by over 65 NCIS agents (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) ─ the largest investigation in that agency’s history ─ with the expenditure of millions of taxpayer dollars, and prosecution losses at every stage of the criminal process, the government is still pursuing legal action against  Marine LtCol Jeffrey Chessani.</p>

The commandant of the Marine Corps has appointed one of his deputies to decide the next step in the case against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, who was charged with dereliction of duty after 24 Iraqi civilians were slain in the city of Haditha in 2005. Lt. Gen. George Flynn, deputy commandant for combat development and integration, was named the new convening authority over the Chessani matter last week, a Marine Corps spokesman said Monday. Flynn was given the task by Gen. James Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps. Conway was handed the Chessani case last month after a military judge...

U.S. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway is deciding what to do with the dereliction of duty case against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, the Camp Pendleton officer accused of failing to order a full-scale investigation into the slayings of two dozen Iraqi civilians in the city of Haditha in 2005. Conway got the case in late May, after the Marine Corps gave up its appeal of a military judge's ruling that unlawful command influence illegally tainted the case against Chessani. The Marine Corps appealed that ruling on two occasions and was considering a third appeal before deciding to let Conway...

The government has decided to give up on an existing case that had subjected a Marine commander to a criminal trial for his supervision of a team of soldiers attacked by insurgents in Haditha, Iraq, in 2005. But it remains possible the case will be re-filed against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, according to lawyers with the Thomas More Law Center, which has been working on his defense. WND reported just days ago when the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals denied without comment the government's motion to reconsider the case against Chessani. The decision followed a ruling from a three-judge...

The Marine Corps may be closer to giving up its troubled prosecution of Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani... ~ snip ~...a final decision on whether the case gets dropped rests with Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway. And if that happens, Chessani would become the seventh of eight Camp Pendleton Marines charged with crimes at Haditha to be fully exonerated. ~ snip ~[SSgt Frank] Wuterich's attorneys plan to seek a dismissal of the charges against their client for the same unlawful command influence found in the Chessani case. They haven't been able to file that motion, however, because his case is...

ANN ARBOR, MI – A government official has informed the Thomas More Law Center that the government will not seek to appeal the recent unanimous decision by the Navy Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals (NMCCA) in favor of LtCol Jeffrey Chessani, USMC.  The decision makes permanent the ruling by the trial court judge, Colonel Steven A. Folsom, USMC, dismissing the charges against LtCol Chessani – without prejudice – due to Unlawful Command Influence.  The government could have sought an appeal to the civilian Court of Appeals of the Armed Forces (CAAF), and then to the U.S. Supreme Court. ...

A military appeals court has thrown another roadblock in front of government prosecutors trying to convict a Marine officer - whose leadership in Iraq has been praised repeatedly by his superiors - on charges stemming from a firefight with insurgents in Haditha. The Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals last night denied without comment the government's motion to reconsider the case against Lt. Col. Jeffery Chessani, according to a statement from the Thomas More Law Center. The organization has been defending Chessani against charges prompted by the public statements from Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who accused Marines of being cold-blooded...

ANN ARBOR, MI – Yesterday evening, the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals (NMCCA), sitting in Washington DC, denied without comment the government’s motion for Reconsideration.  Government prosecutors had asked that the unanimous ruling in favor of LtCol Jeffery Chessani, USMC, by a 3-judge NMCCA panel be reconsidered by all 9 judges.   A majority of the 9 judges would have had to agree to take the case.  The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has been representing LtCol Chessani since January 2007.  He is also represented by detailed military attorneys...

Persecution of LtCol Chessani Continues; Govt Seeks Reconsideration of Appellate Court’s Ruling April 17, 2009 ANN ARBOR, MI – Yesterday evening, government prosecutors filed a motion with the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals (NMCCA), asking that the unanimous ruling of a 3-judge panel in favor of LtCol Jeffery Chessani, USMC, be reconsidered by all 9 judges of the court.  A majority of these 9 judges would have to agree to take the case.  On March 17, 2009, the 3-judge panel of NMCCA unanimously vindicated the ruling by Colonel Steven A. Folsom, USMC, dismissing all charges against LtCol Chessani...

The Marine Corps is pressing its case against the highest-ranking Marine charged with wrongdoing in the 2005 slaying of two dozen Iraqi civilians. The service wants a military appellate court to reconsider its decision upholding the dismissal of charges against Camp Pendleton's Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, who was accused of dereliction of duty for not ordering a full-scale investigation of the killings. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals in Washington unanimously upheld the dismissal in March. But the Marine Corps now wants all 12 judges of the court to review that decision. The court...

End politically-motivated prosecutions of Jeffrey Chessani and Frank Wuterich, begin the immediate jailing of John MurthaMarines of 3/1 Kilo Co. reacted as they were instructed. But due to political pressure to end the war, seven Marines and their Commanding Officer were lynched by Time Magazine’s Tim McGirk and members of Congress after a sham trial in the court of public opinion. Jeffrey Chessani’s struggle has dragged on for four years. Despite the prosecutorial suppression of mountains of exculpatory evidence, the charges were ultimately dismissed. The large number of prejudicial statements and leaks by politicians and media mouthpieces irreparably tainted the...

During a March 22, 2009, Freedom Radio interview, retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel Robert Weimann discussed the improper command influence that occured throughout much of the Haditha investigation. The 'Sins of the Generals' were many and began even before Tim McGirk's insurgent talking-points driven Time magazine article. The top brass violated both the spirit and intent of the 1986 'Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reform Act'. The combat commander was the convening authority yet politicians, those outside the chain-of-command, and others improperly interjected themselves, let media buzz and enemy propaganda into their decision cycles, and forced further investigation even after Army Colonel...

A non-profit legal group representing Marine Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani against government allegations related to a firefight in Haditha, Iraq, is crediting radio talk show host Michael Savage and his audience with helping bring about victory. "Michael Savage has given a national forum to the law center so that we could show the government's persecution of one of our bravest combat leaders," said Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center. "The government took its best shot and lost. They have wasted millions of taxpayers' dollars. It's time for the Pentagon to say 'enough is enough.'...

ANN ARBOR, MI – Late this morning, the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals sitting in Washington DC, released their unanimous decision upholding the dismissal of charges against Marine Lt. Col Jeffrey Chessani on the grounds of apparent Unlawful Command Influence.  But the case may not be over yet.For the last four years, LtCol Chessani has been investigated and prosecuted for his involvement in the so called “Haditha Massacre” – a massacre that never happened.  A 22-year veteran, Chessani has served three tours of duty in Iraq.  He served in the First Persian Gulf War and in Panama.  At...

This morning, in Washington, DC, a three-judge panel of military officers will hear oral arguments in the LtCol Chessani case, for and against dismissal of charges. Chessani was charged, on December 21, 2006, with dereliction of duty and violation of a lawful order. The lieutenant colonel was not present when the incident took place and maintains he did nothing wrong. In June of this year, charges against Chessani were dismissed by a military judge because the case was tainted with unlawful command influence. Not so, say Marine Corps lawyers. Today, Marine prosecutors will have thirty minutes before the Navy-Marine Court...

The feds let terrorists go and keep trying to put Marines in jail. http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=20164614&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=8

In the nearly two years since eight Camp Pendleton Marines were charged with killing 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha, six of the men have been exonerated, and widespread interest in the case has waned. Still, the final chapters in the 2005 killings that reverberated around the world, affected the military's rules of engagement and played a large role in how the war was viewed have yet to be written. Appellate court hearings for the two remaining defendants over the next month will establish the outline of how Haditha's story will end. One of the defendants is the battalion commander at...

Reinstating or restarting charges against a Marine officer over the military firefight in Haditha, Iraq, in which two dozen Iraqis died could do serious damage to the public's confidence in the military system of justice, according to lawyers for the officer. "Unlawful command influence is 'the mortal enemy of military justice.' It is the acid that erodes an accused's right to receive a fair trial and the public's confidence in the fairness of the system," says a legal brief filed by lawyers working on behalf of Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani. "Remarkably, throughout the court-martial proceedings in the case, the government...

ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center, a national, public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, yesterday filed its answer brief in response to the prosecution’s appeal of the Military Judge’s ruling, dismissing the case against LtCol Jeffrey Chessani, USMC based on unlawful command influence.