Free Republic

Pentagon officials looking at possible relocation sites for Guantanamo detainees toured California’s Camp Pendleton brig on Dec. 11, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Tuesday. Republican congressman Duncan Hunter told the paper that Marine commanders told him about the Dec. 11 inspection. The freshman congressman, who served combat duty in Iraq and Afghanistan before leaving the Marine Corps in December 2007, has introduced a bill to bar the transfer of terrorism suspects from Guantanamo to San Diego County. "To find out about the visit [to Camp Pendleton] from the Marine Corps and not the Department of Defense tells me they are...

The U.S. military has prepared a list of U.S. military bases that could be used to house as many as 250 detainees currently being held at the U.S. Naval base in Guantanamo Bay, military officials tell ABCNews.com. The list -- which includes Camp Pendleton in California, Fort Leavenworth in Kansas; the Marine Air Station in Miramar, California; and the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig in South Carolina -- has been circulated in a classified brief to members of Congress and was prepared by the Pentagon's Joint Staff. President-elect Barack Obama is expected to order that the Guantanamo Bay detainee facility be...

Camp Pendleton is apparently on the list of potential new homes for Guantanamo Bay detainees if and when President-elect Barack Obama makes good on his campaign promise to close the terrorist detention center. The Associated Press is reporting that Obama will issue an executive order during his first week in office. As soon as he signs it the new administration will have to figure out what to do with the 250 al Qaeda and Taliban combatants. And three House members from San Diego put Defense Secretary Bob Gates on notice this week that they don’t want to see Pendleton as...

Vice President Dick Cheney will drop in today at Camp Pendleton for a visit with servicemen and women before speaking at a fundraiser for Republican Congressman Ken Calvert in San Clemente. "The vice president will attend a briefing with military officials at Camp Pendleton," said the Office of the Vice President. He will not be making any remarks to the media during the visit. Democrats, meanwhile, are planning a protest march in San Clemente, where later in the day Cheney will help raise money for Calvert, R-Corona, who is running for re-election in November. While the Office of the Vice...

(Published July 10, 2008) CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — Marine Sgt. Ryan Weemer hoped his battle experience in Fallujah and other Iraqi hot zones would pave the way to a job in the Secret Service. Instead, the 25-year-old is among three Marines charged with murdering unarmed captives in November 2004, during some of the heaviest house-to-house fighting of the Iraq war. ADVERTISEMENT Cracking the Code of Sexual Chemistry and Attraction Still Time to Slim Down for Summer More Scholarships for Working Moms Going Back to College Weemer is due in a Camp Pendleton courtroom Thursday for a daylong preliminary hearing, known...

CAMP PENDLETON ---- The killing of four unarmed detainees during a battle for Fallujah nearly four years ago is the focus of a hearing this week for a Marine sergeant charged with one of the slayings. Sgt. Ryan Weemer is accused of murder and six counts of dereliction of duty in the incident that authorities say took place during the height of fighting for what was then an insurgent stronghold in Iraq's Anbar province. The hearing, scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Thursday, is the latest chapter in a series of cases involving Camp Pendleton troops charged with unlawful killings...

CAMP PENDLETON ---- A Marine sniper has been charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter in the June 2007 deaths of two civilians in Iraq. The sniper, Sgt. John Winnick II, faces additional accusations of aggravated assault against two other civilians and failing to adhere to the military's rules of engagement. The charges represent the fifth case involving alleged unlawful killings in Iraq to have been brought against Camp Pendleton Marines since the U.S. invasion in March 2003. A hearing for Winnick will take place at Camp Pendleton this summer to determine if the charges against him should stand. The...

CAMP PENDLETON ---- After spending more than a week in jail for refusing to answer a grand jury's questions, a Marine accused of killing a suspected insurgent detainee in the Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2004 was arraigned in a base courtroom Wednesday morning. Sgt. Jermaine Nelson said during the 25-minute hearing that he would enter a plea to charges of murder and dereliction of duty at a later date. Nelson said little else during the session conducted by Lt. Col. Jeffrey Meeks, the military judge now assigned to the case. Nelson and two others, former Marine Jose L. Nazario...

CAMP PENDLETON ---- Military prosecutors will call on Marine Gen. James Mattis to testify Monday about whether a lower-ranking officer improperly influenced his decision to file criminal charges against a Marine tied to the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha, a civilian defense attorney said Friday. Mattis is in charge of U.S. Joint Forces Command, and also is the supreme allied commander in charge of military modernization for NATO. It is rare for a four-star general to testify in a court-martial or pretrial proceedings. Lt. Col. Sean Gibson, a Marine Corps spokesman for the Haditha trials, would not confirm...

ANN ARBOR, MI – Military prosecutors are expected to call as their witness General James N. Mattis, a highly respected Marine officer and one of only a handful of four-star Marine generals, to testify in the court-martial hearing against LtCol Jeffrey Chessani on June 2, 2008, at Camp Pendleton, California. http://www.thomasmore.org/qry/page.taf?id=63

Charges dropped; lance corporal also granted full immunityCAMP PENDLETON – The Marine Corps yesterday dismissed all charges against a lance corporal who took part in the killing of 24 civilians more than two years ago in Haditha, Iraq. Stephen Tatum had been charged with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment. The dropping of those charges occurred during a hearing at Camp Pendleton, shortly before jury selection was to begin in Tatum's court-martial. The government also granted full immunity to Tatum, perhaps to encourage him to testify against his squad leader, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich. In recent weeks, it has...

Two Indian soldiers have gone missing from a military base in California where they were participating in joint training exercises with US troops, the State Department said Friday. "We can confirm reports that two Indian soldiers disappeared from Camp Pendleton during a training assignment," the State Department said in a statement. India's consulate in San Francisco requested assistance from the US Office of Foreign Missions in Los Angeles to help track down the pair. "We are working with the Department of Defense, as well as state and local law enforcement agencies, to provide the Indian government with all the help...

Haditha Charges Against Tatum Dropped Friday, March 28, 2008 12:36 PM By: Nat Helms CAMP PENDLETON -- Charges against Lance Corporal Stephen B. Tatum, 26, for his alleged involvement in the death of Iraqi civillians in Haditha, Iraq on Nov. 19, 2005, were dismissed today. Charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and aggravated assault were referred to general court marshal Oct. 19, 2007 Marine Corps Spokesman Lt. Col. Sean Gibson said the charge were dismissed to “continue to pursue the truth-seeking process into the Haditha incident.” There will be a further explanation forthcoming from military officials. © 2008 Newsmax. All...

Charges against a US Marine allegedly involved in the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha were dropped on Friday ahead of his trial, the military said in a statement. A court martial for lance corporal Stephen Tatum had been due to start on Friday on charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and aggravated assault. However in a statement released from the Marines Camp Pendleton base outside San Diego, the military said the charges had been dismissed "in order to continue to pursue the truth seeking process into the Haditha incident." It was not immediately clear if...

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — The Marine Corps dropped its case and gave full immunity Friday to a serviceman who was accused of involuntary manslaughter in a squad's killing of 24 Iraqis in Haditha in 2005. The case against Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, 26, of Edmond, Okla., was dropped as jury selection was about to begin for his court-martial. The government has been seeking Tatum's testimony against the squad leader, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich of Meriden, Conn. In addition to two counts of involuntary manslaughter, Tatum had been charged with reckless endangerment and aggravated assault. Tatum's attorney, Jack Zimmerman, said there...

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — The Marine Corps is dropping all charges against a lance corporal who was accused of involuntary manslaughter in a squad's killing of 24 Iraqis in Haditha in 2005. The Marines dropped the case against 26-year-old Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum today as jury selection was about to begin for his court-martial at Camp Pendleton. He had also been charged with reckless endangerment and aggravated assault. The case against Tatum stemmed from a squad's assault in response to a roadside bombing of a convoy that killed one Marine and wounded two others. The government says a sergeant and...

CAMP PENDLETON -- A court hearing is scheduled to begin Friday in the case of three Marines charged with killing prisoners during the 2004 battle for Fallujah, Iraq. Sgt. Jermaine Nelson is accused of murder and dereliction of duty for his alleged role in the incident, which took place on Nov. 9, 2004, according to Marine Corps officials. Prosecutors say that Nelson and two other members of his squad shot four unarmed prisoners captured during a fight to wrest the city from insurgent control. Attorneys representing the accused troops contend there is no evidence beyond a statement from one of...

SAN DIEGO -- A Camp Pendleton Marine has been charged with murder and dereliction of duty for his alleged role three years ago in the killing of a detainee in Fallujah, Iraq. Sgt. Ryan Weemer on Tuesday became the third person charged in the case that centers on allegations that a Marine squad shot a group of unarmed captives during heavy fighting in November 2004. The case came to light when the 25-year-old Weemer applied for a job with the Secret Service. Investigators claim Weemer described the killing during a polygraph test that included a question about whether he had...

Cpl. Eric A. Otero, a squad leader with Company B, 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, hugs his daughter Kiali, 3, after returning Feb. 12 from a seven-month deployment. MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Feb. 21, 2008) -- Wives, mothers, fathers, brothers, and other friends were among the excited greeters waiting for the return of Marines from 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, Feb. 12 at the battalion’s home at 53 Area, Camp Horno. Flags waved and children played on the parade deck behind the headquarters building for 1/1 – the “First of the First” – who were drawing to...

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., Feb. 20, 2008 – The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff stopped in here yesterday to see how the Marines Corps treats its wounded warriors. U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks with Marine Cpl. Giovanni Morales, a resident at the Wounded Warrior Battalion West at Camp Pendleton, Calif., Feb. 19, 2008. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley, USN  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen visited the Wounded Warrior Battalion West facilities and spoke to wounded Marines in the program. The battalion...