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CAMP PENDLETON ---- On the eve of his trial, the Marine Corps for the third time has ordered a lance corporal charged with killing Iraqi civilians in Haditha to provide testimony against his co-defendant and squad leader. The order requires Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum provide the government with ammunition for its case against Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, the man who led him at Haditha. The directive also may signal a weakness in the government's case. Both men face upcoming courts-martial at Camp Pendleton in the high-profile killing of two dozen Iraqi civilians in November 2006. The deaths, which included several...

Yet another one of the Marines that US Congressman John Murtha (D-PA) Charged, Tried, Convicted, and Executed in the public forum is probably going to have the charges against him dropped from the make believe “Massacre” made up by Murtha and the MSM in their propaganda war against the United States Military presence in Iraq. From Yahoo News: An investigating officer recommended Thursday dismissing all charges against a Marine accused of murdering two girls in an assault that killed 24 civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha. Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum, 26, is charged with unpremeditated murder of two...

CAMP PENDLETON ---- A hearing officer is recommending that murder and negligent homicide charges against a Marine lance corporal accused of killing six Iraqis, including three children, nearly two years ago be dismissed. Lt. Col. Paul Ware made the recommendation in a report released Thursday by the attorney for Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, a 26-year-old Oklahoma native accused of killing civilians in the Iraqi city of Haditha. "There is insufficient evidence to find reasonable ground for offenses charged," Ware wrote in the report, which will be sent to Camp Pendleton's Lt. Gen. James Mattis. "I believe (Lance Cpl.) Tatum's real-life...

An investigating officer has recommended that a Marine Corps general drop all charges against a Marine accused of murdering civilians in Haditha, Iraq, finding again that the 2005 shootings were "tragedies" but that the Marine did not violate the laws of combat. Lt. Col. Paul J. Ware wrote in a 29-page report that there is insufficient evidence to show that Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum did anything other than follow Marine Corps rules when he killed women and children in two houses in a residential neighborhood in Iraq on Nov. 19, 2005. Ware found that Tatum followed orders to attack...

SAN DIEGO: An investigating officer on Thursday recommended dismissal of all charges against a U.S. Marine accused of murdering two girls in an assault that killed 24 civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha. Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum, 26, is charged with unpremeditated murder of two girls and negligent homicide on suspicion that he unlawfully killed two men, a woman and a boy. He is also accused of assaulting another boy and a girl in what became the biggest U.S. criminal case involving civilian deaths to come out of the Iraq war. Investigating officer Lt. Col. Paul Ware found...

Just received word from LCpl Stephen Tatum's lawyer, Jack Zimmermann, that the investigating officer in his Article 32 has recommended that charges be dismissed. Links to news stories will be added. You heard it here first!

Haditha Hero- L/Cpl Stephen Tatum I know these men. Wuterich, Tatum, Chessani, Stone, Grayson and McConnell. When I look into the eyes of my son, L/Cpl Justin Sharratt, I see them. They tell me, sleep well tonight Mr. Sharratt, we will keep you safe. It is the duty entrusted to us, a duty in which we will not falter. They don’t want medals, they don’t want gold. They need our support. On Monday 16 July 2007, L/Cpl Stephen Tatum will face an Article 32 hearing questioning his actions in Haditha, Iraq. Stephen and his family will face his accusers, the...

Congressman John Murtha, who announced our surrender in Iraq long before Senator Reid did, embarrassed even Speaker Pelosi with his off-the-wall statements smearing our military and smearing President Bush. Long before anyone had really looked into the Haditha incident, a place in Iraq where U.S. Marines were engaged in a firefight, and where various Iraqis told tales of deliberate murders carried out by our Marines, Congressman Murtha passed judgment, and said that they were guilty. It now appears that he will owe them an apology. To the rest of us, and to his constituents in Pennsylvania, he owes us his...

Hearing fact sheetThe hearing is scheduled to commence July 16, 2007.The accused, LCpl. Stephen Tatum, was 25-years-old at the time of the incident, and was on his second combat tour. In 2004, Tatum fought (along with LCpl. Justin Sharratt) in the "House from Hell" in Fallujah . Preferred Charges and Specifications:Charge I: Violation of the UCMJ, Article 118 (Unpremeditated murder) (Maximum punishment: such punishment other than death as a court-martial may direct. [Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, confinement for life]) Specification 1: did murder Noor Salim Rasif.Specification 2: did murder Zainab Unes Salim. Charge II: Violation of...