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Camp Pendleton, Calif. – Former Marine sergeant Hector Salinas didn’t mince words when he told a prosecutor Thursday he should have called in airstrikes on a pair of houses in Haditha, Iraq where fourteen men, women and children were cowering in their homes after a huge bomb exploded outside their front doors. “Rounds were impacting on the fourth vehicle. I went back to render aid to my Marines that were wounded. There was destruction everywhere. There was a fog, a haze. When the smoke was clearing out I could see an object. It was LCpl Crossan. He was missing a...

DEFEND OUR MARINES THE TRIAL OF SSGT. WUTERICH DELA CRUZ TAKES THE STAND by Nathaniel R. Helms | Wednesday, January 11, 2012 | Day Five Camp Pendleton, Calif. – Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz, a battle-rattled combat Marine who made a deal with the government to avoid court martial for murder, testified Wednesday morning that he saw Staff Sergeant Frank D. Wuterich shoot five unarmed Iraqi men after a roadside bomb exploded in Haditha in November 2005. It is either the fourth or fifth version of his observations since he failed a polygraph, and then elected to accept immunity from...

DEFEND OUR MARINES THE TRIAL OF SSGT. WUTERICH LCPL STEPHEN TATUM TESTIFIES by Nathaniel R. Helms | Tuesday, January 10, 2012 | Day Four Camp Pendleton, Calif. – Former Marine rifleman Stephen Tatum took the stand Tuesday morning in the second day of witness testimony at the General Court Martial of Staff Sergeant Frank D. Wuterich, accused of leading his men in the murders of Iraqi citizens in Haditha more than six years ago. Tatum, a veteran of the battle for Fallujah in 2004, was called by the prosecution to recount his actions after his 12-man squad was ambushed after...

Camp Pendleton, Calif. – The events in Haditha, Iraq on November 19, 2005 will be the subject of a great deal of testimony during the upcoming weeks in the General Court Martial of SSgt Frank D. Wuterich. Defend Our Marines decided it would be useful to provide a chronology of those events that are now the basis for the trial. The Ambush on Route ChestnutThe White Car Incident – Facts in evidenceNov.19, 2005 - 0830/Haditha, Iraq – Twelve Marines from 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines riding in four poorly armored Humvees were returning from resupplying a combat...

THE TRIAL OF SSGT. WUTERICH:Final Battle Of Haditha Set To Begin by Nathaniel R. Helms | Friday, January 6, 2012 | Day Two: Jury selection complete Camp Pendleton, Calif. – An eight-man panel of four officers and four senior non-commissioned officers will begin listening to testimony Monday morning when the lawyers fighting the final Battle of Haditha offer their opening statements at the General Court Martial of SSgt Frank D. Wuterich, the last Marine standing in the six-year-old fight. The government is apparently expecting a tough battle in the weeks ahead. “I can’t think of a single witness desiring of...

Camp Pendleton, Calif. – LtCol. Jeffrey Chessani, battalion commanding officer of the Thundering Third at time of the so-called “Haditha Massacre", will not be testifying at the court-martial of SSgt Frank Wuterich, the military judge said Thursday. Chessani was the highest ranking Marine charged with a crime in connection with the deaths of 24 Iraqi citizens following a roadside ambush in the dusty Iraqi city during November 2005. “Chessani will not be a witness,” announced military judge LtCol. David Jones. “We lost that battle,” said chief defense attorney Neal Puckett, himself a former Marine military judge. Chessani was one of...

January 2, 2012The Haditha Marines-The Squad Leader-A Final Chapter It certainly seems appropriate that the last defendant in the Haditha case is the squad leader, SSgt Frank Wuterich. Leaders take responsibility, and SSgt Wuterich has taken full responsibility for the actions of his squad in Haditha. His stance from the outset has remained clear: "My Marines responded to the threats they faced in the manner that we all had been trained", he has steadfastly maintained. "I will bear the memory of the events of that day forever, and will always mourn the unfortunate deaths of the innocent Iraqis who were...

Defend Our Marines main page DEFEND OUR MARINES EXCLUSIVE! ______________________________________________________EXONERATE LAST HADITHA MARINE An editorial by William T. Russell October 26, 2011 – Last week, President Obama announced his decision to withdraw all US troops from Iraq by year’s end.  Some hail it as the end of a war that should never have occurred.  Others see it as a great strategic blunder, committed for political expediency, which will lead to yet another war.  While the decision to withdraw from Iraq is clearly a political one, it is just one of the many political decisions which affect wars and their...

Sins of the Generals: Indefinite Delay From the North County Times: “Wuterich Trial Postponed Indefinitely” by Mark Walker http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/military/article_4d980698-b22a-5373-b615-d0f1abe38673.html Not much of an article there Mr. Walker. For example, there is no explanation of the descriptor “Indefinitely”. Where is the rest of the story? …as they say.

A manslaughter trial for the last defendant in the largest criminal prosecution arising out of the war in Iraq has been postponed indefinitely. Camp Pendleton Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of manslaughter and related offenses in the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in the city of Haditha in 2005. The trial that was scheduled to start at Camp Pendleton this month has been delayed as a result of pre-trial wrangling over the removal of one of Wuterich's attorneys. No new trial date has been set.

March 15, 2011Last Haditha Defendant Denied Travel 0rders For Appeals Court Hearing SSgt Frank Wuterich remains the last Marine pending charges of manslaughter for the 2005 deaths of 24 Iraqi citizens in Haditha. His military appellate defense attorneys are presenting oral arguments before the highest military court, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF). The pre-trial motions and appeals that have reached the highest court, involve the fact that his assigned active duty military attorneys retired from the Marine Corps without first properly being relived from representing SSgt Wuterich under proper courtroom procedures, including asking Wuterich whether he...

Laws of War to Rules of Law or the Old Switch-A-Roo! “The purpose of military law is to promote justice, to assist in maintaining good order and discipline in the armed forces, to promote efficiency and effectiveness in the military establishment, and thereby to strengthen the national security of the United States.” - Preamble of the UCMJ

Declassified NCIS Report Raises More Questions Than It Answers The 82-page summary of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service inquiry into allegations of murder at Fallujah, Iraq offers an inside glimpse of frustrated investigators stymied by a green wall of silence that surrounded the infantrymen from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines after a few of their own cried murder. The investigation was triggered by discharged Marine Ryan Weemer during a Secret Service pre-employment polygraph examination in October, 2006. The former corporal told the examiners he had participated in the execution of four captured enemy combatants at Fallujah in response to a...

The government’s case against the last Marine standing in the so-called “Haditha Massacre” debacle may run aground on the rocks and shoals of Marine Corps legal precedence, said his leading civilian attorney. Former Marine Corps military judge Neal Puckett says Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich was denied his inherent right to retain the military lawyer appointed by the Marine Corps to defend him so the case must be dismissed. Wuterich, 30, of Meriden, Conn., faces 12 counts of voluntary manslaughter and related charges. On Dec. 21, 2006 he was indicted on 17 counts of unpremeditated murder, two counts of soliciting another...

Nearly five years after 24 Iraqi men, women and children were slain by a Camp Pendleton squad as it searched for a roadside bomber, the last man to face criminal charges from the incident is about to go on trial. U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, who told an investigator that he had directed his men to "shoot first and deal with it later," is due in a base courtroom next week as attorneys argue final motions in advance of his long-awaited trial. A Connecticut native, Wuterich, 30, has pleaded not guilty to nine counts of voluntary manslaughter and related...

The scheduled court-martial of SSgt Frank Wuterich and the aborted trial of former Illinois governor Rod R. Blagojevich don’t seem to have much in common at first glance. Blagojevich is a grasping Illinois politician with a bouffant hairdo prone to blabbing. Wuterich is a hardcore, quiet Marine who wears his hair high and tight. Both however are charged with crimes simple in name and so complex in character it is hard to understand exactly what crimes they are charged with committing, much less why.The notion comes, from all places, a New York Times report about jurors being confused about what...

One month from now the longest, most expensive criminal investigation in Marine Corps history will finally come to an end one way or another at the general court martial of SSgt Frank Wuterich, the last Marine accused of unlawful killings at Haditha, Iraq on November 19, 2005. “When the public sees the truth at this court-martial, it will be one of the biggest news stories of the year,” said Neal Puckett, the lead defense attorney in the upcoming court martial. “The truth of the story is yet to be revealed.” Almost five years ago, a hidden insurgent remotely triggered...

CAMP PENDLETON, California (AFP) – A US military judge Friday refused to dismiss charges against a former squad leader accused of a role in the 2005 killings of 24 Iraqi civilians. Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich is the last Marine still charged in the case as prosecutors have struggled to make the allegations stick. So far the other seven accused were either acquitted or had charges withdrawn before court martial. Judge Lieutentant Colonel David Jones said Friday the "motion to dismiss charges against the former squad leader Sergeant Frank Wuterich is denied. There was no improper influence flowing upwards or downwards."...

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — A military judge in California has denied a motion to dismiss charges against a Marine sergeant whose squad killed 24 Iraqi men, women and children after a bomb killed a Marine. Lt. Col. David Jones ruled Friday at Camp Pendleton on a defense motion claiming there was unlawful command influence while a general considered a court-martial for Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich. The judge ruled there was no record of any "meaningful comment" between the general and an aide who had investigated the case as a military lawyer. Wuterich is facing trial on reduced charges of voluntary...

The defense for the last Marine facing criminal charges in the fatal shooting of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005 won a key ruling Tuesday that could lead to the case being dropped. Lt. Col. David Jones, the military judge, ruled that attorneys for Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich had successfully shown that there was the possibility of what the military calls undue command influence in the decision by a general to send Wuterich to a court martial. Jones' ruling requires that prosecutors prove beyond a reasonable doubt that no such influence existed or that, while it may have existed,...