A Smear Implodes

[thedrifter]

A SMEAR IMPLODES

By MICHELLE MALKIN


June 18, 2008 -- YET another US Marine, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, had charges dropped Tuesday in the so-called Haditha massacre - bringing the total number of Marines who've been cleared or won case dismissals in the Iraq war incident to seven.

In Chessani's case, the military judge found that Gen. James Mattis had succumbed to impermissible outside meddling in bringing charges.

Bottom line: Zero for seven for military prosecutors, with one trial left to go.

But you won't see that headline in the same Armageddon-sized font The New York Times used repeatedly when the story first broke.

The Times, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa) and the rest of the anti-war drum-pounders who fueled the smear campaign against the troops two years ago should hang their hands in shame. They won't, of course. Perpetuating the "cold-blooded Marines" narrative means never having to say you're sorry.

It means never having to look Lt. Col. Chessani (charges dismissed), Lt. Andrew Grayson (acquitted), Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum (charges dismissed), Capt. Lucas McConnell (charges dismissed), Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt (charges dismissed), Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz (charges dismissed), Sgt. Frank Wuterich (awaiting trial) and their families in the eyes and apologize for the preemptive character assassination they all faced at the hands of the hyperventilating press.

Murtha and company applied "Off with their heads!" treatment to our own men and women in uniform while giving more benefit of the doubt to foreign terror suspects at Gitmo. It is worth recalling, because the press won't do it for you, what they concluded about the now-crumbling Haditha case in the summer of 2006, before a single formal charge had been filed.

* MSNBC hangman Keith Olbermann, who couldn't wait to define the entire war in Iraq by a single moment about which he knew nothing, inveighed that the incident was "willful targeted brutality." Due process? For convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, of course. For our military? Never mind.

* The Nation magazine railed, "Enough details have emerged . . . to conclude that . . . members of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment perpetrated a massacre." It also judged the event "a willful, targeted brutality designed to send a message to Iraqis." Not content with hanging the troops, The Nation pinned blame on the president and a so-called "culture of impunity" that supposedly permeates the most accountable military in the world.

* The Times spilled a flood of front-page ink on the case and took things a step further in a lead editorial blaming not just President Bush, but also top Pentagon brass for the "nightmare" killings in Haditha. Timesman Paul von Zielbauer filed over 30 stories on the case, which the paper called the war's "defining atrocity."

* Hoping to facilitate a self-fulfilling prophecy, media tools around the world likened Haditha to the Vietnam War's most infamous atrocity - from The Guardian ("My Lai on the Euphrates?") to the Daily Telegraph ("Massacre in Iraq just like My Lai") to the Los Angeles Times ("What happened at the Iraqi My Lai?") to the Times' Maureen Dowd ("My Lai acid flashback") and the Associated Press, which reached into its photo archives to run a 1970 file photo of My Lai to illustrate a Haditha article.

* And, of course, there's the permanent stain left by Murtha's slanderous propaganda: "Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood."

Relatives of the Haditha Marines have called for Congress to censure Murtha, who cuts and runs to the nearest elevator when questioned about the Haditha dismissals. He and the Haditha smear merchants have skated while the men and their families suffered global whippings on the airwaves and eternal demonization in print. Whose "culture of impunity"?

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Charges against Marine officer in Haditha case dropped
Published: June 17, 2008

LOS ANGELES (AFP) Charges against a senior US Marine officer accused of failing to properly investigate the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians were dismissed Tuesday, a military spokesman confirmed.

Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Chessani was the highest-ranking officer to face criminal charges following the killings in Haditha in November 2005, but walked free after a hearing at the Marine Corps Camp Pendleton base near San Diego.

A base spokesman could not immediately provide details of why charges against Chessani, a 44-year-old father-of-six, had been dismissed.

However local media reports said Chessani had been cleared after Judge Colonel Steven Folsom ruled that the case had been "tainted" by the appearance of improper influence.

The North County Times reported that Folsom made the ruling because a key prosecution witness, Colonel John Ewers, had also served as a legal adviser to the Marine general who approved charges against Chessani.

"Unlawful command influence is the mortal enemy of military justice," the Times quoted Folsom as saying. "The appearance of unlawful command influence is as devastating as actual manipulation of a trial."

Chessani's attorney, Brian Rooney, said that while the court could refile the charges, he was "cautiously optimistic that the case is going to be over." "We believe that they should end it," Rooney said. "Enough is enough."

A total of eight Marines were initially charged in 2006 over the case but prosecutors have struggled to make the allegations stick.

So far seven of the accused have either been acquitted or had charges withdrawn before court martial.

Chessani's acquittal on Tuesday leaves just one defendant -- Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich -- facing prosecution. Wuterich's trial has been scheduled for later this year.

Wuterich faces multiple charges of voluntary manslaughter for his role in the deaths, which occurred after a deadly roadside bombing that claimed the life of a Marine in Haditha, 260 kilometers west of Baghdad, in 2005.

Many of the victims were unarmed men, women and children.

Four soldiers were initially charged with murder and four officers accused of covering-up the incident.

The Marines said in a press release issued after the violence in Haditha that 15 Iraqis had been killed by the roadside bomb that killed the Marine.

But a subsequent investigation by Time magazine showed that most of the dead were killed as Marines swept through three houses near the site of the bombing, prompting a wide-ranging internal investigation.

The killings in Haditha are the most serious allegations of war crimes leveled at US forces since the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, and is one of several cases involving Marines from Camp Pendleton.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

MILITARY: Charges against Haditha commander dismissed

By MARK WALKER - Staff Writer

CAMP PENDLETON ---- In a stinging rebuke of the government's handling of a high-profile war crime case, a military judge Tuesday dismissed dereliction of duty charges against the commander of a Marine squad that killed 24 civilians in the Iraqi city of Haditha.

The dismissal of charges against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani came after a finding that then-Lt. Gen. James Mattis was unlawfully influenced by a Marine attorney who participated in an investigation of the killings and then became the general's top legal adviser.

The ruling by Col. Steven Folsom, the judge presiding over Chessani's case, was a major blow to the government, which has seen charges against seven of the eight men accused with criminal wrongdoing in the 2005 killings dismissed or withdrawn. Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich is for now the lone Haditha defendant.

Folsom ruled the participation of Col. John Ewers as an investigator and report writer in the Haditha killings and his later appointment as Mattis' top legal aide constituted unlawful command influence.

Ewers' depth of involvement, he said, "tainted" the charges against Chessani beyond repair.

"Unlawful command influence is the mortal enemy of military justice," Folsom said. "The appearance of unlawful command influence is as devastating as actual manipulation of a trial."

A dismissal, he said, was necessary to maintain public confidence in the military justice system.

Prosecutors were given three days to appeal. If they choose not to but want to continue the prosecution, Folsom said, a new investigation must be conducted. Approval of any new charges must come from a senior Marine officer who has had no association with the case, Folsom said.

Chessani, who remained stoic throughout the hearings, showed no reaction when the decision was announced at the end of an hour-long session inside a small base courtroom.

The highest-ranking man charged in the Haditha killings had been scheduled to go on trial by court-martial on July 16.

Signs of frustration

The lead prosecutor in the case, Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan, displayed visible frustration as Folsom explained why he was dismissing the two counts of dereliction of duty.

When Folsom finished, Sullivan immediately asked him to reconsider. Folsom declined, and moments later heatedly told the prosecutor he had 72 hours to decide whether to appeal the ruling; he then abruptly ended the hearing.

Mattis was commander of Marine Corps forces in the Middle East when it came time to decide if charges would be filed in the Haditha incident. His duties included presiding as the "convening authority" over the prosecution.

Mattis has since been promoted to four-star general and now works as a North American Treaty Organization commander and head of the military's Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va.

In a dramatic hearing last month, Mattis testified that he was not influenced by Ewers when he approved charging Chessani and seven other Marines with wrongdoing.

"I make my own decisions," the highly regarded general testified on June 2.

But Folsom said Ewers had taken part in dozens of meetings regarding Haditha. Knowing that Ewers also was a witness, the judge said Mattis erred in allowing his participation.

"He was clearly a disqualified legal adviser," Folsom said of Ewers.

The Joint Forces Command issued a prepared statement shortly after Folsom's ruling: "General Mattis said under oath that he did not speak to the officer about the case and was not influenced by him. He stands by his statement under oath."

Cautiously optimistic

After Tuesday's hearing, Chessani and his wife, Alissa, the parents of six young children, declined comment.

"We're cautiously optimistic the government won't refile the charges," said one of his attorneys, Brian Rooney. "We hope that it's over. It should be over. We believe it never should have got this far."

Chessani commanded Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment at Haditha.

Nineteen civilians were shot by a squad from the regiment's Kilo Company as it searched houses for those responsible for a roadside bombing and subsequent small arms fire the morning of Nov. 19, 2005.

Five men who emerged from a car that drove up immediately after the bombing that killed a lance corporal also were shot.

Eight Marines were charged with wrongdoing in the case, which generated outcries on Capitol Hill and around the world when it came to light.

Four enlisted men originally were charged with murder while Chessani and three other officers faced charges related to failing to order a full-scale probe.

Chessani, 44, still faces the specter of jail time and a dismissal from the service with a loss of benefits if prosecutors refile the case and he is convicted and sentenced to the maximum.

If the Marine Corps opts not to pursue new charges, the Colorado native, who has been in the service for more than 20 years, intends to retire, Rooney said.

The accusations

Prosecutors contend Chessani failed to live up to his responsibilities, particularly when he learned that women and children were among the dead at Haditha.

Sullivan repeatedly pointed out in earlier hearings that the mayor of Haditha and its town council issued a demand for an official investigation within days of the slayings.

Staff Sgt. Wuterich led the squad that killed the Iraqis and shot the men who emerged from the car. Wuterich was first charged with multiple counts of murder.

After an investigative hearing last year, those charges were reduced to nine counts of voluntary manslaughter.

Wuterich's attorney, Neal Puckett, said Folsom's ruling has substantial implications for his client because Ewers also investigated Wuterich before becoming Mattis' legal adviser.

A request to drop the charges against Wuterich on the basis of unlawful command influence is coming, Puckett said.

Scott Silliman, a Duke University law professor and director of the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security, said he believes the Marine Corps will seek new charges against Chessani.

"The ruling has no direct bearing on the guilt or innocence of the accused, so I have to assume the government will refile," he said.

Whether justice has been served in the Haditha prosecutions depends on the outcome of Wuterich's case, Silliman said, adding he believes the case continues to be closely watched in Iraq.

"He is the principal actor in this, and before you can make a determination that justice was done, we need to see the final outcome," he said.

Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.

Ellie