First Haditha case goes to trial today

NCT:

Opening statements are set to begin Thursday in the first court-martial to come to trial stemming from the deaths of 24 Iraqis in the town of Haditha. It is the largest war crimes case involving civilian deaths since the start of the Iraq war.

Marine 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson has pleaded not guilty to charges that, as an intelligence officer, he ordered the destruction of photos of Iraqis slain during Nov. 19, 2005, then later lied about it to investigators.

The 27-year-old Ohio native has also pleaded not guilty to trying to fraudulently leave the Marine Corps.

Grayson's court-martial is expected to last about five days.

...

Grayson is accused of obstruction of justice for allegedly ordering a sergeant to destroy photographs taken of the dead Iraqis.

Grayson has said the policy dictated that photographs of dead Iraqis were to be deleted from computer hard drives if a review determined they were not insurgents.

A charge of lying to investigators arises from his alleged denial when asked if such photos existed.

...
This is basically a "cover up" case that has little to do with the merits of the allegations about events in Haditha. I suspect it will turn on a timing issue. Was he asked about the photos before or after they were destroyed? If it was after they were destroyed, then it would be hard to convict him for lying. If he said they did not exist and then ordered them destroyed, he has a serious problem to explain. However, it is possible that he assumed they were destroyed and they subsequently were destroyed based on normal procedure.

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