Court martial recommended for battalion comander at Haditha

AP/San Diego Union-Tribune:

The leader of a battalion involved in the killings of 24 Iraqis in Haditha should face a court-martial for dereliction of duty, the investigating officer recommended in a report obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.

Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, 43, was charged in December with dereliction of duty and violation of a lawful order for failing to report and investigate the deaths of the men, women and children in the biggest U.S. criminal case involving civilian deaths to come out of the Iraq war.

The investigating officer, Col. Christopher Conlin, wrote that Chessani should face all charges.

Chessani “failed to thoroughly and accurately report and investigate a combat engagement that clearly needed scrutiny,” Conlin wrote.

The report was provided to the AP by a defense lawyer who asked to remain anonymous because other attorneys in the case had not seen it.

Chessani's defense attorney Brian Rooney did not immediately respond to a phone message.

The decision followed a setback for the government in its case against another defendant. A hearing officer found prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence for a court-martial against Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt, who was accused of fatally shooting Iraqi civilians.

Lt. Col. Paul Ware said murder charges brought against Sharratt for killing three Iraqi brothers in November 2005 were based on unreliable witness accounts, insupportable forensic evidence and questionable legal theories.

...

The recommendation against Lance Cpl. Sharratt may impact the decision of whether to go forward with the recommendation against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani. The North County Times reports that an Article 32 hearing will begin Monday against another enlisted man, Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum. Following that hearing Article 32 hearings will be called for:

1st Lt. Andrew Grayson: Charged with dereliction of duty, making a false statement and obstruction of justice....

Capt. Lucas McConnell: Charged with dereliction of duty....

Sgt. Frank Wuterich: Charged with 13 counts of unpremeditated murder, soliciting another to commit an offense and making a false statement.

...
Charges were dropped against Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz back in April in return for his testimony against other Marines. Sgt. Wuterich appears to be the main target in the remaining group and his Article 32 hearing is not scheduled before August. If the case against him folds then most of the others will too. However it is premature at this time to suggest that this case is over with. I continue to think that the case is substantially weaker than first reported and that these Marines have defenses that deserve consideration before any charges are filed.

Specifically, we know for a fact that the enemy in Haditha committed war crimes that triggered the Marines' response. The first is the enemy's failure to wear identifying uniforms camouflaging himself as a civilian. If the enemy wore uniforms, the chances are remote that the Marines would have fired on any non combatants in response to an attack. The second enemy war crime was using human shields while firing on the Marines. This also put the civilians at risk and led to their being killed by the Marines in active pursuit of an enemy.

There has been some suggestion that the Marines had intelligence that this attack against the Marines was coming and that there would be an ambush attack after the IED exploded. If so, then it makes the response of the Marines all the more understandable and reasonable.

The recommendation of charges against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani appears unfair at this point, but we will have to see what the evidence is against the Marines whose hearings are scheduled in the coming weeks to make a final determination. I think clearly the prosecution has scheduled these hearings in a way that they hope will build a case against Sgt. Wuterich. I have seen him a couple of times in interviews and he appears credible. How he deals with the prosecutors and the evidence they produce will obviously determine whether he will be Court Martialed.

The Belmont Club comments on Lieutenant Colonel Ware's statement recommending no Court Martial of the Lance Corporal.

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