Report: Haditha Charges Should Be Dropped

Hearing Officer Says Case Against Corporal Lacks Sufficient Evidence, Witness Unreliable

(CBS/AP)  The government's case against a Marine accused of fatally shooting Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha lacks sufficient evidence to go to a court-martial and should be dropped, a hearing officer determined.

The murder charges were brought against Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt for killing three Iraqi brothers in November 2005.

Haditha is a town of 70,000, in Anbar province, the heart of the Sunni resistance, where, among the residents, anti-American passions run high, reports CBS News 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley. In the months before Sharratt's unit arrived, other Marines there had suffered some of the heaviest causalities in all of Iraq, including the bombing of an armored vehicle that killed 14 Marines. Days before that, six Marines in Haditha were ambushed, tortured and killed. The enemy put it on the Internet

The hearing officer, Lt. Col. Paul Ware, wrote in a report released by the defense Tuesday that those charges were based on unreliable witness accounts, insupportable forensic evidence and questionable legal theories. He also wrote that the case could have dangerous consequences on the battlefield, where soldiers might hesitate during critical moments when facing an enemy.

"The government version is unsupported by independent evidence," Ware wrote in the 18-page report. "To believe the government version of facts is to disregard clear and convincing evidence to the contrary."

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View photos taken by Lucian Read, a photographer who was embedded with Marines in Haditha

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Prosecutors allege Sharratt and other members of his battalion carried out a revenge-motivated assault on Iraqi civilians that left 24 dead after a roadside bomb killed a fellow Marine, Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas of El Paso, Texas.

Sharratt contends the Iraqi men he confronted were insurgents and at least one was holding an AK-47 rifle when he fired at them.

In addition to Sharratt, two other enlisted men are charged with murder and four officers are accused of failing to investigate the incident — the largest single Iraqi civilian death case of the war. Sharratt's case is the first among the three charged with murder to go to a hearing known as an Article 32 investigation, the military equivalent of a grand jury.

"We reacted to how we were supposed to react to our training and I did that to the best of my ability. The rest of the Marines that were there, they did their job properly as well," Sharratt's squad leader, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, told CBS News' 60 Minutes in March.

"Whether this was a brave act of combat against the enemy or tragedy of misperception born out of conducting combat with an enemy that hides among innocents, Lance Corporal Sharratt's actions were in accord with the rules of engagement and use of force," Ware wrote.

He said further prosecution of Sharratt could set a "dangerous precedent that ... may encourage others to bear false witness against Marines as a tactic to erode public support of the Marine Corps and its mission in Iraq."

"Even more dangerous is the potential that a Marine may hesitate at the critical moment when facing the enemy," he said.

The recommendation to drop the murder charge is nonbinding. A final decision about whether Sharratt should stand trial will be made by Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the commanding general overseeing the case.

Prosecutors at Sharratt's preliminary hearing introduced several accounts from Iraqis that said Sharratt had separated four men from a group of women and children and ordered them into a house. There, prosecutors said, he shot three of them and when he ran out of bullets the squad leader Wuterich allegedly shot the fourth.

Ware deemed the witness accounts and testimony given by other Marines unreliable.

At home in Canonsburg, Pa., Sharratt's family said the news was huge.

"That report is a declaration of Justin's innocence," said Sharratt's mother, Theresa. "This is very, very good news."

Defense attorneys James Culp and Gary Myers said in a statement that the report "reflected the value of the calm of a courtroom and the adversarial process."

This is the second time an investigating officer has recommended charges not continue to trial in connection with the Haditha killings. In the case of Marine lawyer Capt. Randy W. Stone, the investigating officer recommended Stone's dereliction of duty charge be dealt with administratively.

tbweb wrote:

"The Police who wrote up my Accident Report did implicate the entire illegal Mexican group and complained they are experiencing a high volume of accidents due to illegal Mexicans driving without the proper license, insurance and registration and in many cases stolen cars and it was a big problem. I personally didn't implicate the entire illegal Mexican group the Police did! The Police also went on to add that crime and shoplifting was an even bigger problem since they can't track them even when they have finger prints, they just disappear into the American landscape."

Regardless of what the police officer said, the entire Mexican group is exceptionally unlikely to all be involved in car theft etc.

That would be like me saying that all police officers are corrupt because of the actions of a few.

Generalizations are not facts.

drivelphobe wrote:

"You appropriately used the word angry and poor mcdazz, seeing only another opportunity to babble, hastily put his own words in your post. Like I said, he/she/it has no original thought process."

And if you could read, you would have seen where I acknowledged my mistake and even apologised.

Of course, that's probably waaaaaay above your level of comprehension.

But then, I guess you just can't teach a racist redneck anything.

Now get back to your mommas bed, Adolf.

[drivelphobe]

WDRussell1...

Flailing and screeching is perfect!

[wdrussell1]

I'm sorry, but did you say something even remotely worthy, Adolf?

Posted by mcdazz at 06:36 AM : Apr 22, 2007
Dont worry, he is just another chickenhawk, flailing his arms and screeching.

[drivelphobe]

tbweb..

Don't waste your time trying to convince mcdazz of anything. Of course the Police implicated the entire illegal Mexican community. The driving forces in illegals' existance here in the USA, is to survive, not be caught, consume every entitlement they can get, and breed like rabbits. Oh, I forgot their resolve to never learn English.

You appropriately used the word angry and poor mcdazz, seeing only another opportunity to babble, hastily put his own words in your post. Like I said, he/she/it has no original thought process.

[tbweb]

While I strongly dislike the fact that illegals of ANY nationality living here, the actions of one does not in any way mean that they are all car thieves intent on crashing into Americans.

Posted by mcdazz at 09:21 AM : Apr 22, 2007

--mcdazz

The Police who wrote up my Accident Report did implicate the entire illegal Mexican group and complained they are experiencing a high volume of accidents due to illegal Mexicans driving without the proper license, insurance and registration and in many cases stolen cars and it was a big problem. I personally didn't implicate the entire illegal Mexican group the Police did! The Police also went on to add that crime and shoplifting was an even bigger problem since they can't track them even when they have finger prints, they just disappear into the American landscape.

[drivelphobe]

Poor mcdazz...

No thoughts of his own. Only childlike digs at every post he/she/it reads. It sounds like infantile nattering.

tdweb:

I also forgot to mention the fact that ******** Cheney has been caught driving under the influence twice.

Of course, I don't believe that all Republicans drive while under the influence of alcohol.

tbweb wrote:

"This is where you guys are very slick and Posters communicating with you need to be very careful because a lot of you play on words and even change them. I didn't use the word "hate", I used the word "angry" and there is a difference. The answer is "No", I would not have hated or been angry with my fellow Americans and here is why, natural born and legal Americans are part of the American environment and landscape, a part of the American package, illegal people who are not suppose to be in America and committing crimes and doing illegal things upset the apple cart and statistical odds of normal Americans running into problems like in my case."

Firstly, apologies for the misunderstanding in regards to the word "hated" - my intention was certainly not to misinterpret or misrepresent your words.

While I can understand why you are angry, I strongly disagree with being angry with an entire group of people simply because of the actions of one criminal moron.

While I strongly dislike the fact that illegals of ANY nationality living here, the actions of one does not in any way mean that they are all car thieves intent on crashing into Americans.

Quite frankly, I am angry at anyone who recklessly disregards our laws - and especially at those who drunk drive - and that includes GW Bush.

[tbweb]

Would you have hated all your fellow Americans if it had have been an American illegally driving a stolen car, with stolen tags, no insurance with no insurance?

Posted by mcdazz at 06:42 AM : Apr 22, 2007

--mcdazz

This is where you guys are very slick and Posters communicating with you need to be very careful because a lot of you play on words and even change them. I didn't use the word "hate", I used the word "angry" and there is a difference. The answer is "No", I would not have hated or been angry with my fellow Americans and here is why, natural born and legal Americans are part of the American environment and landscape, a part of the American package, illegal people who are not suppose to be in America and committing crimes and doing illegal things upset the apple cart and statistical odds of normal Americans running into problems like in my case. If you're in the U.S. illegally then everything thing you do is probably illegal in the context of false papers, false documents and even if the illegal works its still shakey because they had to lie to get the job, its just corrupt all the way around and there is no avoiding it.