Courts-Martial For 2 In Haditha Killings

Marines Face Manslaughter, Dereliction Of Duty, Other Charges In 2005 Killings Of 24 Iraqi Civilians

(AP)  Two Marines were ordered Friday to face courts-martial for their roles in the killings of Iraqi civilians in Haditha.

Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani faces charges of dereliction of duty and violation of a lawful order for allegedly failing to accurately report and investigate the Nov. 19, 2005, killings of 24 Iraqis.

Chessani is the most senior U.S. serviceman since the Vietnam War to face a court-martial for actions or decisions made in combat, said Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps prosecutor and judge who teaches law of war at Georgetown University Law Center.

Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum faces a court-martial on charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and aggravated assault.

The decision by Lt. Gen. James Mattis to send Tatum to court-martial comes after the investigating officer said last month that the evidence was too weak to prosecute him. But Tatum will not be tried on the murder count he originally faced.

Tatum, of Edmond, Okla., shot and killed civilians, but "he did so because of his training and the circumstances he was placed in, not to exact revenge and commit murder," Lt. Col. Paul Ware wrote last month in recommending he not face court-martial.

The decision to send Chessani to trial mirrored the conclusion the hearing officer reached at his preliminary hearing. Col. Christopher Conlin said Chessani "failed to thoroughly and accurately report and investigate a combat engagement that clearly needed scrutiny."

In his report, Conlin, an infantry officer, blasted Chessani for failing to go to the scene of the November 2005 killings immediately after they had occurred, even though he knew 24 "neutrals" were dead.

"To not have made every attempt to be on scene as this action developed, or to not have at least reviewed this action in detail ... is in itself negligent," Conlin wrote. "The fact that one fireteam was solely responsible for 24 deaths in all direct fire actions should have solicited more than passing interest from the senior leadership of the battalion."

At Chessani's preliminary hearing, held in June at Camp Pendleton, several witnesses testified local Iraqis had complained to Chessani in the days after the killings and that he promised to look into what had happened.

But Chessani said he never ordered a formal investigation because he believed the deaths resulted from lawful combat.

[brianbwb-2009]

For those who are strain to understand, I am exactly 12 hours ahead of central US time, I live in South East Asia, run my own business, and do well enough that I have I have a little time to spare, during which I enjoy playing "whack-a-mole" with fake neocons.

I post counters to the virulent intolerants on sites like these because the overwhelming impression that my Asian friends and business associates get when they see sites like these is that America is a nation of racist and religiously intolerant war mongers, so I alter the balance a tiny bit back toward sanity.

As for the 3 hour gaps, sometimes I get a call to edit a TV commercial, or such light work, then I return to where I left off.

Make sense now?

[ninerman168]

Nancy
Maybe it took Brian 3 hours to decide whether to respond to you or not,take that up with him.
As far as how long it took me to respond I had actually went to bed and got up this morning and it appeared to me that ol'' Bri Bri had been up all along.But it is nice that you''re sticking up for him.I think that he needs friends.As good as you are at telling time maybe you could help him get to work on time.
Is that all you needed to know or is there something else in your life I might have an answer to.Hopefully you will be able to get through your day now.
Sincerely,

[scarletphd]

What a couple of typical Jarheaded morons. The officer looks like the violence mongering pr1(k that he is, and the enlisted guy just looks like the drooling moron "sheep" that enlisted Marines are. God how disgusting and typical. What do they do, genetically GROW these scumbags??

[ninerman168]

Brian
LOL

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by ninerman168

Try reading them slowly, it might come to you after a few times.

[ninerman168]

brian
Wow it sounds wonderful.Although I didn''t see all of this peace and serenity in all of your comments.Of course maybe I was just reading your comments wrong.Have fun with yourself.Or should I be saying Peace and Love brother.

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by ninerman168,

Actually mine is just that, a great life.

Too bad I can''t share it with everyone, too many out there couldn''t handle it, as it doesn''t include self hate, racial and or religious intolerance, or political and economic injustice, you know, all the fun things you were advocating earlier.

[ninerman168]

briansbib
Wow you''re still on here.You must have a great life.This totally explains some of your comments.LOL

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by Nancy_Naive
Or Central Intelligence

[brianbwb-2009]

Simplemind brianbwb
I''''m going to bed and I''''m going to sleep better knowing that Commandant Klink and his sidekick Sgt. Shultz has America''''s back.
Now don''''t stay up to late I''''m sure that you 2 and Sheehan has a protest or 2 to make signs for tomorrow.
Posted by ninerman168

Boop, boop, boop... and another one bites the dust...

[ninerman168]

Simplemind brianbwb
It''s been a thin slice of heaven trying to have an intelligent conversation with you girls.But now I''m going to bed and I''m going to sleep better knowing that Commandant Klink and his sidekick Sgt. Shultz has America''s back.
Now don''t stay up to late I''m sure that you 2 and Sheehan has a protest or 2 to make signs for tomorrow.

[lastdance2]

Now ! You can understand why - Bush - Appointed Political Friends to
Key Government Positions

Delivering Fraudulent Reports to Falsely Advocate a War
Shipping war materials and Weapons to the Enemies of the United States
Ordering The FBI to Commit a Criminal act : Illegal Wiretaps - Surveillance
The Federal Drug Smuggling - Money-Laundering Operations
The Selling and Instructions about to use Nuclear Weapon Technology
Hiding and Suppressing Evidence against Federial Child and Homosexual Predators
The Complete and Total - Disregard and the Destruction of the Constitution
To create a Monopoly on Oil in order to Control the World''s Economy
Approving of Torture and other Atrocities against people within Detention Centers
Lead Painted Toys - Defective Child Merchandise-
Tainted and Poisoned Food - To be shipped to the US
An Attorney General who Fires State Attorneys in leu of Political Nepotism
Forcing Iraqi War Widows into Prostitution - to Feed their own Orphans

The FBI and The Justice Department s so Corrupt with - Contemptible Disgusting Acts of
Nepotism and Patronization within its own ranks - It cannot no longer Function

To Patronize and Fraternize - The Republican (Nazi) Party is
The only Real - Job Description - of the FBI
The only Duty of - The Justice Department

Lastdance

[brianbwb-2009]

OK all you death worshiping Bushies, the quagmire you denied would happen is now almost at nose level, the Turks are about to make Saddam''''s gas attack look like a schoolyard fight, and now you are forced to;

1. Abandon your long known to be false pretense of caring for the Iraqis of Kurdish ethnicity, which kills one of your main reasons for lynching Saddam, pretending that nothing is wrong, and allow the Turks to commit genocide (again), using the excuse "it is not the US''''s problem"...

OR
2. Protect the country you illegally occupy, by fighting off the Turkish invaders,

So which is it going to be? Judging from the posts on this subject, I predict number one...

[brianbwb-2009]

Trust me - history will record GWB is the instigator who launched the "Preemptive unilateral INVASION of IRAQ"!
Mark my words!
Posted by Simplemind2

Sadly, history will also record that American citizens, afraid to stand up for their own laws, or even to recognize international laws, allowed Bush to get away with crimes against humanity, and become one of the richest men on earth, living happily ever after, while the future generations suffered from the damage he caused.

[brianbwb-2009]

"So if you have a point here it''''s after 12 years of watching Hussein thumb his nose at Nuclear Inspectors and even the almighty U.N. which is nothing but a bunch of clowns let out of the big tent we were supposed to do what with the nut job?..." Posted by ninerman168

Your solution seems to be "go in and kill all the Iraqis", like I posted earlier, Saddam is now dead, and you want simply for others than yourself to keep on killing and being killed, now for no reason.

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by ninerman168

My point is that after finding out that Bush lied about WMDs, we should have immediately called the soldiers home, left the Iraqis to sort out their own mess, hold Bush accountable for his actions, and learn the lesson that we cannot arrogantly chop off the heads of states without bearing the consequences.

So what if Saddam thumbed his nose? you sound like a high school shooter, ready to kill because someone teased you.

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by Edward1975

The reason that the war is illegal is because the reasons given by Bush for it were lies. While Congress believed, for some strange reason, Bush''s lies, they authorized military force to deal with the "clear and present danger" that Bush posited.

When it became clear to all who have a brain (apparently not yet you) that the "clear and present" danger did not exist, and that in fact Bush knew at the time he was presenting his evidence that it was false evidence, the authorization then became null and void, the invasion becomes illegal, because the president has committed perjury in presenting a false case.

You war mongers continually deny the fact that Bush lied, so it is clear that you simply enjoy the senseless killing as I posted earlier, but won''t go do it yourself.

[ninerman168]

Brianbwb
So if you have a point here it''s after 12 years of watching Hussein thumb his nose at Nuclear Inspectors and even the almighty U.N. which is nothing but a bunch of clowns let out of the big tent we were supposed to do what with the nut job?Hope that maybe somewhere down the road he would say "You know what I''m sorry I was wrong all this time please accept my apologies maybe we can become best friends."

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by glaswolf

Your astute analysis would be more apropos in a situation where a legitimate war was being waged, but since the premise of the invasion is clearly a false premise, the harm was done when the first bomb fell.

As for military procedure, there is no guarantee that honorable people are now in positions of power, as can be seen by the number of generals, including Powell, who are willing to lie for Mr. Bush, and those who are silent, from unwillingness to oppose unlawful uses of our military forces, Petraeus comes to mind.

Also we should not ignore the lesson of Vietnam, that if a military force is sent to fight for no real purpose, there can then be no real victory, because there is no real goal to achieve, and the soldiers simply create a hostile environment by killing the surrounding population, then are forced to fight their way through a situation they created under orders from the C-in-C, whose agenda is only personal enrichment.

[ninerman168]

Simplemind
I don''t think that you have all of the facts as far as the war goes.You said we went in Unilaterally,that''s typical of someone who thinks writing the word Bushit is a big giggle.Great Britain, Italy, Australia,Poland and Spain might not be happy to hear that.
As far as preemptive I believe Hussein even knew that if he didn''t get out we were going to boot him out.Everyone knew that for months.