Haditha Watch: The fate of Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani
On June 5, you’ll recall, Marine Lt. Andrew Grayson was found not guilty on all counts in the Haditha case. Charges were dropped against five other Haditha Marines. Two await trial: Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani and SSgt. Frank Wuterich. A hearing is scheduled tomorrow morning in Lt. Col. Chessani’s case.
The LATimes reported today that those charges may be dropped:
Attorneys for Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, the final officer facing charges for the 2005 killing of 24 Iraqis in Haditha, believe they may be on the verge of having his case dismissed.
It’s risky business, of course, trying to guess what’s in a judge’s mind, in the civilian or military system.
But Chessani’s lawyers think the military judge, Col. Steven Folsom, may have signaled that he plans to grant the defense motion to dismiss the case because of undue command influence.
Initially, Folsom had scheduled two days in his Camp Pendleton courtroom this week to hear pretrial motions in the case.
But late last week, Folsom shifted, telling attorneys he will only deal with the undue influence motion in a session he predicted would take about an hour on Tuesday morning.
Defense attorneys assert that Gen. James Mattis, who brought the charges against Chessani and seven other Marines, was unduly influenced by anti-war politicians, the media or a Marine attorney who was involved in the initial investigation.
Defend Our Marines and Gary Gross have much more.
Will Rep. Murtha redeploy to the elevators again?
(Graphic via Defend Our Marines)
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- 9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America
- Aside: Haditha Watch » Pirate’s Cove — Give No Quarter!
- Michelle Malkin » Haditha Watch: Charges dismissed against Lt. Col. Chessani
- Lt. Col. Chessani acquitted - Take that Murtha and MSM | Democrat=Socialist
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Of course Murtha is a jerk. He is loathesome, and I agree with all the negative comments that have been made about him. At the same time though, it was not the Murtha administration that brought charges against these Marines. I think there are others who should also be ashamed of the role they played, including the Administration.
As a former Marine infantry and force recon, Mattis broke my heart. When all are cleared, it will be time to publically put the screws to Murtha, Time magazine, and all the rest who were willing to crucify my brothers on the altar of political correctness.
Col.Chessani-prayers for the clearing of your good name tomorrow.
SSgt.Wuterich-continued prayers for yours.
CS
I believe in Miracles. These fine Marines will be exonerated.
My prayers and hopes are with them.
I will definitely keep them in my prayers for whatever it is worth. I have to say, the circumstances to date certainly give me some hope … at least in this case.
it’s a good sign that the charges have been dropped (save for the one who was found Not Guilty) I have no idea about a military trial/tribunal?
but if they all were being tried for the same thing and being cleared.. that stands for reason that they all will..
or the pessimist in me says that whoever is last will be dog piled on and found guilty on everything.. just to have a guilty plea..
I’m glad for him that the charges are (probably) going to be dropped, but he may as well retire. His career is finished as much for being right and embarrassing his superiors as it would have been if he had been guilty.
Boy, ain’t that the truth.
I can only hope as soon as these last two cases are dismissed that one and all charged might go after said “anti-war pols, media, Murtha, etc” . Those responsible for charging this horrific act against these men AND our COUNTRY should face harsh disciplinary action.
The damage has been done, now someone should pay.
Hello, paging Mr. Murtha…
As a skeptic, I can’t help but think that the Angry Left would not be satisfied until they can hang the entire Marine Corps on a pole.
As a former Sergeant of Marines, I am hopeful — prayerful — that my fellow Marines will be cleared and returned to duty post haste.
As a citizen, I hope people understand that the fog of war is no easy thing. Even I can’t figure it out, having never served in combat. But armchair generals, pompous press hacks, and gasbag politicians need to engage their collective brain housing group before running their incessant pie-holes.
Murtha is a disgrace to those who ever donned the eagle globe and anchor.
Well said, cf
When they first started talking of trials, I had high hopes. I had hoped that there would be speedy trials. Followed by complete exonerations. That it would have been the Corps telling the world loudly and proudly that these Marines did nothing wrong. That in fact, they acted according to their training.
As time dragged on, my hopes dwindled daily. These fine Marines have been keel-hauled at the alter of public relations. Do I blame the officers heading up the proceedings? To an extent. But not much.
What were their options? Tell the politicians screaming for heads, regardless of evidence, to go pound sand? Y’all know the military leadership is hamstrung by the civilian leadership. They may salute the President, but they also know they have to answer to the pansies who hold the purse strings.
They could have resigned in protest. What good would that have done the Marines in question? They still would have gone through this mess. I am actually torn on this one. While I don’t think it would have done any good for the commanders to resign commisions, it is something I half-way think they should have done anyway.
No, the anti-American left, and in particular the treasonous politicians who demanded scalps, are the ones who bear the lions share of blame.
I will NEVER buy TIME Magazine again because of this.
Looking forward to tomorrow’s update.
I am ashamed that Murtha ever wore Marine green, he is a gutles SOB for using his bully pulpit to slime these guys before he even knew any of the facts. He should issue a public apology, but I am not waiting for that to happen.
I hope and pray that charges against Col.Chessani and SSgt.Wuterich will be dropped, and then Murtha has slander charges brought against him. The scumbag needs to be kicked out of office, not voted out, but kicked out.
Let’s give credit where credit is due. No talk show host spent as much time on this subject as Michael Savage, as well as a lot of donations. I know he isn’t everyone’s favorite by any means, but he did a lot for these eighte marines. He also interviewed their lawyers several times etc.
MM fans know I’ve posted on this subject before. That I am an ardent believer in OIF, an Haditha Vet, and will proudly return in Spring 09 to finish off the puny remains of an AQIZ who got their ass kicked by the US and the ISF. I also believe that members of 3/1 took actions on 19 Nov for which they ought to be punished.
I lay my biases out on the table.
Agree/disagree with Gen Mattis’ judgement calls all you want. Fine. I don’t agree with everything he has done.
But to question the intestinal fortitude of the “Warrior Monk” is idiocy, for anybody that knows anything about this man’s history. Whatever he did, he didn’t give a RATS ASS what some politician or talking head thought.
SLEAZY LAWYER!!!
Murtha, you are but a boil on the a$$ of this country. Retire now while you still have a face to save…………loser.
#17 HDFOB said:
I remember, and wish you well. I wonder if you think that the Iraqi soldiers and police who train and fight with US Forces will remain lasting allies, like the Mountain People in the central highlands of Vietnam?
I do. People sometimes forget that the forces that have taken the biggest casualities fighting Al Qaeda since 9/11 have been the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Police.
Working with IP, IA, and foreign “terps”, the strongest bond in the world ain’t religion, it’s VALUES (paraphrasing Dennis Prager).
I have more in common with the Iraqi Arab Muslim Police Chief of Haditha, Col Farouq, who wants to kill terrorists, than I have with some of my fellow U.S. citizens, national leaders in the Presbyterian Church (my religon), who want to coddle the Islamofascists.
Believe it or not, I think the Iraqis now realize that, too. Once we abondonded the disastrous “light footprint” strategy, and decided to fight, we gained a “blood brother” respect that WILL ENDURE.
HDFOB,
You are spot on as I too saw the same thing over here in 04′ and see an even stronger bond know 4 years later.
It just makes me sick to see how politicians want to rush in and condemn our own military, while insisting on “rights” for our enemies. So they can commit treason, they get courts to agree with them, and redefine what treason is. I suspect, in a very short time, when one of our soldiers captures a terrorist in Iraq/Afganistan, he’ll have to read him “his rights”, including having a lawyer around. If he forgets to read the POW “his rights”, Murtha will be all over the news about it, once again condemning our brave soldiers. If the Left had its way, any soldier found killing an enemy would be suspended, pending an investigation to see if the enemy’s rights were violated.
I very much agree.
To all those thinking that this will cornr Murtha into an admission of guilt/stupidity: he’s going to say that “they weren’t found innocent — charges were dropped! I still believe they’re guilty.” or some-such along those lines.
Its the same thing most of the Lft said abt the Duke players after that railroad job was exposed. Even declaring them innocent didn’t stop the Libs frm claiming “insufficient evidence”, “political pressure”, “money bought off those making the decision”. This habit is so ingrained in the Lft that its become an autonomic process: it happens w/o thought through-out their group, like breathing or pumping blood.
The only way to fix things — & this applies to everything — is to make sure the Lft pays a heavy price for every inch of ground & every misstep. It must needs become the mission of every patriot to sell every lost pnt of contention dearly.
That is what makes this a tireless miserable war. The Lft doesn’t willingly give ground. They wait, applying holding actions, until they can remount their offensive. AND they’ve managed to:
(1) gain contrl of the educational apparratus to mold as many as possible into “sheeple”
(2) convince those sheeple that
(a) tolerence means *active promotion* of a view
(b) the idea of coordination (in laying our country low) by the Lft is tinhat
(c) a patriot is crazy by definition.
Its actually more complex than that, & there are more pnts that the Lft has been allowed to propogate as truth for too long. A shortage of time & (buffer) space here, & I’d be hijacking the thread, along w/the fact I’m typing this in frm my PDA, (an arduious[sp?] exercise, & there’s no spellchecker…), preclude details & listing their methods of operation.
One thing abt (b) above: I destintly remembr during the buildup to the crecendo that was 9/11. Any suggestion of an organized enemy was openly called tinhat.
– martin.musculus
The wheels of Military Justice have been extremely slow in exonerating these Marines unjustly maligned by the MSM and the biggest traitor of them all the lying crapweasel Murtha. Thanks for getting the news out Michelle as each of these men quietly has seen the charges dropped or are acquitted in this fabricated war crime. I wonder why the shrills in the MSM are not touting this bit of good news?
How the hell did this ever get this far? How do you second guess ground combat troops in a legitimate firefight?These guys aren’t beat cops for crying out loud. Hands off the grunts.
RedDog,
No matter what firefight you are in, direct fire weapons require PID of hostile action/hostile intent. The concept protects not only civilians, but protects your fellow fighters from adrenaline fueled “spray and pray” reactions that kill friendlies.
Even the best defense in this case can only really argue “incompetence”, not heroism occurred in the 4 houses.
If the enemy hides behind a noncombatant, you have not only a legal, but a moral duty to neutralize the threat, even if the noncombatant gets hurt.
That didn’t happen here.
24 dead civilians, no weapons found, no enemy identified. 24 compensation payments made.
The judge tossed the case.
Just heard on XM that charges were dropped against the Lt.Col. It’s about time.
Now there is only one more Marine that needs to be cleared.
MM,
Thank you for covering this story.
And then there was one.
Foxnews:Military Judge Drops Charges Against Marine In Haditha Killings Case