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Attorneys for accused Haditha officer fire another salvo
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MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
NORTH COUNTY ---- The highest-ranking Marine accused of helping cover up two dozen civilian killings in Iraq in 2005 did nothing wrong in the eyes of several officers and a senior enlisted man called as witnesses in the case, the accused officer's attorneys are contending.
Special Report
Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani properly reported his knowledge of what happened when a squad from Camp Pendleton killed 24 Iraqis in the city of Haditha after the squad's convoy was attacked on Nov. 19, 2005, according to Brian Rooney, one of Chessani's attorneys.
"He went out into the field that night and the next morning to look at the battle sites in Haditha and he reported up the chain of command exactly what he knew," Rooney said Monday during a telephone interview.
Rooney and Robert Muise, two former Marine Corps officers, are representing Chessani free of charge through the auspices of the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. The nonprofit center works on anti-abortion causes and defends conservative Christians accused of wrongdoing.
In sworn statements of seven Marine Corps officers and a senior enlisted man taken by the attorneys at Camp Pendleton last week, none indicated that Chessani failed to carry out his responsibilities in reporting the incident, Rooney said. The statements were videotaped because the men are deploying to Iraq soon, he said.
"What Col. Chessani told the chain of command, and what these other officers reported right up through their regiment and to division headquarters, were the facts," Rooney said. "There was an engagement and the Marines responded."
Chessani was relieved from his post as 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment commander when the unit returned from Iraq in the spring of 2006. He remains on duty at the base pending the outcome of his case.
Chessani and three other officers from the regiment were charged on Dec. 21 with what the Marine Corps contends was failing to report a violation of the law of armed conflict, specifically the alleged unwarranted killing of civilians.
Four enlisted men under Chessani's command, including squad leader Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, were charged with murder and negligent homicide. They remain on limited duty.
The incident began when the roadside bomb destroyed a Humvee and killed Cpl. Miguel Terrazas. The Marines responded by killing five men who emerged from a taxi that happened upon the scene. They then killed 19 others, including several women and children, while assaulting three nearby homes.
Wuterich faces 13 counts of murder, two counts of soliciting another to commit an offense and making a false official statement. He appeared on the CBS program "60 Minutes" last month and defended his actions. The Marine Corps contends he committed murder by killing or directing the killing of people he was not certain were enemy combatants.
Rooney and Chessani's other attorneys have been much more vocal than any of the other accused officers' attorneys. They argue in a fresh round of publicly distributed releases from the Thomas More Law Center that the native Coloradan is a "political scapegoat" of anti-war efforts led by U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Penn., and Time magazine, which was the first to report the Haditha incident.
"The allegations from Murtha and a one-sided Time report that a massacre had occurred led to pressure and resulted in the notion that there may have been a cover-up when there was nothing of the sort," Rooney said.
The depositions, he said, help "debunk the false reports."
Marine prosecutors will not comment on the Chessani prosecution or any other pending cases.
From their interviews and review of two voluminous reports on what happened at Haditha, Rooney said it appears to him that what the enlisted men did that day was not a violation of the rules of engagement but simply a response to being attacked.
Rooney said there were two other insurgent attacks in Haditha that day leading to 11 Marines being injured. The attacks were all part of what he said was a coordinated effort.
Chessani's initial court hearing is set for mid-May but could be put off until the end of that month because of scheduling issues.
"We plan a very robust Article 32 hearing because we are not afraid of the facts and the more facts that come out the better," Rooney said.
A father of five who has been in the Marine Corps for 19 years, the 42-year-old Chessani was on his third assignment to Iraq when the killings occurred. The other officers accused of similar offenses are Capts. Lucas McConnell and Randy Stone and 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson.
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com. Comment at nctimes.com.
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SMOKEY wrote on Apr 3, 2007 2:22 PM:This is pretty sad. Call me old fashion but I dont think our commander and cheif should send our Marines off to war and then be suprised when people end up dead. Thats what Marines do they kill and destroy. Thats their JOB. War is hell And I want our Marines to rain hell down on our enemys who are willing to die for their cause. we should al least be willing to kill for ours. Marines are not SWAT teams, They are not cops, they are trained killers. make no mistake about that SEMPER FI
Concerned-1 wrote on Apr 3, 2007 3:28 PM:I'm glad someone is standing up to Murtha and the liberal jelly-backs that have trumped up these charges. If guys like this were around in WWII we'd all be speaking German and Japanese!
Sounds Stupid Smokey: wrote on Apr 3, 2007 5:05 PM:So if a marine goes bezerk in Oceanside and kicks down a few doors and shoots up a neighborhood and kills a couple of families, are you prepared to shrug it off, and say, "thats what they do, they kill and destroy".
Harry wrote on Apr 3, 2007 5:31 PM:To sounds stupid author. Where do you get off comparing apples to oranges. These men are in another country fighting our enemy.Yes,yours and mine. They are trained to respond under the rules of engagement and know there jobs very well. It is peace activists like you and MURTHA tat are the real problem. How would you react if someone was shooting at you. I mean without crawling under a car? Whoa be the day you have to face a combative situation. Just let them kick sand in your face and whine home to Mama. An old combat Marine and damn proud of it.
To: Sounds Stupid wrote on Apr 3, 2007 6:28 PM:Great choice of name...because that sure SOUNDS STUPID!! Harry is absoulutely right. No one was talking about doing anything like that in Oceanside, you putz! Think...Iraq...enemy shooting at and bombing you everyday... What is a Marine supposed to do in your mind? Invite them to a tea party or a speech debate on how to get along? You and your kind need to sit in you Lazy-Boy, SHUT-UP, and let those that were trained to fight in wars, fight like they have to!!! Get a grip. Nevermind, unless you go to Iraq...and see first hand what these Marines deal with...You will NEVER get a grip. But, that's ok. They do it, so YOU won't have to. Something YOU'D better think about and be THANKFUL for!
Smokey wrote on Apr 3, 2007 7:07 PM:I am saying that sending Marines to a far off land to fight our countrys battles and expecting them to act like timid little house guest is wrong. The Marines I know of in Oceanside, are with out a doubt the finest men and woman that this country has to offer. They all are welcome in my house anytime. That being said, from the time they step off the bus at boot camp they are conditioned to kill the enemy before he kills you or your brother. Or in more simple terms if George Bush were a chicken farmer and he decides to put a wolf in the hen house to guard the chickens he should not be suprised to find that the wolf ate some chickens. It is not the wolfs fault it is the guy who made the decision to put him in there that is wrong. The wolf cannot go against his nature if he does then he is no longer a wolf.
Troop Supporter wrote on Apr 3, 2007 7:12 PM:I've said this before, but repeat because it's important to know that the supposed "scoop" was handed by the so-called witnesses (some fake human rights "group" composed of a couple people with ties to the terrorists) to Time Magazine reporter Tim McGirk, same Tim McGirk who proudly wrote the Time article "Thanksgiving with the Taliban". McGirk spent the first Thanksgiving after 9/11 eating raisins and having such a good time with the Taliban, and he thought they were good guys. McGirk took the word of the Islamists over our military's word for the story and just ran with it - with the backing of John Murtha and his lib pals and media chompin at the bit and backing him.
AW4cryinoutloud wrote on Apr 3, 2007 8:08 PM:RE: The comment at 5:05PM. What in the world is the Ignoramous problem with Marines? Envy?, Jealousy?, Feelings of Inadequacy?, or NOT an American? I've run out of ideas for a possible excuse for it. Actually...There is NO excuse for it.
AW4cryinoutloud wrote on Apr 3, 2007 8:31 PM:To Troop Supporter: Keep repeating it until it sinks in to those like the one who commented at 5:05PM. The Washington Post nor CNN ever gave the benefit of the doubt to any of the Marines in either Hamdania or Haditha. The media owns as much responsibility for this persecution as Murtha and those from the Pentagon and elsewhere who've leaked unauthorized information in both cases, backed up by questionable investigation and interrogation practices of NCIS. Shame on the Brass of the Marine Corps for not giving a damn about justice for their own young men. Shame on them for teaching our Marines to fight for this country yet they won't even fight for their own. As a female, I have no respect for these leaders. As an American, I have even "less" respect for them.
Smokey wrote on Apr 3, 2007 9:07 PM:Have you seen the North Korean military on the news latley? if they were over there fighiting they would have already killed every man woman and child in the country and not even skiped a beat.
1marinemom wrote on Apr 7, 2007 12:47 PM:What do you expect our Marines to do...run away??? Our Marines were trained to do a job. Sounds like they did it honorably as far as I am concerned. People die in war....thank God it Was Not Our Marines!!! We citizens sitting here at home in relative safety and comfort can thank our Marines.....and need to do just that every day of our lives along with our other brave military. It sickens me and makes me mad as heck to see Americans here at home second guessing a split second decision made by our military of which we know absolutely Nothing about! We all need to stay the Hel1 out of it and let them all do their jobs. If we did....they could clean this mess up and come on back home to their loved ones and a grateful nation.
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