Haditha Is Final, Except For Justice For Murtha

When Haditha accusations were hurled at the Marine squad, Marines and the Army in general, and the United States, it was repeatedly headlined across the U.S. and world media. Since the latest striking down of the charges against SSgt Wuterich, along with those against the other Marines in his squad, there’s been some back-page reporting but no headlines. Only a few pieces showed up on Memeorandum, not prominently.

I speculated in my last three posts about the Haditha cases (here, then here, and then here) that the Marine commitment to command responsibility would weigh more heavily upon senior officers for possible failures to investigate, as it did in three’s censure, and similarly upon SSgt Wuterich for inadequate leadership in a dangerously tense situation.

The Article 32 report on SSgt Wuterich’s hearing has not been released to the public yet, but reports by those who say they’ve seen it seem to bear out my expectations. The only reporter who says he’s actually seen portions of the Article 32 report, Mark Walker of the San Diego area North County Times, who has provided the best coverage of anyone throughout the cases, says:

The official, Lt. Col. Paul Ware, said in a recommendation obtained by the North County Times that rather than face murder charges, squad leader Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich should be tried for the lesser offense of negligent homicide in the deaths of five children and two women.

Ware recommended 10 other murder charges against Wuterich be dismissed.

"I believe after reviewing all the evidence that no trier of fact can conclude Staff Sgt. Wuterich formed the criminal intent to kill," Ware wrote in reference to the women and children. "When a Marine fails to exercise due care and civilians die, the charge of negligent homicide, and not murder, is appropriate."

Ware's report, issued to prosecutors and defense attorneys this week, found the evidence against Wuterich contradictory. Ware's role as the case's investigating officer is akin to that of a judge presiding over a pretrial hearing.

"The case against Staff Sgt. Wuterich is simply not strong enough to conclude he committed murder beyond a reasonable doubt," Ware wrote. "Almost all witnesses have an obvious bias or prejudice."

The CNN report adds this:

Ware said the evidence indicated Wuterich "failed to exercise due care in his own actions in supervising his Marines.”

It remains to be seen what LtGen Mattis will decide about Wuterich’s Article 32 recommendation, or that of Lance Corporal Tatum, or LtCol Chessani. However, now that we’ve seen that the Marine Corps believes in responsibility, we’re still waiting to see if either the major media or Congress itself will air its own laundry.

Attorney Clarice Feldman pens a must read analysis of the upcoming legal deposition that Congressman Murtha has been court ordered to give about his early and, events prove, libelous statements about the Marines: “Are Members of Congress Accountable for Anything?”

[I]nsulating Congressmen when attacking ordinary citizens, or worse yet active duty Soldiers, is an invitation to tyranny. We are all potential targets if this holds true. Are they totally unaccountable for their conduct against ordinary citizens?

Personally, I doubt that any jury of combat veterans will hold either Tatum, Wuterich or Chessani guilty of negligence, as conditions in the midst of combat are hardly those even in the streets of Oakland. I, also, doubt that Murtha will face any more embarrassment or sense of shame over what will be revealed by his deposition than he was by actual film of his ABSCAM involvement. We don’t have an imperial presidency, but we do seem to have an imperial Congress.

We also seem to have an imperial media. I've yet to see, nor do I expect to, an apology from any about their reckless rush to judgment, that left the reputation of the United States in tatters across the globe, and put this Marine squad and its leaders through excess hell.