jamieooh
12-07-2011, 09:46 PM
Feds sued for hiding details of Haditha attack
Murtha-inspired prosecutions of targeted Marines called political
Posted: December 06, 2011
9:13 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2011 WND
The legal team that defended a Marine officer accused of crimes after members of his battalion were ambushed in Haditha, Iraq, and caught in a firefight for their lives now is suing the federal government for allegedly hiding information about the attack for political reasons.
The lawsuit has been filed by the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Mich.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington names the U.S. Department of State as a defendant for "failing to provide records in its possession concerning an insurgent attack against U.S. Marines in Haditha, Iraq, on Nov. 19, 2005."
The attack resulted in the deaths of Iraqi civilians who were put into the line of fire by insurgents who were trying to ambush U.S. Marines. The military reviewed the circumstances before commending the Marines.
However, after politicians, mostly notably the late U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., got involved, the military filed charges against eight of the Marines. Among them was Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, who was defended by the Thomas More Law Center.
The charges against Chessani ultimately were dismissed because of unlawful command influence, suggesting a political overtone to the case.
Chessani, the battalion commander, was in a convoy at about 7:15 the morning of Nov. 19, 2005. He and his men were ambushed by a road-side bomb and small-arms fire from nearby houses. The bomb detonated under a humvee, killing one Marine and injuring two others. An ensuing house-to-house battle between insurgents and an outnumbered four-man Marine fire team resulted in the deaths of 24 Iraqis, including 15 civilians.
The case against the Marines wasn't begun until some three months later after publication of "a grossly erroneous and inflammatory Time magazine news lead, which military commanders in the field suspected was instigated by terrorist propaganda," according to the Thomas More Law Center.
The law center's attorneys successfully defended Chessani.
"The law center's position throughout the court martial and subsequent administrative hearing was that the prosecution of Chessani and the other Marines under his command were politically motivated and spurred on by anti-war Congressman John Murtha, now deceased. All of Chessani's superiors congratulated him for a job well done; that is, before the politicians got involved," the organization reported.
The organization reported commanders monitored the action as it was happening through radio traffic and remote-controlled aircraft. But none saw the need for further investigation.
Later, investigating officer Lt. Col. Paul Ware blasted the credibility of the government's case.
Of the eight Marines charged criminally, all have been exonerated but one.
The remaining case, against Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, is scheduled for a court martial in January.
Charges against Lance Cpls. Stephen Tatum and Justin Sharratt, Capts. Randy Stone and Lucas McConnell and Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz were dropped. First Lt. Andrew Grayson was acquitted and counts against Chessani were dismissed.
The Thomas More Law Center previously filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act for records of an investigation by the Iraqi government. It was during a televised interview that an Iraqi official said her government had given the complete investigative file on Haditha to the U.S. government.
But the State Department has not responded to the request.
"The political nature of the process was further reinforced when months before the investigation was completed, Congressman John Murtha, an outspoken anti-war critic and chairman of the House military appropriations subcommittee, publicly accused the four Marines of being 'cold-blooded murderers' and high ranking officers of 'covering it up,'" the law firm said.
The attorneys noted Murtha was the same person caught on tape negotiating bribes with Arab sheiks during the FBI's 1980 Abscam investigation, and he ended up being named as an unindicted co-conspirator in that case.
In Chessani's case, ultimately a board of inquiry determined he was not guilty of misconduct.
Talk-radio host Michael Savage was integral in raising the public's awareness of the Chessani case and raised significant financial support for the team working on his defense.
Read more: Feds sued for hiding details of Haditha attack http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=374869#ixzz1fu6l8tDY
Murtha-inspired prosecutions of targeted Marines called political
Posted: December 06, 2011
9:13 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2011 WND
The legal team that defended a Marine officer accused of crimes after members of his battalion were ambushed in Haditha, Iraq, and caught in a firefight for their lives now is suing the federal government for allegedly hiding information about the attack for political reasons.
The lawsuit has been filed by the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Mich.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington names the U.S. Department of State as a defendant for "failing to provide records in its possession concerning an insurgent attack against U.S. Marines in Haditha, Iraq, on Nov. 19, 2005."
The attack resulted in the deaths of Iraqi civilians who were put into the line of fire by insurgents who were trying to ambush U.S. Marines. The military reviewed the circumstances before commending the Marines.
However, after politicians, mostly notably the late U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., got involved, the military filed charges against eight of the Marines. Among them was Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, who was defended by the Thomas More Law Center.
The charges against Chessani ultimately were dismissed because of unlawful command influence, suggesting a political overtone to the case.
Chessani, the battalion commander, was in a convoy at about 7:15 the morning of Nov. 19, 2005. He and his men were ambushed by a road-side bomb and small-arms fire from nearby houses. The bomb detonated under a humvee, killing one Marine and injuring two others. An ensuing house-to-house battle between insurgents and an outnumbered four-man Marine fire team resulted in the deaths of 24 Iraqis, including 15 civilians.
The case against the Marines wasn't begun until some three months later after publication of "a grossly erroneous and inflammatory Time magazine news lead, which military commanders in the field suspected was instigated by terrorist propaganda," according to the Thomas More Law Center.
The law center's attorneys successfully defended Chessani.
"The law center's position throughout the court martial and subsequent administrative hearing was that the prosecution of Chessani and the other Marines under his command were politically motivated and spurred on by anti-war Congressman John Murtha, now deceased. All of Chessani's superiors congratulated him for a job well done; that is, before the politicians got involved," the organization reported.
The organization reported commanders monitored the action as it was happening through radio traffic and remote-controlled aircraft. But none saw the need for further investigation.
Later, investigating officer Lt. Col. Paul Ware blasted the credibility of the government's case.
Of the eight Marines charged criminally, all have been exonerated but one.
The remaining case, against Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, is scheduled for a court martial in January.
Charges against Lance Cpls. Stephen Tatum and Justin Sharratt, Capts. Randy Stone and Lucas McConnell and Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz were dropped. First Lt. Andrew Grayson was acquitted and counts against Chessani were dismissed.
The Thomas More Law Center previously filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act for records of an investigation by the Iraqi government. It was during a televised interview that an Iraqi official said her government had given the complete investigative file on Haditha to the U.S. government.
But the State Department has not responded to the request.
"The political nature of the process was further reinforced when months before the investigation was completed, Congressman John Murtha, an outspoken anti-war critic and chairman of the House military appropriations subcommittee, publicly accused the four Marines of being 'cold-blooded murderers' and high ranking officers of 'covering it up,'" the law firm said.
The attorneys noted Murtha was the same person caught on tape negotiating bribes with Arab sheiks during the FBI's 1980 Abscam investigation, and he ended up being named as an unindicted co-conspirator in that case.
In Chessani's case, ultimately a board of inquiry determined he was not guilty of misconduct.
Talk-radio host Michael Savage was integral in raising the public's awareness of the Chessani case and raised significant financial support for the team working on his defense.
Read more: Feds sued for hiding details of Haditha attack http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=374869#ixzz1fu6l8tDY