The show (trial) must go on

The more we read about the trial of the Marines accused of war crimes in Haditha, the more we see the Marines are being screwed over. This is a very damning report.

Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Chessani who commanded the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment in Haditha when members of the unit were ambushed by insurgents was recommended for promotion to colonel by his Division commander, who filed a fitness report calling him one of the most effective combat commanders in Iraq.

Yet Chessani now faces criminal charges arising out of the so-called "Haditha massacre" of November 19, 2005 — even though he was not at the scene.

Actions like this will give a second thought to many who seek to become Marines.

According to Brian Rooney, a lawyer for the Thomas More Law Center which is voluntarily representing Lt. Col. Chessani, and himself a former Marine captain who served with the unit during the 2nd battle of Fallujah – one of the Corps' most hard-fought combat engagements - his client faces a dishonorable discharge from the Marine Corps, the loss of all his retirement benefits, and a possible 3 years in prison.

Thank God for the Thomas Moore Law Center.

Now for the breaking news here (emphasis mine):

Said Rooney, "The charges against Lieutenant Colonel Chessani were incited by an inflammatory Time magazine headline accusing Marine enlisted men of ‘massacring innocent civilians.' The story was planted by a known terrorist propaganda operative — since discredited. Anti-war Congressman John Murtha, with influence over military appropriations, in an unprecedented action, publicly accused Marine officers of a 'cover-up' even before the investigation of the incident was completed. The subsequent investigation specifically found no ‘cover-up' at any level of command."

What about this terrorist propaganda operative?

Time subsequently was forced to admit that the story, written by their Jerusalem correspondent Tim McGirk, contained a series of egregious errors.

In a March 19th, 2006 story McGirk wrote "In the original version of this story, TIME reported that ‘a day after the incident, a Haditha journalism student videotaped the scene at the local morgue and at the homes where the killings had occurred. The video was obtained by the Hammurabi Human Rights Group, which cooperates with the internationally respected Human Rights Watch, and has been shared with TIME.'" In fact, Human Rights Watch has no ties or association with the Hammurabi Human Rights Group. TIME regrets the error."

And the lives of US Marines are truly on the line because of this error. Insurgents, AKA terrorists depending on your political persuasion, are believed before our Marines are.

On Friday May 26th, 2006, Time's Matthew Cooper wrote "In the original version of this story, TIME reported that 'one of the most damning pieces of evidence investigators have in their possession, John Sifton of Human Rights Watch told Time's Tim McGirk, is a photo, taken by a Marine with his cell phone that shows Iraqis kneeling — and thus posing no threat — before they were shot.' While Sifton did tell TIME that there was photographic evidence, taken by Marines, he had only heard about the specific content of the photos from reports done by NBC, and had no firsthand knowledge. TIME regrets the error."

It's worth noting that no such photographic evidence ever surfaced despite strenuous efforts by investigators to locate it.

Later it turned out that McGirk's so-called "journalism student" was in reality a 43-year old insurgent propagandist Thaer Thabit al-Hadithi who together with Abdul-Rahman al-Mashhadani, another known insurgent propagandist, constituted the entire membership of the Hammurabi Human Rights Group.

This should be enough to throw this case right out. There was no war crime committed and those involved in this know it. But to appease the politically correct peoples of this world, the show (trial) must go on.

Please donate some money to the legal defenses of the Marines involved in this travesty of justice. If you have a blog, please consider posting about this and sharing the Legal Defense Site as well. It's the very least we can do.

X Posted @ ARS