Murtha Granted Exemption From Testifying In Haditha Trial
A member of Congress who publicly condemned U.S. Marines fighting the
war on terror in Iraq for killing civilians in “cold blood” is being
granted an exemption that means he will not have to answer questions
about his statements, including his earlier explanation that his
information came from the highest levels of the Marine Command.
Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani
The exemption has come in a military court proceeding against Marine
Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, one of four Marines still facing charges in
the battle that erupted when a team of his Marines was attacked by
insurgents in the city of Haditha.
Murtha’s statements are key to the defense of Chessani, according to
officials with The Thomas More Law Center, which is representing
Chessani against the charges.
“If you go back [to Murtha's description] there was no [Improvised
Explosive Device], there was no firefight, it was like there was a
phantom menace,” said Brian Rooney, a spokesman for the center, told
WND.
“However we have the firefight on video. You can’t deny it,” Rooney
told WND after a recent two-day motions hearing in Chessani’s case
came to a conclusion.
But now the hearing officer, Col. Stephen Folsom, has exempted Murtha
from having to answer any questions.
“Military Judge Col. Stephen Folsom’s, USMC, ruling yesterday refusing
our request to take the deposition of Congressman John Murtha, D-Pa.,
is the latest indication that it will be impossible for Marine Lt.
Col. Chessani to get a fair trial regarding [the] Nov. 19, 2005,
Haditha incident,” said Richard Thompson, chief counsel of the Thomas
More Law Center.
“This entire prosecution is politically motivated and stinks to high
heaven. Denying us the right to take Murtha’s deposition so that we
could show undue command influence, as well as denial of our request
for production of documents in the possession of Lt. Col. Chessani’s
superiors makes it impossible for us to render this loyal Marine
officer the effective assistance of counsel he deserves – they are
attempting to throw him under the bus,” Thompson said. “In many ways
this is a trial like the one in ‘Alice in Wonderland” – the verdict
first and then the trial.”
Chessani is accused of “dereliction of duty” and “orders” violations
for the terrorist attack in Haditha, Iraq. At the time, Chessani was
battalion commander of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, which
is one of the most decorated battalions in the nation’s history.
There were 14 Marine casualties, one Marine killed in action and 13
others injured. The insurgents were hiding amongst women and children
in civilian homes, and 15 civilians died in the firefight between the
Marines and insurgents.
But the law center said months before the investigation was finished,
Murtha “made the rounds on TV news programs claiming there was no
firefight in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005, and that the Marines killed
innocent Iraqi civilians in ‘cold blood’ and officers ‘covered it up.’
Murtha publicly stated he received his information from the highest
levels of the Marine Command – this statement in itself is enough to
cause a dismissal of the charges because of undue command influence.”
Murtha, the law center noted, “holds significant influence over
military appropriations and in the past has boasted he can get the
Pentagon to do what he wants.”
Murtha also has ties to Navy Secretary Donald Winters, who assigned
five dozen investigators to look into the Haditha allegations.
“In the next couple of weeks we will reveal startling facts tracing
the impetus for this prosecution to the highest levels of military and
civilian command,” Thompson said.
“We remain undaunted despite these latest rulings. We will continue to
vigorously defend Lt. Col. Chessani against this politically driven
prosecution. At least one more motion hearing is scheduled in April,
and we intend to file several more motions that will be argued during
that time,” Thompson said.
The law center had wanted to question Murtha, the same congressman who
was caught on tape negotiating bribes with Arab sheiks during the
FBI’s 1980 Abscam investigation and was an unindicted co-conspirator
in the case, about his comments because of his well-known anti-war
stance and the fact the Haditha claims were ammunition for his
political perspective, the law center said.
The defense team had presented five motions in the hearing. They
included: a motion to compel the deposition of Murtha, a motion to
dismiss all of the charges due to their constitutional vagueness, a
motion to dismiss some of the charges because the same allegations
have been charged in multiple ways, a motion to compel discovery that
the government has kept from the defense because the government judged
it was not relevant, and a motion for a new Article 32 hearing because
the last hearing was defective.
Brian Rooney, a Marine veteran and attorney for the Law Center, said
the most dramatic testimony during the motions hearing came from
Marine intelligence officer Maj. Jeffrey Dinsmore.
He said Dinsmore told the judge about the intelligence provided to the
Marines that they should expect an attack, and the video showed the
attack and provided confirmation that the attack had been carried out
by insurgents in Iraq.
He said Dinsmore provided to the judge the same “story board” Marine
intelligence officers used to brief Chessani after the attack.
Rooney said the documentation showed how the insurgents’ IED exploded,
killing one Marine and injuring several others, and how the Marines
tracked the fleeing insurgents through several homes, eventually
leading to a home Chessani ordered attacked.
“The followup showed one of the insurgents escaped, hid in a house,
and Col. Chessani ordered the house surrounded. When he [the
insurgent] finally came out, he was carrying a baby, with a family
around him,” Rooney said.
At the time the attack happened, the case was investigated through the
Marine chain of command with no allegation of inappropriate action.
But then months later, a Time magazine story, “planted by an insurgent
propaganda agent,” according to the law firm, raised the profile of
that particular battle, prompting Murtha to make his public accusation
that Marines murdered civilians in “cold blood.”
The actual court-martial for Chessani is scheduled to start April 28, 2008.
Chessani, who grew up in Rangely, Colo., and graduated from the
University of Northern Colorado, was one of eight originally accused
in the case.
Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum also has been ordered to be court-martialed
and the case against Cpl. Andrew Grayson also remained pending, as
does the case against Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, although the charges
against him were reduced.
Two other officers, Capts. Randy Stone and Lucas McConnell, have had
their charges dismissed. Charges against Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz also
were dismissed, as were charges against Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt.
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