Haditha Deaths

Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com --- 53 days ago
Marine Sgt. Jermaine Nelson made admissions during a taped interview with a Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent that could go a long way toward convicting him of killing Iraqi prisoners during the fight for Fallouja in late 2004. On the tape, played in a preliminary hearing last week at Camp Pendleton, Nelson said that he, Sgt. Ryan Weemer and Sgt. Jose Nazario fatally shot four prisoners rather than take time to process them according to the laws of war. But Joseph Low, Nelson's attorney, argued in a Camp Pendleton courtroom Monday that the statements should be ruled inadmissible because they were obtained, in effect, through trickery. Low told a judge, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Meeks, that the NCIS agent did not read Nelson his rights until midway through the interrogation. Also, Low said, Nelson had just been told by a noncommissioned officer that he had done nothing wrong and thus felt he was free to talk in gruesome detail. It's common in military and civilian courts for defense attorneys to try to keep juries from hearing damaging statements their clients made to the police. But the issue of whether the Marine Corps has protected the legal rights of Marines accused of abuse in Iraq has arisen before. The prosecution of Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, the battalion commander in the Haditha case involving the Deaths of 24 Iraqis in 2005, may unravel unless the prosecutors succeed in getting an appeals court to overrule a military ju ...

Source: www.uncorrelated.com --- 38 days ago
Lt. Colonel Jeffrey Chessani appears to be the subject a political prosecution on charges of covering up the Deaths of civilians at Haditha in Iraq. ....The government is doing everything it can to convict LtCol Chessani. He is the political scapegoat they must convict to satisfy Murtha and the press. The vast resources of the military are at its disposal. The number of military investigators is virtually limitless. Government prosecutors can go anywhere, talk to anyone, and get anything, all at government expense. The Marine command structure is mandated to cooperate. So far, the government has spent millions of our taxpayer dollars, employed over 65 Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) agents ─ the largest investigation in that agency’s history ─ and granted immunity to scores of witnesses, all in their attempt to make Jeffrey and the “Haditha Marines” political scapegoats. If you want to defend a brave man who has defended us click here . ...

Source: cctimeswatch.blogspot.com --- 62 days ago
CC Times Stoops To New Low - Crocodile Tear Eulogy For Miguel Terrazas Mr. Lopez have you no shame? The Monday story on Miguel Terrazas is an affront to journalism - a very bad PR joke - and you should be ashamed for being a party to this false display of patriotism. The events in Iraq in general and Haditha in particular have been the subject of constant misreporting by your newspaper and because of that we find this article an offensive and transparent effort to create in the minds of your readers a false impression - that you are somehow supportive of our armed forces, something that couldn't be further from the truth. The position of the Times on the war on terror is indistinguishable from that of the Islamists, an honest newspaper wouldn't hide behind dead Marines who gave their lives so that people like you had the right to use their Deaths to paper over the Times' anti-Americanism. Doggen Hannah's article is a disservice to the memory of these fine young men and a cruel affront to their grieving families, you - Mr. Lopez - should be ashamed for having cooked this up. ...