Haditha, John Murtha

Charges dismissed against 7th (of 8) Haditha Marine

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The New York Times relayed the breaking news that all charges have been dismissed against the battalion commander of the Marines who killed (not “in cold blood”) 24 people in Haditha, Iraq, on November 19, 2005:

Col. Steven Folsom dismissed charges against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani after finding that a four-star general overseeing the case was improperly influenced by an investigator probing the November 2005 shootings by a Marine squad in Haditha.

”Unlawful command influence is the mortal enemy of military justice,” Folsom said. ”In order to restore the public confidence, we need to take it back. We need to turn the clock back.”

Chessani, of Rangely, Colo., was the highest-ranking officer to face a combat-related court-martial since the Vietnam War.

The charges were dismissed without prejudice, meaning they can be refiled, but Folsom barred Marine Forces Central Command from future involvement in the case.

The latest dismissal leaves only Marine SSgt Frank Wuterich to possibly face court-martial for voluntary manslaughter. Two weeks ago, LT Andrew Grayson was fully acquitted and all charges against the six other Marines involved were previously dismissed.

Looks like I’ll soon have to make another 45-minute drive to Congressman John Murtha’s office in Johnstown to help him look for the words of apology he can’t seem to find.

9/11, Barack Obama, jihadists, Political wind, World Trade Center

Obama’s America Is September 10th America: Andrew McCarthy

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Barack Obama is obviously running to become America’s Lawyer-in-Chief.

Former federal prosecutor Andrew C. McCarthy says Senator John McCain should ask Senator Barack Obama this question everyday: How is that strategy of prosecuting him [bin Laden] in the criminal-justice system working out? He points out this naive assertion yesterday by Mr. Obama:

What we know is that, in previous terrorist attacks — for example, the first attack against the World Trade Center, we were able to arrest those responsible, put them on trial. They are currently in U.S. prisons, incapacitated.

And the fact that the administration has not tried to do that has created a situation where not only have we never actually put many of these folks on trial, but we have destroyed our credibility when it comes to rule of law all around the world, and given a huge boost to terrorist recruitment in countries that say, “Look, this is how the United States treats Muslims.”

So that, I think, is an example of something that was unnecessary. We could have done the exact same thing, but done it in a way that was consistent with our laws.

Mr. Obama has no experience as a prosecutor and only briefly taught Constitutional law. Compare that to Mr. McCarthy’s considerable experience as a federal prosecutor and the lead prosecutor of those who conducted the first attack upon the World Trade Center. Here is, in part, the latter’s response:

The fact is that we used the criminal justice system as our principal enforcement approach, the approach Obama intends to reinstate, for eight years — from the bombing of the World Trade Center until the shocking destruction of that complex on 9/11. During that timeframe, while the enemy was growing stronger and attacking more audaciously, we managed to prosecute successfully less than three dozen terrorists (29 to be precise). And with a handful of exceptions, they were the lowest ranking of players.

I’ll add that 9/11 and all the other successful attacks inside and outside our nation’s borders that previous law enforcement counter-terrorism efforts failed to prevent are what gave a huge boost to Islamic terrorist recruitment. Killing every Islamic terrorist that we identify or (if we unfortunately capture them alive) locking them in a cell until they are dead or too feeble-minded to contribute to the jihad would at least lower their reenlistment rates substantially; feeding detainees a couple times each day is, in my mind, all the process they are due.