Tag Archive for Haditha

1SG Tommy Scott, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, CPT Roger Hill, Freedom Radio, Haditha, Iraq, Lawfare, Military Commissions, War on Terror

Unfriendly Fire; let’s end America’s lawfare against our troops

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Last night on Freedom Radio, retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel Robert Weimann talked about his open letter to Secretary of the Army Pete Geren. Within it, ‘Capt Roger Hill Case: Mister Secretary, it’s time to end the double standard,’ LTC Weimann demonstrates that political considerations have endangered the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and resulted in more than a few unjust prosecutions of our troops.

Battlefield evidentiary requirements will be addressed within a revamp of the Military Commission Act (that was nearly hidden within Friday’s White House announcement). With due respect to President Obama, those few select Members of Congress with whom he is negotiating, and the lawyers involved, if the Rule of Law overrides the Laws of War, that revamp will be reckless legislation.

This is America’s war and America’s sons and daughters are the ones fighting it. If the vast experience of front line troops is not sought and considered — especially from those who have fought this war at the company level — during the revamp of the MCA, a countless number of our troops will die and their missions will fail as a result.

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Related: With 2 dead and 30 wounded, D Company became ‘More Than Brothers’

Haditha, Iraq, John Murtha, Lawfare

Sins of the Generals helped John Murtha rush Haditha Marines to injustice

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During a March 22, 2009, Freedom Radio interview, retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel Robert Weimann discussed the improper command influence that occurred throughout much of the Haditha investigation.

The ‘Sins of the Generals‘ were many and began even before Tim McGirk’s insurgent talking-points driven Time magazine article. The top brass violated both the spirit and intent of the 1986 ‘Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reform Act’. The combat commander was the convening authority yet politicians, those outside the chain-of-command, and others improperly interjected themselves, let media buzz and enemy propaganda into their decision cycles, and forced further investigation even after Army Colonel Watt’s independent review found that:

No, there are no indications that [Coalition Forces] intentionally targeted, engaged and kill non-combatants. There is no denying that civilians died during the insurgent’s coordinated attack on the Marines on 19 Nov 05; however there is no evidence that Marines intentionally set out to target, engage, and kill non-combatants. …the four military age males in the WHITE CAR got out, failed to comply with orders and instructions from Marines and proceeded to run away… Anti-[Coalition Forces] were indistinguishable from non-combatants… The amount of force was proportional…appropriate in nature, scope and duration [and] hostile action set conditions that made it difficult for CF to [positively identify and] discriminate while executing offensive room clearing techniques.

Nothing remains to support Congressman Murtha’s trial-by-media-microphone finding that Marines had murdered “civilians” and “women and children” in “cold blood.” After forty months, the Haditha “massacre” investigation’s results to date are as follows: all charges against five Marines were dismissed; one Marine was found not guilty of all charges; and, while they maintain their innocence, lesser charges against two Marines, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani and Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, are still pending.