Marines dismiss charges in Haditha killings.
Marines dismiss charges in Haditha killings.
The Washington Post reports that the “Marine Corps today dismissed all charges against one of the Marines who was accused of killing women and children in the Iraqi town of Haditha in late 2005.” This is “the third time the service has decided not to pursue a criminal trial in one of the most notorious episodes of the war”:
Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum, who has admitted shooting civilians inside their homes as part of a pursuit of insurgents, was exonerated and granted immunity to testify in further hearings related to the Haditha investigation. The move leaves just one Marine — Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich — facing charges in connection with the shootings Nov. 19, 2005. As many as two dozen civilians were killed that day after a roadside bomb hit the Marines’ convoy and killed a member of their unit.
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It’s so sad that I’m not a bit surprised.
March 28th, 2008 at 6:10 pmAnd this guy is IMMEDIATELY shipped back to the front. How many times does this have to happen before it’s apparent how DESPERATE they are to maintain troop levels?
March 28th, 2008 at 6:11 pmThis is bound to have some blowback somewhat east, north, south and west of Haditha…
March 28th, 2008 at 6:12 pmDale Carnegie is rolling in his grave.
March 28th, 2008 at 6:15 pmThis is certainly not the way to win friends and influence Iraqis.
Haditha = My Lei
March 28th, 2008 at 6:16 pmRather than dismiss the charges against all of them at once, in typical Bush fashion they are did it piece meal. A cynical tactic designed to limit outrage both here and abroad. Methinks it will be quite some time before Staff Sgt. Wuterich takes the stand.
-AF
Andrew Sullivan Is A Fraud
March 28th, 2008 at 6:23 pmIt’s sad these young men and women have to serve as bloody props in their Commander’s absurd political theater.
March 28th, 2008 at 6:27 pmThose MOFOS !!!!!!!!
They wont learn a F@cking Lesson until somebody
Haditha-izes THEIR family…
F the Marines.
March 28th, 2008 at 6:31 pmWe own the world.
March 28th, 2008 at 6:40 pmWe don’t care.
As independent journalist Darh Jamail and others, especially Iraqis, have observed, what happened at Haditha is not unusual. The Iraqis know that the atrocities at Haditha are an all too common occurrence in Iraq. The only difference is that the unjustified killings at Haditha received attention [finally] at Haditha while the daily outrages against the Iraqi people go unnoticed. The most effective way for these war crimes to stop is for the soldiers to stop participating in them. As the documentary Sir! No Sir! proved, the best way to bring a war and an occupation to a halt is to have it happen from within.
March 28th, 2008 at 6:46 pmThis is facking bullshite. The Haditha situation was the most stomach-turning, messed up, horrifying, atrocity-tragedy that was actually publicized. (I know lots more happens that flies under the radar).
March 28th, 2008 at 7:05 pmThis really sucks. These Marines are criminals. I’m ashamed of America!
March 28th, 2008 at 7:05 pmAnd we wonder why they shout “Death to America” under their breath in Iraq but in the streets elswhere.
March 28th, 2008 at 7:21 pmYep. Rape innocents, kill innocents, destroy innocents. Now that is the Marine way of life. I wonder what kind of effect this news will have on our brave partners: The Iraquis. When you illegally invade and occupy their country, then rape, kill, and destroy the population, it is hard to continue to take the high road. We have sunken so low, pretty soon we will need scuba equipment just to beathe.
March 28th, 2008 at 7:27 pmAnd may they be forever held in reserve for the defense of our country and never be used illegally again.
March 28th, 2008 at 7:28 pmHopefully, this is a sign the case is working it’s way UP the chain of command, rather than down (again) – for a change.
March 28th, 2008 at 7:34 pmYOur headline frames this incorrectly, and in the way that RW blogs do.
The charges were not simply “dropped” – they were “dropped in exchange for testimony against other guilty parties.” They “cut a deal.”
Congrats on all the links for your one mistake. Hilarious.
March 28th, 2008 at 7:40 pmLT – something wrong with “fighting fire with fire”??
March 28th, 2008 at 7:46 pmSo your point is that this one guy did all of the killing?
March 28th, 2008 at 8:03 pmKilo, you are so full of shiit. Why can’t we just have a real investigation and justice?
Why are you so sure we are doing the right thing by killing 10’s of thousands of people and creating a war zone for people to live in.
One in which, since it is a war zone….terrible things will be done by both sides….give your apologizing for criminals a rest.
March 28th, 2008 at 8:09 pmYou are kidding, right? You think our people got duped into killing up to 24 people by the “insurgents”. Seriously, you need help. In the next breath you will talk about how dumb these insurgents are.
March 28th, 2008 at 8:14 pmat the end of the day Iraq is still full of graves where there should be people (who wouldn’t be dead if we hadn’t unnecessarily invaded their country)
March 28th, 2008 at 8:18 pm“lingering questions about the facts” won’t bring any dead Iraqis back, and it won’t un-break the minds of the young men and women we’ve sent into these doomed scenarios time and time again.
March 28th, 2008 at 8:19 pmKilo, I’ve never seen you admit you were wrong about anything..you must be about the smartest sob on the planet…..wonder why I just don’t give a big rats ass what you think about anything….
March 28th, 2008 at 8:30 pmNice sanctimony there Kilo – religious upbringing??
March 28th, 2008 at 9:02 pmThe only thing we have established is your departure from the real world. Get some help.
March 28th, 2008 at 9:08 pmWhat Kilo does not refute [because he cannot] is that what happened at Haditha [ and Fallujah and Ramadi, etc.], is simply the tip of the iceberg. Other independent journalists such as Nir Rosen, Robert Fisk, and Patrick Cockburn have confirmed what Dahr Jamail has reported, despite Kilo’s attempt to smear Jamail. Writers such as Arundhati Roy, Tariq Ali, John Pilger, as well as international lawyers such as Richard Falk and Dennis Brutus, know the atrocities that the Iraqis have endured at the hands of the United States military. It would not be surprising to discover that Kilo believes that the testimony given by the Winter Soldiers is not to be believed. After all, for people like Kilo, American Exceptionalism, not international justice, must always prevail.
March 28th, 2008 at 9:17 pmThe few, the proud, the immune :-{
March 28th, 2008 at 10:55 pmKilo states that “Soldiers killing people is one of the characteristics that gives it away as being a war.” First, this pseudo expert may want to acknowledge that this is not a war but an occupation. Second, the pseudo expert wishes to discount the entire testimony of the Winter Soldiers because of the questionable authenticity of two of its participants. Of course, the pseudo expert would also wish to discount the testimony of the original Winter Soldiers in 1971, most likely because in his eyes the United States could never be guilty of committing atrocities against another country.
But perhaps the most egregious error the pseudo expert has committed is to shrug off the killing of civilians during a time of war. As the Geneva Conventions, the UN Charter, the Nuremberg Principles and the Army Field Manual [27-10 Section II 498-504]makes abundantly clear, “Any person, as a member of the armed forces, who commits an act which constitutes a crime under international law is responsible therefor and liable to punishment.” These offenses, as the Army Field Manual indicates, constitutes:
a. Crimes against peace.
b. Crimes against humanity.
c. War crimes.
Renowned scholars such as Richard Falk, Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University and expert on international relations, law of war and global institutions, Benjamin G. Davis, Associate Professor of Law at the Univ. of Toledo and expert on law war, Harvey Tharp, former U.S. Navy Lieutenant and Judge Adjutant General [JAG] stationed in Iraq and the first officer to resign due to the war, Marjorie Cohn, President of the National Lawyers Guild and Associate Professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, have all, among others, agreed that the killing of civilians during a time of war or occupation is expressly forbidden by the above mentioned sources.
I would rather trust the judgment of the previously referenced scholars as well as the testimony of U.S. soldiers of what they had witnessed and/or participated in than that of the pseudo expert named Kilo.
March 29th, 2008 at 2:45 amI remember reporters asking nearby residents what they thought of the killing of the 24 innocent civilians. They answered “It happens every day! Why do you just care about one?”.
March 29th, 2008 at 3:25 amI am sick of US murdering people to liberate them and bring them democracy. Death is now the Freedom Sleep, thanks to US.
We had to kill them to save them. We had to bomb the fu(king world to save it. What heroes we are. All hail US.
Fu(king karma in the shitter for eons. Sob and weep.
FTMarines, lying, asscovering, testosterated simps that they are.
March 29th, 2008 at 9:47 amKilo’s main thrust of his argument, as far as I can determine, is that the killing of civilians happen during a time of war, and even though these are war crimes, this is to be expected during war time. He is trying to absolve the Marines of what happened at Haditha, despite the fact that 24 Iraqi civilians were killed, seven of whom were women and three were children. Is he attempting to claim that all these civilians shot themselves and each other? The Iraqis have said that relatives of those killed by American service members have received $2,500 by the U.S. government while the relatives of a dead American service member receives over $200,000. That is how much an Iraqi life is worth to the United States- a paltry $2500.
It certainly seems credible that a bomb went off killing a few Marines before this incident took place. It would then appear that the Marines killed these civilians as an act of vengeance as retaliation for their comrades being killed, even though there is absolutely no evidence linking the Iraqi civilians to the deaths of those Marines who were blown up. But according to the pseudo expert, any testimony given by an Iraqi is not to be believed because he or she is Iraqi while the testimony of an American serviceman is to be given credence because that person is American. The bottom line, as Tombaker at #29 has observed “… Iraq is still full of graves where there should be people [who wouldn't be dead if we hadn't unnecessarily invaded their country].”
But, as I previously mentioned, what happened at Haditha does not surprise the Iraqis at all since they know that atrocities take place against them on a daily basis. They also know that the words of the occupiers will always be believed and accepted in the vast majority of the cases over that of the oppressed. As long as the United States continues to illegally occupy Iraq, there will be more atrocities committed against the Iraqi people. The difference is that those daily outrages will not receive the attention that the massacre at Haditha did [as evidenced when the American military killed and harassed Iraqis at the hospital in Fallujah in 2004, I believe]. Unfortunately, the wanton slayings of the 24 Iraqis who were massacred at Haditha has gone unpunished, apparently proving that international law does not apply to anyone wearing an American uniform.
March 29th, 2008 at 10:42 amFred
That’s not what I’m saying at all. Do you understand what “cut a deal” means? It means they admit guilt. You don’t have to cut a deal if you’re not guilt of something.
That’s my point. There were several people who made deals in this case. When the Right reports those stories they shout “CHARGES DISMISSED” – as if it means “found innocent.” That’s my point to ThinkProgress.
March 29th, 2008 at 10:56 amStavrakios Says:
Long live the US Marine Corp!
Stav: Its Corps, unless you meant that it is a corporation, which may be more correct….
March 29th, 2008 at 11:50 amKilo at #41 rips into the IVAW and the Winter Soldiers Testimony, trying to somehow claim that their presence is not to be taken seriously because only 40 showed up out of 100. On the contrary, that should prove just the opposite, in that the IVAW wanted to make sure that those who did testify were credible and that if there was any doubt about the authenticity, then those people would not testify, which is exactly what happened. What he is unwilling to do is to listen to the testimony of these veterans, who had committed atrocities against the Iraqis and those in the military such as Suzanne Swift who have been sexually assaulted, not by Iraqis, but by her superior officer while being in Iraq. I would rather take the words of those who have been in a war zone like those in the IVAW than someone like Mr. KIlo who, I suspect, has never been in a combat zone while wearing a military uniform.
He also bizarrely states that the IVAW should not have been founded because the war lasted only a month. If they would have named their organization the IVAO-Iraq Veterans Against the Occupation- would that have somehow made it more valid? Their name does not take anything away from what they witnessed and/or participated in while being in Iraq. The pseudo expert may wish to avail himself of a book which deals with what Iraq veterans have gone through, entitled Mission Rejected-U.S. Soldiers Who Say NO to Iraq by Peter Laufer. That is, unless the pseudo expert is going to claim that Laufer and these Iraq veterans have made up what they went through in Iraq for absolutely no justifiable reason whatsoever.
Kilo, like so many of the other super patriotic Americans, cannot possibly conceive that the U.S. military could be culpable of committing war crimes. Twenty four Iraqi civilians were killed at Haditha, seven women and three children, and not one American was held responsible for this atrocity. The U.S. did it during World War II, in Vietnam, and is certainly doing it now in Iraq and Afghanistan. But, as previously mentioned, for flag wavers like Kilo, American Exceptionalism must always win out.
March 29th, 2008 at 12:28 pm