Haditha Marine will NOT be Retried- after all charges dropped

#hhrs #tcot #murtha

This is not a huge surprise. the evidence that these Marines committed murder was pretty much non-existent from the get-go. The traction was all political, all Bush Hating, all liberal and all John Murtha. Looks like the final chapter has been written.

I think someone should write another chapter and retire Murtha since he can't be put in jail for this (which is too bad.) If you aren't familiar with the story;

Marines were fired on from a house, they fired back, people inside were killed, it was a tragedy, things like this do not happen often thank God, but not surprising because Insurgents hide among women and children...in HOPES that the our side will kill them so it can be used against us for propaganda purposes. We just don't expect a US congressman to be the propangandist.

Pennsylvania senator John Murtha used the tragedy and went on the attack, (evidence be damned) to try and hurt the Bush administration and said they committed cold blooded murder. This was all said prior to ANY investigation. Murtha has skated the consequences of his politically motivated sacrificing of the members of his former service. ALL charges against all members involved have been dropped after the investigation but careers derailed.

The Marine Corps has decided not to seek to reinstate criminal charges against a former battalion commander at Camp Pendleton for a 2005 incident in which his troops killed 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq.

Instead, the Marine Corps will convene a Board of Inquiry to hear testimony and recommend whether Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani should be demoted to major for purposes of retirement.

Even if such a recommendation is made and then accepted by the Secretary of the Navy, Chessani’s retirement pay would still be based on being a lieutenant colonel.

The Marine Corps had sought to try Chessani for dereliction of duty for not ordering a war-crimes investigation when his Marines killed the 24, including three women and seven children. Chessani, who was not present when the killings occurred, reported to his superiors that the deaths, while tragic, were the result of fighting between Marines and insurgents.

A court-martial judge threw out the charges after ruling that it was improper for a Marine lawyer who investigated the Haditha shootings to sit in on meetings with the general who decided to bring the charges.

The Navy-Marine Corps Court of Appeals agreed with the judge’s ruling and rejected prosecutors’ requests to reinstate the charges. The court, however, said the Marine Corps could begin a new criminal investigation into Chessani’s conduct and then bring new charges.

But Lt. Gen. George Flynn, assigned by the commandant, Gen. James Conway, to decide what course the Marine Corps should take, decided against a new investigation and a resumption of a crime. From Michelle Malkin