Justice! Haditha Marine Acquited! Last Two Expected To Be Exonerated As Well
This is just. This is right. This is fair.
I have three words for FORMER-Marine Jack Murtha:
“Fucking apologize, publicly, you bastard.”
Okay, that’s five words…
Grayson’s attorney, Joseph Casas, said…It’s been a botched investigation from the get-go, I believe in the end all of the so-called Haditha Marines who still have to face trial will be exonerated.”
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — A military jury acquitted a Marine intelligence officer Wednesday of charges that he tried to help cover up the killings of 24 Iraqis, including women and children.
Cheers erupted as the seven-officer panel cleared 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson, who was the first of three Marines to be tried in the biggest U.S. criminal case involving Iraqi deaths linked to the war.
The judge, Maj. Brian E. Kasprzyk, admonished those in court, telling them: “There will be no more of that.”
The verdict came just five hours after deliberations began.
Grayson, who has always maintained he did nothing wrong, was not at the scene of the killings on Nov. 19, 2005, in Hadithah. He was accused of telling a sergeant to delete photographs of the dead from a digital camera and laptop computer.
Grayson was acquitted of two counts of making false official statements, two counts of trying to fraudulently separate from service, and one count of attempt to deceive by making false statements.
Picture from Flopping Aces.
A military judge told a jury Wednesday to focus on the allegations against a Marine intelligence officer accused of trying to help cover up the killings of 24 Iraqis, rather than revisit the broader points of the case.
First Lt. Andrew Grayson is the first of three Marines scheduled to be tried in the biggest U.S. criminal case involving Iraqi deaths linked to the war. He is accused of a telling a sergeant to delete photographs of the dead from his digital camera and laptop computer.
Grayson’s civilian defense attorney, Joseph Casas, said he was victim of a botched investigation under heavy media scrutiny.
Grayson, who says he did nothing wrong, was not at the scene of the killings of men, women and children on Nov. 19, 2005, in Haditha.
“Gentlemen, why would an otherwise promising officer make a statement like that? The government’s argument is that it was to avoid accountability,” Atterbury said.
The case, he said, was falling apart, pointing to a move a day earlier by a judge who dismissed an obstruction-of-justice charge against Grayson.
“One of the greatest charges we started out with is no longer there,” Casas said. “It’s like the government ran a 90-yard punt return and got called back to line 10.”
The judge did not explain why he dropped the charge. He told jurors shortly before closing arguments began that they should not infer anything from his decision.
The killings occurred after a roadside bomb killed a Marine and wounded two others.
Investigators allege that after the bombing, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich and a squad member shot five men by a car at the scene. Wuterich then allegedly ordered his men into several houses, where they cleared rooms with grenades and gunfire, killing more Iraqis, including women and children, in the process.
Four enlisted Marines initially were charged with murder, and four officers were charged with failing to investigate the deaths. Charges were dropped against five of the Marines but remain against Grayson, Wuterich and Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, who was the battalion commander.
Still to face court-martial are Wuterich, of Meriden, Conn., whose charges include voluntary manslaughter, and Chessani, of Rangely, Colo., who has been charged with dereliction of duty and violation of a lawful order on allegations he mishandled the aftermath of the killings.
Grayson and Wuterich pleaded not guilty. Chessani has said he didn’t order a formal investigation because he believed the deaths resulted from lawful combat. He has not entered a plea because in the military system, that is not usually done until motions hearings are completed and a court-martial is about to start.
(Marine Corps Times & AP)
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There IS a God … and He is a Marine
June 4th, 2008 at 8:54 pmWhee!!!!!!!!
This is great news!
June 5th, 2008 at 2:16 amGood for them. I hope they get on with their lives.
June 5th, 2008 at 2:17 amWeak-kneed civilian litigating duty-dodgers: Butt the fuck out.
John Murtha, Reid, Pelosi, Durban, Kerry, et al: Fuck off and eat shit.
June 5th, 2008 at 4:06 amWhat is needed now is a damn good lawyer to go after Murtha on libel charges and for aiding and abetting.If you remember Murtha said,“there was no firefight, there was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.”
June 5th, 2008 at 5:06 amLibel is “An untruthful statement about a person, published in writing or through broadcast media, that injures the person’s reputation or standing in the community.
Aiding and Abetting is”One who knowingly, voluntarily, and with common intent unites with the principal offender in the commission of a crime”.
anyone remember ABSCAM?…John Murtha is still an unindicted co-conspirator….hopefully there isn’t much sand left in his hourglass…the asswipe.
June 5th, 2008 at 5:08 amTime to get Murtha…
June 5th, 2008 at 5:28 amMURTHA IS NOT A FORMER HE IS AN EX-MARINE. AND THE ADAGE OF ONCE A MARINE ALWAYS A MARINE DOES NOT APPLY TO THIS ASSHOLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now I will go back and read the rest.
Semper Fi
June 5th, 2008 at 5:46 amThe intel that I have gathered over the course of the last year is that there is a rift between the Army’s Brass and the Marine Corps Brass, this is the reason for the majority of our Servicemembers being charged are Marines.
Sgt Nazario and Sgt Nelson are now going through the same fight from actions taken during the fight for Fallujah. Both of these Marines were offered immunity if they would roll on their officers, reminds me a lot of the way the DOJ goes after Mobsters.
June 5th, 2008 at 5:55 amWaiting for the journalist who broke the “massacare” to pen a big story on how the charges were all bogus.
June 5th, 2008 at 6:17 amIt is a disgusting fact that the ex-marine, coward, traitorous, treasonous, lying, poser-bitch-miserable-murtha-fuck, walks off scott-free after falsely accusing these courageous men. I cannot even think of the whole of Congress without wanting to puke my guts out. I again imagine murtha swinging from the end of rope like that nazi in the previous post.
June 5th, 2008 at 6:52 amWhy didn’t I hear about this in the MSM?
Nevermind, that was a stupid question.
June 5th, 2008 at 7:17 amI think you’re being too hard on Murtha or, at least, not getting to the real issue: He had to have gotten his information from someone. It’s clear now that the someone was Marine Corps leadership and NCIS. Why shouldn’t a congressman be entitled to believe that senior military officers and federal law enforcement agent are telling him the truth?
I find Howie’s comment on why the reason for the majority of our Servicemembers being charged are Marines interesting (I’ve wondered myself what exactly is going on). Can he elaborate;what exactly is the nature of the rift?
June 5th, 2008 at 8:00 amWhere is the MSM on this? These brave men were falsely accused, almost martyred by John Murtha and his congressional cohorts. Now, with their acquittal, it will be brushed under the carpet.
June 5th, 2008 at 8:25 amWe all know Murtha is a dickless fuck. However I was unaware of this till today. Obambi was asked about Murthas accusations and of course could’nt resist getting his lips on the fat guys balls.
…Barack Obama, asked about Murtha’s charge by Alan Colmes in June of 2006, stated, “I would never second guess John Murtha… I think he’s somebody who knows of which he speaks.”…
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/vindication-for-marine-charged-in-haditha-cover-up/
June 5th, 2008 at 9:14 amIt sickens me to see eight good-looking, bright and honorable Marines on the same page as a self-serving pig like Murtha.
There’s a special place in eternal hell waiting for Maggot Murtha; the most pathetic of all Congressional Dhimmicrats in my book.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:47 amRob-
June 5th, 2008 at 10:10 amBecause he failed to investigate before publically claiming they were killing civilians “in cold blood”, and for not retracting, and appologizing for this error. Fuck-bag murtha has done great harm to the United States Marines, this Nation and the American People. Further, his comments give aide and comfort to the enemy as usable propaganda. Pull your head out of the shitter, or at least flush it for us!
political.fish,
Murtha said nothing more — and probably a whole lot less –than what the Marine Corps itself, NCIS, and military prosecutors have said about the Haditha accused. Those folks repeated their claims over and over, despite having seen what the evidence really showed. It seems then that any harm done to the Marine Corps is self-inflicted. And any aide and comfort that might have been to the enemy could only have happened with the cooperation of our own senior military leadership and federal law enforcement agents.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:52 amRob-
June 5th, 2008 at 6:38 pmThe only public statement (by an offical of government) of wrongdoing was by murtha himself, or other fuck-tard liberal friends of yours. It is his statements being used as propaganda. Any and all military, NCIS, Marine Corps statements or actions have been a result of the initial false accusations (most likely from some fag-er-jag officer), and have been dispelled by the military justice process. Ultimately, the only one that can be held as a traitor is your butt-buddy murthabitch as he refused to acknowledege his error. All those who you mention otherwise have been answered by the verdicts themselves. As a public figure murthabitch has the overarching responsibility to openly state his error, appologize directly to the courageous men he disparaged, and to the American People. Until then he deserves all the animosity he is receiving from the patriots posting here (yourself excluded).