Fwd: NC TImes Reports on TMLC Suit - - Re: TMLC Sues State Department for Failure to Release Haditha Records

Forwarded. This is a step in the right direction.
It should also be done for the Pendleton 8.

Now we need a pro-bono attorney to take up
the fight for the Pendleton 8 and file a similar
compliant as TMLC did.

Semper fi,
Don Greenlaw
----- Original Message ----- From: Clo Shivnan
To: Don Greenlaw ; sandy damitz ; frank albano ; Heidi
Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2011 6:04 PM
Subject: NC TImes Reports on TMLC Suit - - Re: TMLC Sues State Department for Failure to Release Haditha Records

Here's Walker's take, I serioulsy doubt Frank will be going to trial January :):

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/military/military-suit-filed-in-haditha-killings-case/article_275f46e5-6014-5902-bf5e-6a4c60284da6.html

A Michigan law firm that represented a Camp Pendleton officer who had been charged with crimes in the wake of the killing of 24 Iraqis in 2005 has filed a suit against the federal government for access to investigative records.
The Thomas More Law Center of Ann Arbor, Mich., contends that the U.S. State Department has a file about the case compiled by the Iraqi government but is refusing to turn it over.
The suit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington seeks to compel the State Department to release the documents, which the center contends may show the case was more about politics than justice.
The law center represented Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, who was accused of two counts of dereliction of duty after a Camp Pendleton squad under his command killed the civilians in the wake of a roadside bombing.
Prosecutors alleged that when Chessani learned about the slayings he failed to order a full-scale investigation into what happened.
Chessani's case dragged on for years before the criminal charges were dropped and he went before a special inquiry board.
That board found his conduct in the wake of the killings "substandard," but allowed him to retire as a lieutenant colonel.
Chessani was commander of Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment when the incident took place in the city of Haditha.
Richard Thompson, president and chief attorney for the Christian-based Thomas More Law Center, said Tuesday that he believes the Iraqi report could fully exonerate all the accused Marines by showing that prosecutors were unduly pressured to file criminal charges.
"Our opinion is that the entire prosecution of all the Marines was political scapegoating, and that the U.S. government acted in that way to do nothing more than appease the Iraqi government," he said.
With Chessani's case resolved, Thompson said proving the assertion could help prevent similar cases from being brought.
"We don't want it to happen again," he said. "The Marines and their families were put through hell and we don't want Marines put in this position again."
Of eight Marines charged with crimes at Haditha, all but one have been exonerated through a variety of legal rulings.
The suit contends that an Iraqi human rights official said in 2006 that an investigation done by that country's government was presented to U.S. officials and was in the control of the State Department.
State Department officials could not immediately be reached for comment about the suit or about whether such a report exists.
The remaining Haditha defendant, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, who led the squad in the killings, is scheduled to go on trial next month at Camp Pendleton.
He has pleaded not guilty to nine counts of manslaughter and related charges. His trial before a military jury starts the first week of January. The charges are tied to his direct role in nine of the slayings.
Several women and children were among the two dozen Iraqis killed as the Wuterich-led squad searched for those responsible for a roadside bombing the morning of Nov. 19, 2005. The blast killed one Marine and injured two others.
When the incident came to light, it sparked an international outcry and spurred debate in Washington over the war and the stresses that U.S. troops were under.
Wuterich has remained on duty at Camp Pendleton pending resolution of his case. If convicted and sentenced to the maximum punishment, he faces decades in prison.
Last year, Wuterich told the North County Times he was confident he, too, will win exoneration.
"It's tough being the last guy going through this," he said. "But I'm confident everything will turn out how it should."

The definition of Insanity - Doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results.

From: Clo Shivnan <clodagh2911@yahoo.com>
To: Don Greenlaw <dgreenlaw@cox.net>; sandy damitz <lilsolitaire@hotmail.com>; frank albano <fbalbano@cox.net>; Heidi <wheidi3@cox.net>
Sent: Tuesday, December 6, 2011 10:24 AM
Subject: Fw: TMLC Sues State Department for Failure to Release Haditha Records

Latest from TMLC on Haditha

The definition of Insanity - Doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results.

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: TMLC News Alert <thomasmore@thomasmore.org>
To: clodagh2911@yahoo.com
Sent: Tuesday, December 6, 2011 9:10 AM
Subject: TMLC Sues State Department for Failure to Release Haditha Records

                Thomas More Law Center Sues State Department for Failure to Release Records Relating to the 2005 Insurgent Attack on Marines in Haditha, Iraq
                December 6, 2011
                Yesterday, the Thomas More Law Center filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the U.S. Department of State for failing to provide records in its possession concerning an insurgent attack against U.S. Marines in Haditha, Iraq on November 19, 2005.
                The Law Center successfully defended Lt. Col Jeffrey Chessani, USMC, the Battalion Commander of the Marines that responded to the insurgent ambush. The criminal charges against Chessani were dismissed on the grounds of unlawful command influence.
                The Law Centerâs position throughout the court martial and subsequent administrative hearing was that the prosecution of Chessani and the other Marines under his command were politically motivated and spurred on by anti-war Congressman John Murtha, now deceased. All of Chessaniâs superiors congratulated him for a job well done; that is, before the politicians got involved.
                Of the eight Marines criminally charged, all have been exonerated thus far, but one. The remaining Marine SSgt. Frank Wuterich, is scheduled for a court marital in January 2012.
                On October 29, 2009, the Law Center filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act for production of records of an investigation conducted by the Iraqi government. During a televised interview, an Iraqi official stated that her government had turned over a complete investigative file on what happened in Haditha on November 19, 2005 to the U.S. Government. The State Department has failed to comply with the request.
                At the time of the battle, Chessani was commander of Third Battalion, First Marines and responsible for approximately 2,000 American and Iraqi forces. At about 7:15 in the morning of November 19, 2005, a squad of Chessaniâs Marines was leading a convoy when it was ambushed by a road-side bomb and small arms fire from nearby houses. The bomb detonated under a Humvee, killing one Marine and injuring two others. An ensuing house-to-house battle between insurgents and an out-numbered 4-man Marine âfire teamâ resulted in the deaths of 24 Iraqis, including 15 civilians.
                The decision to launch a criminal investigation of the November 19 incident was made three months after its occurrence as a result of a grossly erroneous and inflammatory Time magazine news lead, which military commanders in the field suspected was instigated by terrorist propaganda.
                The political nature of the process was further reinforced when months before the investigation was completed, Congressman John Murtha, an outspoken anti-war critic and chairman of the House military appropriations subcommittee, publicly accused the four Marines of being âcold-blooded murderersâ and high ranking officers of âcovering it up.â Murtha is the same person caught on tape negotiating bribes with Arab Sheiks during the FBIâs 1980 Abscam investigationâhe was an un-indicted coconspirator in that case.
                According to news stories, higher echelon commanders were monitoring the action as it was taking place through radio traffic and remote controlled aircraft. Yet, none of these higher echelon commanders saw the need for further investigation. Loss of civilian life was considered a tragic but not uncommon occurrence in a war against insurgents who purposely placed civilians in harmâs way.

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