Yet another Haditha Marine, Capt. Lucas M. McConnell, is exonerated.
The dismissal of the charges, officially dated Sept. 12, amounts to a full exoneration for McConnell, who was one of four officers charged with crimes related to the aftermath of the shootings.
"It's long overdue," said Kevin McDermott, McConnell's civilian attorney. "It is clear that everything these guys knew went up the chain of command."
Another captain -- a battalion lawyer -- was also cleared. Two officers, including the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani, still face charges. Murder charges are outstanding against two Marines who killed people in Haditha, but an investigating officer has recommended that one of the cases be dropped.
July 24, 2007 we showed you a letter to Murtha from Darryl Sharratt, Proud American, Proud father of L/Cpl Justin L. Sharratt, taking John Murtha to task for his public condemnation of the Haditha Marines before they had even been tried.
Murtha's words:On Wednesday, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said the accounts are true.
[...]
Murtha, a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq, said at a news conference Wednesday that sources within the military have told him that an internal investigation will show that "there was no firefight, there was no IED (improvised explosive device) that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood."
[...]
The Marine Corps issued a statement in response to Murtha's remarks:
"There is an ongoing investigation; therefore, any comment at this time would be inappropriate and could undermine the investigatory and possible legal process. As soon as the facts are known and decisions on future actions are made, we will make that information available to the public to the fullest extent allowable."
Murtha held the news conference to mark six months since his initial call for "redeployment" of U.S. forces from Iraq.
He said U.S. forces were under undue pressure in Iraq because of poor planning and allocation of resources by the Bush administration.
Then after L/Cpl Justin L. Sharratt had charges against him dropped, we asked if John Murtha was going to issue a public apology, as publicly as he originally asserted their guilt. We also provided detailed instructions on how to get to Murtha's office, email him and all the numbers to call to ask him the same question.
Hot Air got the answer when John Murtha's office hung up on them.
Yesterday Hot Air provided a video of John Murtha being confronted on the issue where he STILL is refusing to issue an apology.
As we showed you above, Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani is still facing charges and the investigators have already recommended all those charges be dropped.
Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani has already stated he will initiate a lawsuit against John Murtha for his libelous public accusations against the Haditha Marines and I hope he wins and is awarded every last cent Murtha has to his name.
Brian Rooney, one of the attorneys at Michigan's Thomas More Law Center representing Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani and a former Marine captain himself told NewsMax.com that his client, who is alleged to have failed to fully investigate the killing of 24 Iraqis in Haditha November, 2005 and not reporting an alleged Law of War violation, may follow the example of another Haditha Marine, SSgt. Frank Wuterich who is suing Murtha for libel.
Murtha set off a media firestorm last year when even before the matter had been fully investigated he charged members of Kilo Company, 3rd Bn, 1st Marine Regiment had gone on a rampage and slaughtered 24 Iraqi civilians in cold blood to avenge the killing of a member of their unit in an IED explosion. He also said that the incident occurred in the absence of any firefight, although it occurred as part of a day-long battle with insurgent ambushers that wounded 11 Marines.
Rooney told NewsMax.Com that his group that, if as they expect, Chessani is cleared just as one officer, Capt. Randy Stone and two enlisted men have either been exonerated of had a hearing officer recommend exoneration they will seek to hold Murtha accountable.
John Murtha deserves to be held accountable and I am glad that he is being confronted on this issue publicly and I would hope that he continues to be confronted every single time he gets in front of a camera.
The man is a disgrace to the uniform he once wore.
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