Good news for the Marines serving our country, and news that will make the coward Murtha quite sad…one of those those Marines whom he proclaimed was guilty of murder looks close to having the charges dropped:
The military officer overseeing the case against a U.S. Marine charged with murder in the November 2005 killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha has recommended that the charges be dropped.
Lt. Col. Paul Ware, who heard evidence against Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt during a five-day hearing in June, made the recommendation in an 18-page report to Lt. Gen. James Mattis released late on Tuesday.
Mattis, the top commander of the Marines fighting in Iraq, will decide whether or not Sharratt must proceed to court-martial, the military version of a trial.
"Whether this was a brave act of combat against the enemy or tragedy of misperception born out of conducting combat with an enemy that hides among innocents, Lance Cpl. Sharratt’s actions were in accord with the rules of engagement and use of force," Ware said in the recommendation.
Sharratt, 22, is one of seven Marines charged in the Haditha killings. He was part of a squad traveling through the town when it was hit by a roadside bomb that killed a well-liked Marine and injured two others.
Sharratt was charged with the murder of three Iraqi brothers. He testified that he shot them during a confrontation inside one house where two of them had AK-47 rifles.
Three Marines and four officers were charged in the killings. Sharratt and two others face murder charges, while four officers were charged with dereliction of duty and filing false reports of the incident.
Meanwhile at Murtha Must Go Gary Gross called Murtha’s office and asked for a statement:
I asked the woman that answered the phone "if Congressman Murtha had a statement following a news story regarding Lt. Col. Paul Ware’s report stating that "The government’s theory that Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt had executed the three men was "incredible" and relied on contradictory statements by Iraqis."
Instead of answering that question, she asked "So the trial is over?" I told her that it wasn’t, that the recommendation was nonbinding. Then she asked "So it isn’t over?" I confirmed that it wasn’t. I asked if Congressman Murtha would "like to make a statement considering his accusations made over a year ago on ‘This Week With George Stephanopoulos’"? Here’s her response: "Congressman Murtha doesn’t have a statement because the investigation is still ongoing."
Undeterred, I read her the quote from Cpl. Sharratt’s mother:
"This is a huge result, that report is a declaration of Justin’s innocence," she said. "This is very, very good news."
I said, "In light of Cpl. Sharratt’s mother’s quote, isn’t it appropriate to make a statement?" Murtha’s spokeswoman repeated "Congressman Murtha doesn’t have a statement because the investigation is still ongoing."
I asked a third time only to get the same response.
So NOW Murtha doesn’t want to get involved because there is a investigation going. Where was this kind of attitude when the investigation was really going on (investigation is over you see, they are in the prosecution phase) and pronounced the Marines guilty of Murder.
Typical behavior of a coward. Run when you know you can’t win, don’t even attempt to fight, to show any backbone. The only time you show backbone is when you think there is no way your gonna lose.
Coward.
Meanwhile another Libby situation is coming down the pipes with this Haditha thing. Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, leader of the battalion that engaged the enemy in Haditha on that day, may very well go on trial for not investigating what is turning out to be something he had no duty to investigate since there was no crime.
The leader of a battalion involved in the killing of 24 Iraqis in Haditha should face a court-martial for dereliction of duty, the investigating officer recommended in a report obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, 43, was charged in December with dereliction of duty and violation of a lawful order for failing to report and investigate the deaths of the men, women and children in the biggest U.S. criminal case involving civilian deaths to come out of the Iraq war.
I’m telling ya, the world is getting stranger and stranger by the day.
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