Posted on 01/20/2012 9:00:14 PM PST by smoothsailing
Neal Puckett and Haytham Faraj
January 20, 2012
Scott Pelley of CBS 60 Minutes, asked just as direct and hard-hitting questions as any government prosecutor in a 2006 interview of SSgt Wuterich. Today in court the prosecution played nearly 3 hours of outtakes where Pelley attempted to get Wuterich to admit his Marines went on a rampage in Haditha Iraq.
The prosecution team hoped to show that Wuterich admitted to shooting 5 military aged men and made irresponsible decisions to declare a house hostile and then prove he did it without clear understanding of the rules of engagement. Instead, those in the court room watched the last Marine take responsibility, correctly define the rules of engagement in force in 2005 and all specific training for the squad as well as identify the truth of what happened that day.
SSgt Wuterich identified that he used 4 main indicators to determine that the men who drove up simultaneously with the IED explosion could have been insurgents. He further explained the incoming small arms fire on the smoldering remains of the 4th Humvee as emanating from a house south of the explosion site. With careful detailed descriptions, Wuterich told Scott Pelley how he positively identified the house, which may have harbored insurgents and how his squad cleared that house and a second one right behind it.
In the entire 3 hours, Wuterich never once blamed the Marine Corps, his squad, his commanders or the intelligence briefs given to his squad that day. He calmly explained combat and the results of engagements. Throughout it all, Wuterich took responsibility as the senior person in the squad. He came across as truthful, forthright and humane. His testimony was in stark contrast to Sgt Mendoza. Mendoza gave rambling, contradictory testimony and at times admitted to lying to investigators. Nevertheless, Sgt Mendoza has been awarded a combat action ribbon and been promoted three times since the events at Haditha. SSgt Wuterich has yet to be awarded his combat action ribbon for the same day in combat.
THE TRIAL OF SSGT WUTERICH IS OVER
NO COVER-UP, NO MURDER
PLEADS GUILTY TO ONE COUNT OF NEGLIGENT DERELICTION OF DUTY
:-)
The credit goes to RedRover.
Thank you for posting that, Lancey.
I must say it is sad to see SSgt Wuterich plead like this. I don’t second guess his decision at all. He did what he thought was best for his family.
It was not the words he used that caused all the deaths....the prosecution just had to have something to show for their ridiculous witchhunt.
I wonder what these guys (the prosecutors) will see in the mirror tomorrow morning. Maybe they feel they “got something” for all the years of effort, the man-hours, the threats, the million(s) that were likely spent to get this “admission” of guilt.....One sentence uttered by SSgt Wuterich?????
That’s it????? I question a system that thinks this is military justice.
The Gateway Pundit has a great Headline!
BREAKING: FINAL ‘HADITHA’ MARINE EXONERATED- Wuterich Reaches Plea Deal For Misdemeanor
Thanks for that smooth. :-)
SHAME ON JOHN MURTHA—
The former Democratic representive smeared innocent men serving their country.
There was no “murder in cold blood.”
Love that graphic of yours, it’s so appropriate.
I fully support this decision. Even though I would have personally fought to the bitter end. And on that I am talking personal experience.
This Marine can stand tall.
As far as I can see, the only dereliction was in not stomping a mudhole in the a$$es of several, various, and assorted reporters, investigators, generals, and politicians. Especially that fat bastard Murtha.
THE TRIAL IS OVER: SSGT WUTERICH PLEADS GUILTY TO ONE COUNT OF NEGLIGENT DERELICTION OF DUTY
Nathaniel R. Helms
Camp Pendleton, Calif. – The General Court Martial of US Marine Corps SSgt Frank D. Wuterich ended Monday morning after a plea deal was reached over the weekend. In return for a guilty plea to one count of Negligent Dereliction of Duty, the six-year ordeal of the 31-year old father of three is finally over.
Negligent dereliction is a lesser included offense detailed in Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Dereliction of Duty. Before the agreement, Wuterich was charged with “Willful Dereliction of Duty,” a much more severe offense. In return for his plea, 13 charges, including nine counts of Voluntary Manslaughter, two counts of Aggravated Assault, and two other charges of willful dereliction were dropped.
Wuterich faced more than 160 years in prison if he had been found guilty and sentenced to the maximum sentence allowed by law on each count. That option was never really on the table although the specter of life in prison wore heavily on everyone associated with the case since Wuterich and seven other Marines were charged with massacring 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq on Nov. 19, 2005.
The maximum sentence military judge LtCol David Jones can now impose on Wuterich is three months confinement and loss of two -thirds of his pay while he is confined. The Staff Sergeant told the judge he earns $3,486 a month. At risk if he is incarcerated are his three little girls, who are otherwise without a resident parent.
Wuterich admitted he failed to maintain "adequate tactical control" of three Marines he was leading and made a "negligent verbal order." While answering the military judge’s judge questions before the deal was done, Wuterich said comments he made to troops he was leading were negligent and may have led to the "tragic" tragic deaths of the women and children.
"I took a team of Marines to clear houses to the south of the site [where House 1 and House 2 are situated] and did use the words 'shoot first, ask questions later,' or something to that affect prior to clearing or entering there," he said.
The six-year long tragedy was triggered by a specious story in Time magazine in which reporter Tim McGirk accused a squad of Marines from Kilo, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines of running rampant through two houses full of civilians killing everyone they saw in revenge for the IED death of one of their own. McGirk graduated from University of California Berkeley and is now teaching there with money the university obtained from donors to create a fellowship teaching investigative journalism. McGirk was never at Haditha and relied on two known insurgent sympathizers masquerading as human rights workers for his “facts.”
Twenty-four Iraqis were killed, the Marine Corps has said, including six women and four children as Marines tried to find the gunmen who had been firing on them from houses near the bomb blast. Five Iraqi men died on a road the Marines called Route Chestnut, the only hard-surfaced thoroughfare into the southern part of the city. Wuterich testified he took and knee and shot them when they tried to flee after they inexplicably showed up seconds before the bomb exploded. Several witnesses testified they were the only Iraqis driving on the road when the blast occurred.
McGirk’s helpful human rights advocates, one of whom had just been released from Abu Gharib prison , and the other whom Marine signal-intercept specialists had been monitoring for months, were heard before the attack planning how to record the event for propaganda purposes. Six of the victims died in the first house the four Marines stormed and eight more died in the second they cleared with grenades and rifle fire.
The event was precipitated by the gruesome death of twenty-year old LCpl Miguel “T.J.” Terrazas, who died when a remotely detonated roadside bomb tore both him and the Humvee he was riding in to pieces. The bomb was buried in the hard-surfaced road and then concealed with fresh cement in plain view of the victims who lived there. Two other Marines were wounded in the attack. The decimated squad was then fired upon by unseen gunman they believed were hiding in and around two houses filled with civilians.
After the initial hearing concluded about 9:00 am PT, Wuterich shook hands with his attorneys and then turned to hug his parents David and Rosemarie Wuterich, who have been in the court room every day since testimony began two weeks ago.
Lead defense attorney Neal Puckett told LtCol Jones the negotiations that caused a flurry of speculation Wednesday and Thursday never ended but in fact had continued through the weekend. He offered the observation after LtCol Jones told the court that the first round of bargaining “fell through” before court resumed Friday morning.
"Nothing ever fell through," Puckett corrected the unusually patient judge before the settlement was announced. “I’d like to get that on the record.”
Defend Our Marines has e-mailed McGirk for a comment. As of this writing he has not replied.
Sentencing is scheduled for Tuesday morning at 8:30 am PT.
I came in from walking my dog and turned on the tube, and the 1st thing I saw was Fox's streamer declaring SSgt Wuterichs fate.
At least this sentance should not hinder his professional career(s)and he doesn't have to worry about his children being taken from him.
It would be a travesty to make him do the 90 days, so I'll give that even odds.
Thanks for standing inbetween the horrors you held at bay and our families, Frank, Thank You Very Much.
I’m mostly resigned to solemn contemplation at this point. It’s difficult to judge whether or not the deal was the ‘right’ move, but nonetheless it’s the decision SSgt Wuterich made, and hopefully one that will allow him to best move on with his life and his family. It’s something of a bittersweet ending to this fiasco.
Thank you, Nat Helms and Defend Our Marines. It’s been a long haul.
Given the way the military has gotten, I would not have been surprised for the “panel” to have come back with this verdict:
“Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, we find the defendant Guilty on all counths”. Spit.
The NC Times is suprisingly subdued,...
I know....I think that was in SSgt Wuterich’s mind as well.
You mean, of course, the stomping part. Right? ;-)
No, bhfred....that’s not the post I was responding to.
Well, the counter top guy would have said something else. He FINALLY answered that one burning question I’ve had.
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