Posted on 04/23/2007 12:17:30 PM PDT by RedRover
In 1971, Capt. Gary Myers was an Army JAG, assigned to Capt. Ernest Medina’s defense.
There was worldwide interest in the court martial of Lt. Calley's commander. Myers' colleague on the defense team, civilian attorney F. Lee Bailey, reveled in the attention and gave the press conferences. Meanwhile, Capt. Myers had no comment for reporters and went about the patient work of winning the case.
Today, Myers represents a Haditha Marine, LCpl. Justin Sharratt. Reporters from the New York Times and Washington Post are practically camped at Myer’s door. But, even as a civilian, Myers is an old-school Army lawyer, and has no comment for the press.
Meanwhile, this past week, we were flooded with leaks in the Haditha case.
On Saturday, a headline screamed out from the front page of the Washington Post: Report on Haditha Condemns Marines. The story purported to summarize the classified Bargewell Report on Haditha (somehow "obtained" by the Post’s, Josh White).
When asked about the leak, Lt. Col. Sean Gibson (spokesman at Marine Corps Central Command in Florida) said the report "is part of an ongoing investigation, and as such is neither releasable nor would it be appropriate for me to comment on it."
Lt. Col. Gibson's statement was an honorable one. But the leak of classified material lapped up by the Post was yet another victory for the bastards, who continue their winning streak. Let's tally up their victories over the past six months.
1. November, 2006: The NCIS investigative report on the Haditha incident was leaked to Vanity Fair.
2. November 21, 2006: Unnamed "Pentagon sources" unleashed hell on unsuspected families of servicemen by telling NPR's Morning Edition that five Marines were expected to face charges for murder. Not only that. The names, ages, and hometowns of the five Marines were given out. The names were picked up by other media outlets across the country and around the world.
Included on the list was Cpl. Hector Salinas ("age 22, of Houston, Texas"). Salinas was never charged.
3. December 5, 2006: A "Marine official and a lawyer involved in the case" told that the New York Times that at least five Marines are expected to the be charged in Haditha deaths. The names and hometowns of the five were given again (for the benefit of anyone who missed the NPR broadcast), including Cpl. Salinas. No correction, apology, or explanation was ever made.
(Charges were finally filed against eight Marines on December 21st)
4 and 5. January 6, 2007: A red letter day for bastardy. A "senior defense official" told the Associated Press that his previous leaks were correct: evidence didn't back the Marines.
But this was small potatoes compared to the bombshell in the Washington Post. That paper "obtained" the entire 10,000-page NCIS report with hundreds of pictures). The Post's article, by leak-licker Josh White, was selective with the facts to paint a picture of guilt.
Then the bastards slept until...
6. April 20, 2007: A leaker identified as "someone involved in the case who declined to be identified because the documents are not public" told the Associated Press that seven Marines had been granted immunity . Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Sean Gibson declined to comment. He said, "As this is an ongoing investigation, the government will not confirm the identity of potential witnesses or discuss the conditions under which they may appear."
7. April 22, 2007: The Washington Post "obtained" the confidential report by Army Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell about Haditha. With grotesque inaccuracy, the Post claimed the report condemned Marines.
And that's where we stand. At least seven leaks in the past six months in a case whose integrity has been questionable from the start.
The lull in the leaks between January 6th and April 20th may have been because Lt. Gen. James Mattis ordered an investigation. On the other hand, Capt. Jay Delarosa (a Marine spokesman) has had no comment on the investigation since it was announced so it's unclear where it stands.
I have contacted General Mattis' office and the USMC Inspector General. I have made a case for the investigation to be public. I believe it is essential for the leakers, and their motives, to be exposed. There has continued to be no comment.
When honorable men see bastards at work, sometimes "no comment" isn't enough. The Corps owes protection to Marines whose good names have been dragged through the mud, whose families have been subjected to the worst kinds of torment and harassment from the media.
As in the Medina case decades ago, men of honor such as Gary Myers are fighting the real fight, and fighting to win in court under the rule of law. JAG prosecutors are working honorably as well. The truth should prevail.
But anyone who cares about a fair fight should be as concerned as I am that the bastards are back.
David Allender can be reached at WarChronicle@AOL.Com.
In the complete absence of media interest, the Corps may think the public is indifferent. I know that is not the case.
So I have a request.
Please leave comments on this thread regarding your feelings about leaks in the Haditha case. My hope is to gather extra ammunition in communications with Corps Powers-That-Be regarding the media and these leaks.
In their attempt to make this a Me Lie the Rats can’t find enough Liars.
Pray for W and Our Marines
I was with the 101st in Nam when all of the stuff came out about My Lai, Lt. Cally, and Capt. Medina, etc. It really put all of us at a disadvantage, not only with the Vietnamese people, but our own families/friends back home. I had to become defensive about my service to my country because some jackleg reporters painted all of us as baby killers, low-rents, and derelicts one step above squat. I resented it then, and I sure as hell resent these guys being painted with that same brush now in the media. Fair is fair, but it looks like the Corp isn’t looking out for its’ own, and these guys are being railroaded by their leaders. Tell the general in charge to get off his ass and dismiss these charges now, or prosecute whoever is doing the leaking to the media. One way or another, it must stop, and stop now!
I would convey to General Mattis that he is responsible for the well being of these Marines that are under his command. Though he has called for an investigation into the prior leaks in this case, it seems that investigation has not brought a halt to them.
With all due respect to him, how in the world can we have confidence in his ability to command Marines who are putting their lives on the line in battle if he cannot find the lowlife people who leak these classified reports to the media. It’s not like these reports are only a few pages, they are hundreds of pages long and the leaked report to WaPo included photographs.
Perhaps if General Mattis cannot assemble a team to track down these despicable leakers, he could be replaced with a Marine General that could accomplish that task.
The Haditha Marines were extremely well trained before shipping out to Iraq. Their offficers were experienced. These men did what they were trained to do with what, I am convinced, was excessive provocation. These men acted according to their extensive training by risking life and limb under fire. That our government has incarcerated them because of accusations against them by the enemy, and that the President has not pardoned them, is diabolic. May God watch over this unfair situation, and bring it to a justifiable solution soon, so these men can, at last, rejoin their families. And may He bless them all in every way.
According to Lt. Col. Sean Gibson (spokesman at Marine Corps Central Command in Florida) such information "is part of an ongoing investigation, and as such is neither releasable nor would it be appropriate for me to comment on it."
A "senior defense official" told the Associated Press that his previous leaks were correct,A leaker identified as "someone involved in the case who declined to be identified because the documents are not public", A "Marine official and a lawyer involved in the case",and unnamed "Pentagon sources" are described as sources of the unauthorized disclosures.
A breach of trust has taken place, perhaps even undue command influence considering those named as "senior defense official" and "Pentagon source."
The right to a fair and impartial hearing has been seriously compromised, perhaps beyond repair.
If Lt. Gen. Mattis is a man who truly understands honor and duty, he must protect the Marines in his charge. It is imperative that the leakers are publicly exposed and they are dealt with severely, this too is Mattis' responsibility. Until he has accomplished this, no hearings should proceed. In his judgement, he may even decide to drop all charges because of the taint and damage these leaks have caused.
Capt. Jay Delarosa, a spokesman for Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington, said on January 29, 2007 that the service’s Inspector General’s (IG) office had received a request from Lt. Gen. James Mattis to find the source of the leak. But then Capt. Jay DelaRosa says it wasn’t immediately clear when the investigation would start.
If the leaker happens to be in the military, “that person could be subject to a court martial for obstruction of justice or impeding a trial.” If it’s not military, the IG could only ASK, not force the leaker to talk to investigators. If it’s civilian, the only risk the leaker runs is if the IG’s office refers the case to the US Attorney office and they can then decide if they want to pursue a case.
It’s now been almost 3 MONTHS: no results reported, but the leaks are starting again. These Marines deserve some answers.
1. Has the investigation started?
2. If the leaker is military, have any charges been preferred?
3. If it’s a civilian leaker(s), such as the NCIS, has a request been made to the US Attorney’s office?
4. Will this latest leak of Gen. Bargewell’s 100 + page document be added to the investigation?
5. How does a 10,000 page document or file simply walk out of the prosecuting JAG’s or NCIS offices?
The prosecuting JAG’s had lots of extra time in January to go for a visit to Iraq for several weeks to shore up (or maybe just try to establish) their case. I’m sure they’ve had time to answer a few questions to the IG’s office. Ditto to the NCIS; they’ve had plenty of time to answer a few questions. BTW, who are the NCIS Special Agents involved with the Haditha investigation?
How can they function at all if they know that no secrets can be kept, that "classified documents" has no meaning to the Corps anymore, that any material safeguarding our troops will be kept in an open shopping mall of our country's classified, secret and top secret documents, waiting for any reporter or other treasonous puke to pick up on demand with no waiting and disseminate to our enemies with NO fear of reprimand, much less arrest?
How can General Matthis watch the men under his command be imprisoned, lied to, and their lives and those of their families destroyed, yet say nothing in their defense, have no comment about the reams of classified documents that regularly disappear under his watchful eye?
Matthis knows that this information is being spirited off for the sole purpose of misusing it's contents to maliciously attack the men under his command and has not even rebuked the puke at the Post doing it.
If classified information on his own men slip through his fingers that easily, what else is missing that we haven't heard about?
Why have there been no arrests made on the leakers?
Is there no one on base capable of conducting an investigation?
I've been trying to give Matthis the benefit of the doubt on this, but when you stack up all those leaks, and weigh that against how many people could possibly have all those docs to begin with, it gets harder and harder to believe this is all going on under his nose without him knowing about it.
Every leak does nothing but solidify the belief in the public that the Marines are guilty. While there are some that will always believe the worst no matter what the Courts say, there are many Americans that don’t have the benefit of FreeRepublic and Defend our Marines to get the whole story.
Instead of trying this case in a court of law, this case has been tried in the media and as far as the media is concerned, the Marines are guilty. Shame on the media and all the enablers & leakers that have treated the Marines and their families in this way.
In spring of 2006 came the infamous press conference. On May 17, 2006,(Cong.John) Murtha said, "There was no fire fight. 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."
Courtesy of the Murtha File
On April 10th, the North County Times reported that the Haditha prosecution was fraught with problems.
On April 19th, the North County Times reported that defense attorneys had requested that Lt. Kallop receive immunity because his full testimony would be favorable to the defense.
--------------------
On April 20th, the Washington Post obtained documents that Lt. William Kallop had received immunity. The fact that Kallop’s testimony was favorable to the defense was buried in the article. The over-the-top lead paragraph read:
The only Marine officer at the scene of the attacks on residential homes in Haditha, Iraq, that left nearly two dozen civilians dead in 2005, has received immunity in the case. The move precludes Marine officials from charging him with a crime and paves the way for his eyewitness testimony in trials related to the slayings and alleged coverup.
On April 21st, the Washington Post ran its "Marines condemned" story based on a leaked report.
Suspicious minds wonder if the leaks are ensuring that the North County Times reporting gets no traction.
Lt Gen Mattis should be willing to “brawl” for the Haditha Marines and sink the leak.
“Lt Gen Mattis should be willing to “brawl” for the Haditha Marines and sink the leak.”
Agreed! Maybe his new line could be, “It’s fun to catch leakers, you know, the ones who are trying to subvert justice, the ones who like to go around and implicate My Marines before any hearings have occurred.” Just an idea.
The senior Pentagon official said that no other marines would face charges in the case. “The only people who will be charged with an offense will be those individuals who did the shootings,” the official said last week.
But the Marine officer, interviewed on Tuesday, said that he expected charges to be brought against one or two additional marines, including one officer.
“I don’t see just five of them being charged,” the official said. “I see six or seven. One of them, I see, is an officer.”
Elsewhere in the article…
Aides to committee members said that Marine officials promised a confidential briefing before any charges were announced.
That was the “confidential briefing” that Congressmen babbled all about to reporters.
Then there was the list of names...
According to the Marine official and the defense lawyer representing one of the marines under investigation, criminal charges will be filed against Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, 26, of Meriden, Conn., the squad’s leader; Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, 25, of Edmund, Okla.; Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, 21, of Carbondale, Penn.; Cpl. Sanick Dela Cruz, 24, of Chicago; and Cpl. Hector Salinas, 22, of Houston.
The Times issued a correction for LCpl. Sharratt’s hometown (for the benefit of all the loonies in the world) but no explanation or correction or apology for including Cpl. Salinas on the list.
Good one and btw I am glad the salty title of this thread didn’t keep you away, just a Girlene!:)
“That was the “confidential briefing” that Congressmen babbled all about to reporters.”
So this was a “confidential” briefing by Lt. Gen. Richard F. Natonski, the Marine Corps deputy commandant for plans, policies and operations, to the HOUSE ARMED SERVICE Committee.
Refresh my memory, did some of these Congressmen babble to reporters? Seems like everyone is trying to leak info to implicate these Marines before their first hearing. Who hasn’t leaked may be a shorter list.
ALL those who agitated to have these charges brought forward and ALL those who have betrayed their oaths and provided these leaks and ALL those who find delight in this issue are working on behalf of the best interests of our enemy and should be put against a wall and shot as traitors.
Semper Fi! Both ways! Always faithful in support of our own and always faithful in pursuit of the destruction of our enemy!
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