Posted on 08/31/2007 7:39:19 PM PDT by camerakid400
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Flying over Haditha, Iraq, on November 19, 2005, a small, unmanned spy plane called "Scan Eagle" recorded scenes of heavy fighting -- bombings and strafings from the air, and ground work by U.S. Marines seeking insurgents who earlier in the day had set off a roadside bomb that killed one of their members.
Lawyers for Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich will introduce video of Haditha taken by a drone as evidence.
The Scan Eagle arrived about 30 minutes after the initial bomb attack on the Marines and does not show the the civilians being killed. It does show a house from which the military suspected insurgents triggered the bomb -- and the wrecked vehicle it left 1,000 yards (about 900 meters) away.
The video appears to show that, throughout that day, Marines engaged in fierce firefights and called in air strikes to level buildings -- often with no definitive idea of who was inside.
That could buttress defense arguments that Marines clearing buildings on the ground with guns and grenades were just following rules of engagement.
"The defense can say, 'Hey, look, you had to do this later in the day, what's the difference between what happened later in the day and what our guys did earlier in the day?' " asked retired Marine Lt. Col. Gary Solis, a former prosecutor and military judge who teaches law at Georgetown University and West Point.
Solis, who analyzed the video for CNN, said the intense fighting and necessity of making split-second decisions could play out in favor of defendants in the case.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
You got that right! bttt
There Gary, that's what you really meant. Solis truly is an a$$. Goes to show that serving in the military doesn't always turn out for the better. Think murtha, solis, kerry...
JAG, NCIS, and DoD have proven over and over again that 'Justice' is not in their playbook. This is another seditious attempt to roil the waters and feed the trolls of the unwashed socialists infecting the Body Politic and the Government.
Pennsylvania is not one of the 14 states that allow elected statewide officials to be recalled before their term is over.
Unfortunately.
Why a Senator would use enemy testimony to make these accusations is beyond understanding unless he is plain stupid.
Did you notice that CNN captured the pics of the dead bodies with “Hammurabi Human Rights Assoc”? THERE IS NO SUCH ORGANIZATION - only 2 terrorist supporters who crapped out this story and sold it to a willing and complicit media.
Also notice that the bodies are wrapped in blankets. We know from testimony that the bodies were put into bodybags and taken to the hospital. They were picked up by the “family members” and obviously transported back to the home. Another one of those staged scenes for maximum outrage stimulation.
It's very clear that Solis just picked our Marines AGAINST THE EVIDENCE "to be held accountable" because he can't touch the real perps but feels the need to tie it up nice and tidy.
Some people should NEVER have power of any kind and this guy is one of them.
The Marines were caught in a classic ambush.
The houses were to the north and east(in relationship to the video) with the Marines in the center.
On a Barren road a taxi full of insurgents approaches from the south and west, the Marines signal it to stop.
It stops at the only protective cover along side an otherwise empty road (Preplanned in advance and chosen purposefully).
The Insurgents bail out of the car and start firing from the taxi while the Marines are being fired upon from the Houses in the North and the east.
The Insurgents from the taxi are firing at the exposed rear of the Marines as they hunker down behind their humvees.
The Marines then shift their Fire towards the Taxi group of insurgents.
Realizing that Japanese steel is no match for the concentrated fire from the Marines, the Taxi group abandons their position behind the car for the block house (their chosen ambush position) next to the taxi and is cut down by a withering fire.
The house insurgents seeing that the other ambushers have fallen start their withdrawal le3aving the occupants of the houses to met what would have been their fate had they stayed. The Marines eventually work their way through the houses until they catch up with some of the insurgents and kill them.
Sal - you mean Solis picked the insurgents over our Marines. I for one am sick and tired of seeing this jackanappe’s name in every Haditha article.
Solis’s closing statement: “It would be difficult to say justice has been served if no one is convicted.” Doesn’t make me omfortable. WIll they find a scapegoat? How about convicting the insurgents who set up the IED? Or the villagers who gave them cover? Why our Marines? It’s war, dammit.
He picked the good guys to hold accountable and picked the bad guy perps as the side he wanted to be on. He’s scum.
Gary D. Solis
Adjunct Professor of Law
Contact this faculty member (new window will open)
B.A., San Diego State College; J.D., University of California-Davis; LL.M., George Washington University; Ph.D., The London School of Economics and Political Science. Gary Solis attended law school at the University of California at Davis, after which he was a Marine Corps judge advocate and military judge. He holds a Master of Laws degree (criminal law) from George Washington University and a Ph.D. (law) from The London School of Economics & Political Science. He remained on the LSE's law faculty for three years, then taught at the United States Military Academy as an associate professor of law (1996-2001; 2004-2005). At West Point he directed the Academy's law of war program, and received Phi Kappa Phi's 1999 Distinguished teaching award. He wrote Marines and Military Law in Vietnam, and Son Thang: An American War Crime. He was the U.S. Naval Institute's 1997 Author of the Year, and his law-related articles have appeared in law journals, magazines and newspapers.
Updated January 17, 2006.
I couldn't agree more, Red. The case at hand is very much more important than bringing a suit against murtha. If this case is won there's more than enough time to get their points out to the public whereas if the case is lost so will be the suit.
Excellent scenario...If I was betting on this I’d be betting with you, not against.
“The Insurgents bail out of the car and start firing from the taxi while the Marines are being fired upon from the Houses in the North and the east.”
Is there ANY testimony that the guys in the taxi had ANY weapons or were firing ? There IS testimony that they had none and did not - even Wuterich says they were shot because they were SUSPECTED insurgents by their action of running away.
If you’re going to make things up, you might attempt to make it fit the facts that both sides seem to agree on.
Is there ANY testimony that the guys in the taxi had ANY weapons or were firing ?Yes there is! The Weapons, AK-47s were recovered and destroyed before this became a media/politically driven court martial. Again if you were following this as closely as most of us you'd know that.
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