Posted on 12/28/2007 7:15:49 AM PST by RedRover
Photo above: SSgt Frank Wuterich and then-Cpl Hector Salinas in Iraq, 2005. Click to enlarge.
Marine Corps Sergeant Hector A. Salinas (erroneously identified as a murder suspect by the media for his role at Haditha, Iraq but never charged) has been granted testimonial immunity by the general overseeing the investigation of the so-called “massacre” of 24 Iraqi citizens killed that day.
On November 19, 2005 Salinas, then 21, was a grenadier in a squad of Marine infantrymen from Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines that was ambushed by an Al Qaeda financed and led attack force at Haditha. His four-vehicle convoy was struck by a remotely detonated Improvised Explosive Device that killed LCpl Miguel Terrazas, a 20-year old Texan and wounded two other Marines. Simultaneously their convoy received sustained automatic weapons fire from insurgents hiding in several nearby homes. During the ensuing firefight, the squad killed eight insurgents and 15 civilians that lived in three of the four homes from which the enemy sprang the ambush. An attached Human Intelligence Exploitation Team later identified at least 11 other insurgents involved in the attack who were hired and led by Al Qaeda foreign fighters operating in Haditha.
The civilians died when a four-man fire team led by Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, then a 26-year old sergeant, stormed the houses with grenades and automatic weapons fire. Before counter-attacking the insurgent strong points, Wuterich, Salinas, and Cpl. Sanick Dela Cruz engaged five Iraqi men fleeing from a nearby car that inexplicably showed up at the ambush site at the same time the IED went off. Dela Cruz, now a sergeant, later testified that Wuterich shot the men down without provocation. Salinas is expected to refute that claim.
Then Wuterich’s fire team stormed the houses where the automatic weapons fire originated from. During that violent clearing operation 15 civilians, including at least eight women and children, were killed. Subsequently eight Marines – four of the enlisted men who were in the fight – were charged with unpremediated murder and assault, and four officers were charged with dereliction of duty for allegedly covering up the incident.
Countering prosecution claims
Now 23, Sgt Salinas is considered a key defense witness in the case. For more than a year Salinas has been in limbo at Camp Pendleton, California waiting to discover what would become of him. Although he was eligible for discharge last spring, Salinas voluntarily remained in the Marine Corps past his enlistment expiration date to avoid getting recalled to active duty and then charged with a criminal offense, his attorney said.
Salinas served two combat deployments in Iraq, including the fierce Battle of Fallujah in November, 2004. Since returning home from Iraq in 2006 he has been promoted to sergeant.
On November 21, 2006 a National Public Radio "Morning Edition" broadcast named Salinas as one of five enlisted Marines that would be charged with war crimes for his actions at Haditha. The NPR story claimed one of its reporters had obtained the names of the suspects from an anonymous Department of Defense source. NPR's erroneous report was picked up and repeated numerous times without correction by other news organizations until the Marine Corps announced exactly who it would charge on December 21, 2006.
Salinas was granted the limited immunity by Lt. Gen. Samuel T. Helland, the commanding general of Camp Pendleton’s 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command. As such, Helland is the "convening authority" and final arbiter in the ongoing Haditha investigation. Helland took over the responsibility for conducting the probe from Gen. James N. Mattis when he was promoted and transferred last fall.
Helland granted Salinas immunity at the request of attorney Jack Zimmermann, a Houston-based lawyer representing LCpl Stephan Tatum against multiple charges of negligent homicide, reckless endangerment and assault. Zimmermann introduced motions to grant immunity to Salinas, LCpl Justin Sharratt, and Lt Col Jeffrey Chessani. before Tatum’s military judge on December 17.
Zimmermann said Salinas and Sharratt were given immunity and the request to grant Chessani the same status has not been answered, although nobody expects that the judge will do so. Granting Chessani immunity would effectively eliminate him as a defendant.
Sharratt was charged with multiple counts of unpremeditated murder in December, 2006. Lt. Gen. Mattis dismissed all charges against him last summer.
In return for testimonial immunity, which prevents the government from using Salinas' testimony in any subsequent proceedings, the sergeant is required to testify truthfully about his knowledge of events at Haditha. His grant of immunity will become effective after he signs the agreement when he returns to California from Christmas leave, according to Daniel K. Hagood, his Dallas-based attorney and a retired Marine Corps infantry officer.
Eight Marines were originally charged with crimes at Haditha. Charges have been dismissed against four Marines and two have been ordered to courts-martial. Cases against two other Marines are still pending.
Possible broad impact
Salinas, among other things, is expected to refute testimony offered by Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, who was granted immunity from murder charges to testify against his former squad leader. Dela Cruz, who admitted urinating on the dead body of one Iraqi he shot after Wuterich killed the man, claims Wuterich told Salinas and him "that if we ever got hit again we should kill everybody in that vicinity to teach them a lesson." Dela Cruz claims they had the conversation with Wuterich after a roadside bomb had gone off that injured several Marines.
Wuterich is currently waiting to discover whether he will be charged with 17 counts of unpremeditated murder, two counts of soliciting another to commit an offense, and one count of making a false official statement. He faces life without parole if he is convicted.
LCpl Stephen Tatum, who accompanied Wuterich during the counterattack, faces a maximum of 19 years in prison if found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and aggravated assault charges for killing several civilians. His court-martial is scheduled to commence on March 28, 2008.
Lt Col Jeffrey Chessani, 43, faces court-martial for dereliction of duty and violation of a lawful order based on the allegations that he failed to properly investigate the shootings. The distinguished career Marine and highest ranking officer to be charged with a crime at Haditha could serve three years in prison if convicted on all counts. His court-martial is scheduled to commence on April 28, 2007 at Camp Pendleton.
Brian Rooney, a member of the Thomas More Law Center representing Lt. Col. Chessani, said from his office in Ann Arbor, Michigan that if Salinas testifies as expected it could prove beneficial for his client.
"In a perfect world, if Salinas' testimony helps exonerate SSgt Wuterich of murder, then it removes the possibility that any war crime was committed," he explained. "But that is in a perfect world. In our client's case the train has already moved too far down the tracks. The government has too much invested in Lt Col Chessani's case to allow that to happen.
"Unless the convening authority decided to dismiss the charges, my guess is that our client's case will go to court-martial anyway."
The last Marine to be investigated in the Haditha incident was 1st Lt. Andrew A. Grayson, of Springboro, Ohio. His Article 32 hearing was held last November. The 26-year old officer faces three charges of dereliction of duty, impeding an investigation, and making a false statement related to the incident. Each of those charges comes with the possibility of five years' prison time and dismissal from the service. His charges are unrelated to anything Salinas can testify about.
Attorney Daniel Hagood said Salinas is eligible for discharge about 90 days after he returns to Camp Pendleton from home leave, but has not decided whether he will reenlist or ask for his discharge from active duty. In the event the scheduled court-martial of Tatum is changed, or he is called as a witness in any other case, Salinas will still be required to return to Camp Pendleton as a witness or face possible involuntary recall under existing Involuntary Ready Reserve, Hagood added.
Nat Helms is a Contributing Editor to Defend Our Marines. He is a Vietnam veteran, former police officer, war correspondent, and, most recently, author of My Men Are My Heroes: The Brad Kasal Story (Meredith Books, 2007).
I am cheering for Salinas’ loyalty. I still have divided caution, but this sounds very hopeful.
Nat Helms retelling of the Haditha story, updated from the normal pablum written by the media at the time of the original Haditha charges, is refreshing. I places everything in proper context.
It talks about the insurgents, the presence of Al Qaeda, the firefight, the storming of buildings that were hostile.
It should be the standard for truth in reporting now that so much information has come out in the Article 32 hearings.
Many of our Marines are still in serious jeopardy, and they deserve our support as we head down the homestretch.
Do we have any projections on Court Martial dates? It’s obvious that “speedy trial” isn’t in anyone’s handbook anymore.
Good news. It’s about time. From various reporting it appeared that Sgt. Salinas was a key witness to most of the events that occurred that day. It made no sense that Sgt. Salinas was not granted immunity for the Article 32’s if their purpose was to get to the truth. Good for Lt. Gen. Helland for granting him immunity for LCpl Tatum’s upcoming trial.
I’m clearly on the side of the defense lawyer that wants immunity for Chessani. Chessani has clearly done nothing wrong and is charged only for political expediency.
If he were permitted to speak freely, and with permission to include classified information, then I’m certain that all other defendants would have charges dismissed.
All those involved in pushing this case ought to be tried for treason.
This is encouraging news and it is refreshing that Nat Helms reports on the story without reflecting the bias that the MSN clearly has when it comes to this incident. He has done his homework with all his articles and tells it like it is, my hat goes off to him.
The man in black....???
Why, that’s ALWAYS been
Johnny Cash.
:>)
(Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Girlene!)
Now THIS is good news to start the New Year. Thanks for the ping Red and Happy New Year!
PS
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!! :-)
Exactly. Bullseye to both you and Jaz.
Anyone writing about Haditha from henceforth should be required to have a course with Nat Helms before they’re allowed to publish.
That DOD source must have had an awful lot of time on their hands to visit multiple media sources in a desperate attempt to destroy these Marine's lives. We now know that this source was disseminating false information, to boot.
It is way past time an investigation into the DOD to find this mole commenced, and time to put SECNAV Winter in front of a senate panel under oath to see how much dirt - or bilge goo as it were - he has under his fingernails.
It'd be nice to see the media update their stories to reflect the truths so eloquently portrayed by Nat Helms, but I'm not holding my breath waiting, especially after that sickening rant by the NCT against LCpl Delano Holmes - the ONLY media source that used to be somewhat on the level. I wonder how Mark Walker feels about his colleagues right about now. This is encouraging news, though. It appears that Lt. Gen. Helland may be more interested in discovering what really happened than many of his peers.
I would think that Sgt. Salinas's testimony concerning the taxi full of "students" could have cleared up many misconceptions over a year ago, and affected the previous Article 32s, as it was one of the initial and pivotal events in this case, one that the media & NCIS used to paint the whole squad as blood thirsty and trigger happy.
I'm heading north till next week to work on the house, thanks for the ping.
I was involved in the Courts Martial of one of my troops, and although the right to a speedy trail is guaranteed by the US Constitution, the defendant on advice from their lawyer can waive that right. This is usually done when the defense attorney feels they need more time to prepare an adequate defense, gather more testimony/statements from witnesses, or have any evidence reviewed by their own experts. If the accused does not waive that right, the Courts Martial must convene within 120 days after being charge with a crime (Article 32 Hearing).
-Traveler
Ping
Excellent post, 4WB.
Additionally, this should be a piece of any attempt to prove unlawful command influence by someone in the chain of command.
Unlawful command influence can be an issue even if one can prove only an "appearance" of unlawful influence.
One need not get NPR's "sources," if they choose to play hardball and hide behind "freedom of the press." One only needs to get them on the stand to affirm that they were told this things by actual, DoD sources.
This would be convincing testimony that give the "appearance" of malfeasance.
To refute it, the DoD would then have to pony up the names of their people who were doing the leaking. Even then, one could look at the ties between that person and the Haditha troops' chain of command.
As Marines, the direct Chain of Command would go through the Marine Corps Commandant, the SecNav, the SecDef, and the Pres.
Thanks, Traveler. Good info.
I stand corrected.
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