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It is clear to me that any decision made regarding SSgt Wuterich in the last 2 years (and earlier?) especially and any in the future, at least until the Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq is finalized, should be viewed as too likely to be (have been) influenced by the need of the government to demonstrate toughness to the Iraqi regime.

Since the Haditha case was a centerpiece of an ACTUAL discussion, and since Wuterich is the sole remaining defendant in that case, there is no way that does not give the appearance of tampering with Wuterich’s case and his future.

To the extent that DOD was involved, there are, then, clear command lines that go directly to Wuterich.

I believe we just had an admission (again) of Unlawful Command Influence. Now it's at the highest levels of our government, both DOD and State.

Chaplain, there is no doubt that the current SOFA shenanigans are the latest episode in a long and tawdry series of events involving the persecution of the Haditha Marines.

We all know the original UCI was perpetrated by the despicable former Congressman John "In Cold Blood" Murtha.

Since then the taint of UCI has spread in many directions. If John Murtha has a legacy, it is most certainly one of destruction.

I believe we just had an admission (again) of Unlawful Command Influence. Now it's at the highest levels of our government, both DOD and State.

Agreed, xzins. This affirms that people at the highest levels of government are fine tuned to the prosecution of SSgt. Wuterich and have been since BEFORE charges were even filed against the Haditha Marines in December of 2006.

smoothsailing: We all know the original UCI was perpetrated by the despicable former Congressman John "In Cold Blood" Murtha.

You couldn't be more correct, smooth.

John Murtha was meeting with high officials at DOD and shooting his mouth off publicly on national TV months before charges were filed. He was shouting out to anyone willing to listen to his perversion of the UCMJ that these Marines were guilty of being cold blooded killers long before the investigation was even completed.

Murtha's meddling as a US Congressman thus denying these Marines the right to be presumed innocent should have been cause for all charges to have been dismissed in the Article 32 hearings, IMO.

The longer this travesty has continued the more evident it is that officials in Iraq are insisting to high ups in DOD and the State Department they want a conviction of this last Marine and it stems from the very beginning and John Murtha's outrageous statements.