The Haditha Marines-The Squad Leader-A Final Chapter (SSgt Wuterich-Master Thread)

1-2-2012

[smoothsailing]

January 2, 2012

The Haditha Marines-The Squad Leader-A Final Chapter

It certainly seems appropriate that the last defendant in the Haditha case is the squad leader, SSgt Frank Wuterich. Leaders take responsibility, and SSgt Wuterich has taken full responsibility for the actions of his squad in Haditha. His stance from the outset has remained clear:

"My Marines responded to the threats they faced in the manner that we all had been trained", he has steadfastly maintained. "I will bear the memory of the events of that day forever, and will always mourn the unfortunate deaths of the innocent Iraqis who were killed during our response to the attack."

As the last Marine originally charged in the deaths of Iraqis in Haditha, Iraq in 2005, SSgt Wuterich will be seated at the defense table in his general court-martial two days from now, Wednesday, January 4th. Barring last minute motions or outright dismissal of charges, jury selection will begin Wednesday or Thursday. SSgt. Wuterich will be tried by a jury of combat-experienced Marines, and the panel will include at least two Marines from the enlisted ranks.

Much has been written over the last six years about Haditha, and links to some of the most recent news articles and commentaries are included at the bottom of this post to help bring readers up to date. For older Free Republic postings, please use this link or enter the keyword Haditha in the Free Republic search engine.

The purpose of this Free Republic thread is to serve as a "Master Post" where trial news and updates can be brought together in one place for easy reference by those interested in following the proceedings as they unfold.

Freepers Smoothsailing, Red Rover, and Jazusamo will monitor the thread, post updates, and attempt to answer questions or direct readers to information sources. Jazusamo maintains the Haditha Marine Ping List. Please ask Jazusamo to be added to the ping list if you wish to be alerted to updates.

Recent News and Commentary:

MILITARY TIMES-Haditha Marine Faces Trial

Count Down to the Last Haditha Trial

MILITARY: Two high-profile cases set for Pendleton courtrooms

Remember SSgt Frank D. Wuterich: The last Haditha Marine goes on trial

Don’t rewrite Murtha’s legacy (Haditha Marines)

[brityank]

Thanks, smooth =

As Red said, seems there is nothing there detrimental to either SSgt. Wuterich or Puckett&Faraj. Of course that won’t stop the Anony sycophants from creating false innuendos.

[smoothsailing]

Here’s another one, same source

http://pastebin.com/Mwaj0Y0D

[bigheadfred]

Yes. You are probably right.

Aren't Mannings all the same???

I got a new computer so I marched out and got a little 750 gig drive to pull stuff off the old one. Very easy to use. And relatively inexpensive ($130) when you start totally up how much 8-16 gig flash drives are. Just plug it in with the USB that is provided and away you go. It is about the size of one of those cell phone things.

I am (have) going to backup all my stuff from both computers on it. And keep it updated.

Not that I would worry about things like tax info getting out. I don't even have to file. The IRS sends me a letter every January, after hacking me to death all year. It says:

"YOU GOT NOTHING COMING"

[Girlene]

lol, bigheadfred

[Lancey Howard]

I was inspired by his insistence that he take responsibility for all that his Marines did or failed to do that day.

Here's where I agree with Dinsmore. If you want to accept the plea deal, then accept it quietly and move on. But I'm not buying this "martyr" thing, and I can't believe Frank would have come up with this on his own. It sounds more to me like something a lawyer came up with and whispered in his ear a few dozen times. The implication of "taking responsibility" is that your Marines screwed up and committed criminal, or at least questionable, actions. None of those Marines did anything of the sort, and therefore there is nothing to "take responsibility" for.

My head is going to fall off from shaking it so much during the past two weeks.

[RedRover]

Posting that “Sentencing Day” piece is an example of how little these people know about what they’re doing. There’s no signature on the piece but it was by a well-wisher who was at the court martial every day (jaz knows who it is).

I’m not arguing with the sentiments in the piece itself, but in context of this “data dump”, it seems as though it was written by Puckett or SSgt Wuterich or at least someone connected to the case!

[RedRover]

One thing that comes through loud and clear in Puckett's e-mails is that the man is a peacock who loves media attention. His wife is writing a book that she says Neal will sell so he may have delusions of bestsellerdom.

Here's one e-mail that I may as well post since hundreds if not thousands of people are reading all his e-mail already.

Please note his victory dance is after a sentence of eight years for his client (but as Puckett says, the victory is in the verdict, not the sentence). Granted, I don't know the circumstances. Maybe his client was a dirtbag. But the tone, I think, speaks for itself.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

•To: Marcelyn Atwood
•Subject: Re: X Sitrep 2200
•From: neal@puckettfaraj.com
•Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2008 18:14:54 +0900

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your wishes came true! I won AND got done today and will be ready for departure tomorrow. Prosecutor argued strenuously for one of two types of murder. They convicted my client of involuntary manslaughter. Max authorized sentence was 10 years. They gave him 8. Fair, in my mind. The whole case was in the verdict though, not the sentence. As I told you, I didn't care if they gave him 10 years. Because remember the best the gov't offered was 12 years, but he was required to plead guilty to unpremeditated murder (a charge that not even Wuterich faces any more). Wasn't going to happen. So instead they LOSE the trial and get ony 75% of what they thought is was worth. There will no doubt be a 3rd feature article in Stars and Stripes to conclude the case. If not tomorrow, then on Friday. Perhaps we can post all 3 on the website and/or blog?

Neal A. Puckett, Esq.
LtCol, USMC (Ret)
The Law Firm of Puckett & Faraj, PC
Washington DC - San Diego CA
www.puckettfaraj.com
888.970.0005

[smoothsailing]

What’s striking about it is the fact that there is no signature, which leads me to believe it’s not part of the hacked data.

[jazusamo]

Good point, Smooth. When I read it I was wondering why no name or email addresses.

[RedRover]

It was a Word document attachment to an e-mail. I saw it in the hacked files so I know it’s legit.

Attachments were separated from the e-mails (which are html documents) so that’s one reason among others that it’s hard to always get the context.

[RedRover]

It was a Word document attachment to an e-mail. I saw it in the hacked files so I know it’s legit.

Attachments were separated from the e-mails (which are html documents) so that’s one reason among others that it’s hard to always get the context.

[smoothsailing]

That explains it. Thanks Red.

(freepmail, gentlemen)

[Lancey Howard]

Wow.. I guess I’ve made it pretty clear in my recent rants that Puckett is not somebody I would hire.
I thought Brian Rooney did a nice job.

[jazusamo]

Thanks, Red. I didn’t understand that but it makes sense now.

[RedRover]

This is actually one of the most interesting e-mails to be posted:

PUCKETT TO GEN DUNSFORD, 13 JAN 11

It is bound to lead to conspiracy theories, not just because of the involvement of Alan West. Puckett says some mysterious things below (especially in light of subsequent events)...

...as a retired Marine Officer (and possible TBS classmate of yours in 1977), I feel an obligation to brief you on issues that extend far beyond the court-martial and the interests of my client. There are serious concerns I have about what the world (read: Al Jazeera) and the country will learn about what did not happen as well as what did, with the investigation and prosecution if this case must go to trial. (Ironically and coincidentally, Al Jazeera called me 10 minutes ago to ask about the scheduling of the case). We have discovered, as a result of the passage of time and our own investigation, chilling facts about the case that will never be briefed by the prosecution team but which ought, in the best interests of the Marine Corps, to be considered at your level.

I want to assure you that since you are no longer the convening authority, but even if you were, there is nothing inappropriate about you speaking with me and my law partner and co-counsel, Retired Marine Major Haytham Faraj, about the wider implications of this case. We will not be bringing you a "deal" or any recommended courses of action. We're only interested in informing you about the results of our investigation and previously undiscovered facts and evidence that will be a necessary part of the trial. These, by the way, are facts that had they been discovered at the time, should have resulted in a completely different approach to the entire incident at Haditha. But then again we Marines have always been about "lessons learned."

[Lancey Howard]

Yeah, if this doesn't sound like some kind of coverup, I don't know what does. I'm not telling anybody here anything they don't already know, but this whole disgraceful fiasco has had a stench to it from day one, and maybe this email dump will finally shed a little light on who was walking around with the steaming pantloads.

[Girlene]

Now that is odd. Their could be a simple explanation. Maybe he was trying to get a message to a former convening authority to pressure both the current convening authority and the prosecutors to reconsider their charges based on results from the defense’ investigations. If the defense investigation actually showed Dela Cruz was the more likely shooter vs. Wuterich, how would the military look if they had given the shooter immunity to lie about Wuterich....

This could have been nothing more than trying to influence getting a plea deal, getting charges dropped...maybe?

[Girlene]

But the tone, I think, speaks for itself.

lol....after reading that email....no kidding.

[Lancey Howard]

I agree that this could have been little more than positioning (or posturing?). But this sounds over the top to me:

"There are serious concerns I have about what the world (read: Al Jazeera) and the country will learn about what did not happen as well as what did, with the investigation and prosecution if this case must go to trial."

First of all, I'm sick up to here about what "the world" thinks about America and our troops. This lawyer needed to worry first and foremost about his client, not what "the world" might think. Screw "the world". Was Puckett more concerned about the reputation of a Marine Corps and Pentagon that chose to dump on eight of its young warriors than he was about the one he was supposed to be defending? It almost sounds like it.

He had to know that a veiled threat wouldn't get the charges dropped. How would the Marines Corps be expected to explain that to "the world"? To me the nagging question remains: Why, after the first few prosecution witnesses fell flat on their faces, did the trial suddenly screech to a halt so the defense could inexplicably snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?

By the way, I try to keep in mind that Defend Our Marines and six years worth of Free Republic 'Haditha' threads were about ALL EIGHT of those Marines who were charged, not just the last one. The more I think about this whole thing and how it ended, the more I think I understand where Dinsmore was coming from with his piece.

[Gene Eric]

>> These, by the way, are facts that had they been discovered at the time, should have resulted in a completely different approach to the entire incident at Haditha.

"Facts! We don't need no stinking facts..." - the G team.