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Camp Pendleton, Calif. -- Defend Our Marines has learned there is a deal on the table inside a Camp Pendleton courtroom where SSgt Frank D Wuterich now balances choices that will determine the rest of life. The 31-year-old father of three can bite the proverbial bullet and ask for administrative separation, or he can dig in his heels and fight for the principles he has already proved he is willing to die for. Another option, considered less likely but more compelling, is a “Directed Verdict,” in which the judge tells the government it hasn’t made its case in all or...

Discussions were apparently under way Wednesday that could end the ongoing manslaughter trial of Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich for his role in the deaths of two dozen Iraqi civilians in 2005. With government witnesses waiting to testify, the military judge overseeing the proceedings at Camp Pendleton announced Wednesday afternoon that the trial was on hold while prosecutors and Wuterich's attorneys "explore options" and "go ahead with negotiations." The judge, Lt. Col. David Jones, also informed the two sides that he was available for consultation if needed. The sudden disruption in the trial is a strong signal that an agreement...

Camp Pendleton, Calif. – Defend Our MarinesA source close to the trial said a lack of money on the defense side, a lack of evidence on the prosecution side, and the likelihood that the eight-member panel will find SSgt Frank Wuterich not guilty of voluntary manslaughter and related charges have all combined to bring the case to a possible conclusion. Wuterich was charged in December 2006 with murder stemming from the multi-million dollar, worldwide investigation triggered by a specious Time magazine story in March 2006. Wuterich is also charged with Dereliction of Duty and Assault with a Deadly Weapon after...

Haditha: Where Are They (the Accusers) Now? Diana West January 18, 2012 Eight charged; seven cleared; one, please, let’s hope, to go.Finally, the last “Haditha” trial is in progress, and, thanks to Nat Helms at Defend Our Marines, everything you need or want to know about the proceedings, the witnesses, the facts about the case of SSGT Frank D. Wuterich, the last of the Marine Mohicans, is here. Tim McGirk, source of the Haditha myth-acre. Of course, I still have a few questions — the exact same questions I had when I first looked at the case back in late...

Camp Pendleton, Calif. – Retired U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant Major Edward T. Sax landed several heavy blows on the government’s battered and bruised case against Haditha defendant SSgt Frank D. Wuterich Tuesday afternoon. “Wuterich was a great Marine,” he told the eight member panel of officers and senior non-commissioned officers intently watching the exchange between Sax and defense attorney Haytham Faraj. Sax, considered by both the officers and man of the Thundering Third to be a Marine’s Marine, told the panel of officers and senior non-commissioned officers that Wuterich’s decimated squad did it right when they blasted through two civilian...

Week one ‘Haditha’ Marine trial analysis Part II: the counter-attack upon houses 1 and 2 Tim Sumner January 17, 2012 United States Marine Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich stands accused of 9 counts of voluntary manslaughter, 2 counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, 3 counts of dereliction of duty, and “responsible for the deaths of 19 civilians” in Haditha, Iraq. The trial is expected to take four weeks. The prosecution began its case last Monday. If you have not, please first read Part I. Part II completes my analysis of the trial to date and includes key testimony that the...

Week one ‘Haditha’ Marine trial analysis Part I: An ambush on Route Chestnut and the white carTim SumnerJanuary 16, 2012United States Marine Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich stands accused of 9 counts of voluntary manslaughter, 2 counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, 3 counts of dereliction of duty, and “responsible for the deaths of 19 civilians” in Haditha, Iraq. The trial is expected to take four weeks. The prosecution began its case last Monday. What follows is key testimony that the media has failed to report and my analysis of the trial to date. The ambiguous Rules of Engagement card...

Camp Pendleton, Calif. – The General Court Martial of U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Frank D. Wuterich became a certainty on November 20, 2005, one day after his squad lost one Marine and killed 24 Iraqis before passing the score of their bloody encounter up the chain of command. At first glance the events at an obscure place called Haditha, Iraq seemed routine enough. If noticed at all, the blossoming debacle was just another soul-numbing calamity among the hundreds of random tragedies unfolding across the shattering region every week during the second year of the war. The day after the...

Widow of Marine Corps Colonel Involved in Haditha Trials Launches Campaign to Prove Her Husband Was Murdered PRESS RELEASE January 12, 2012 – Easley, SC – Kimberly Stahlman, widow of Colonel Michael Stahlman USMC, is fighting to prove that her husband did not commit suicide but was instead murdered. However, the Marine Corps refuses to help. As part of this fight she partnered with Tracy Shue, widow of Colonel Philip Shue USAF and writer/military family advocate Cilla McCain and drafted a Bill of Rights for Bereaved Military Families. To bring this campaign to the public, they have started a petition...

Platoon commander defends Marine on trial in deaths of 24 Iraqis January 14, 2012 | 10:45 amThe platoon commander on the day in 2005 when Marines killed 24 unarmed Iraqis was called as a prosecution witness Friday in the court martial of the squad leader, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich.But the testimony of William Kallop seemed to bolster the case of the defense, not the prosecution in the closely watched trial at Camp Pendleton.Wuterich and his squad did nothing wrong, Kallop testified....Snip..... The court martial, in which Wuterich faces charges of manslaughter, assault and dereliction of duty, resumes Tuesday with more...

Camp Pendleton, Calif. – A former lieutenant, the first Marine officer to testify at the General Court Martial of Staff Sergeant Frank D. Wuterich, took the witness Friday morning and used it to forcefully dispute the Marine Corps’ contention that his former squad leader had committed war crimes.Wuterich is accused of leading a counter-attack by four Marines that led to the accidental deaths of Iraqi civilians at Haditha, Iraq more than six years ago. Kallop was his platoon commander and the officer who ordered Wuterich to “clear South” before the Marines stormed two houses which they believed were the source...

Camp Pendleton, Calif. – Former Marine sergeant Hector Salinas didn’t mince words when he told a prosecutor Thursday he should have called in airstrikes on a pair of houses in Haditha, Iraq where fourteen men, women and children were cowering in their homes after a huge bomb exploded outside their front doors. “Rounds were impacting on the fourth vehicle. I went back to render aid to my Marines that were wounded. There was destruction everywhere. There was a fog, a haze. When the smoke was clearing out I could see an object. It was LCpl Crossan. He was missing a...

DEFEND OUR MARINES THE TRIAL OF SSGT. WUTERICH DELA CRUZ TAKES THE STAND by Nathaniel R. Helms | Wednesday, January 11, 2012 | Day Five Camp Pendleton, Calif. – Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz, a battle-rattled combat Marine who made a deal with the government to avoid court martial for murder, testified Wednesday morning that he saw Staff Sergeant Frank D. Wuterich shoot five unarmed Iraqi men after a roadside bomb exploded in Haditha in November 2005. It is either the fourth or fifth version of his observations since he failed a polygraph, and then elected to accept immunity from...

DEFEND OUR MARINES THE TRIAL OF SSGT. WUTERICH LCPL STEPHEN TATUM TESTIFIES by Nathaniel R. Helms | Tuesday, January 10, 2012 | Day Four Camp Pendleton, Calif. – Former Marine rifleman Stephen Tatum took the stand Tuesday morning in the second day of witness testimony at the General Court Martial of Staff Sergeant Frank D. Wuterich, accused of leading his men in the murders of Iraqi citizens in Haditha more than six years ago. Tatum, a veteran of the battle for Fallujah in 2004, was called by the prosecution to recount his actions after his 12-man squad was ambushed after...

Camp Pendleton, Calif. – The events in Haditha, Iraq on November 19, 2005 will be the subject of a great deal of testimony during the upcoming weeks in the General Court Martial of SSgt Frank D. Wuterich. Defend Our Marines decided it would be useful to provide a chronology of those events that are now the basis for the trial. The Ambush on Route ChestnutThe White Car Incident – Facts in evidenceNov.19, 2005 - 0830/Haditha, Iraq – Twelve Marines from 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines riding in four poorly armored Humvees were returning from resupplying a combat...

THE TRIAL OF SSGT. WUTERICH:Final Battle Of Haditha Set To Begin by Nathaniel R. Helms | Friday, January 6, 2012 | Day Two: Jury selection complete Camp Pendleton, Calif. – An eight-man panel of four officers and four senior non-commissioned officers will begin listening to testimony Monday morning when the lawyers fighting the final Battle of Haditha offer their opening statements at the General Court Martial of SSgt Frank D. Wuterich, the last Marine standing in the six-year-old fight. The government is apparently expecting a tough battle in the weeks ahead. “I can’t think of a single witness desiring of...

Camp Pendleton, Calif. – LtCol. Jeffrey Chessani, battalion commanding officer of the Thundering Third at time of the so-called “Haditha Massacre", will not be testifying at the court-martial of SSgt Frank Wuterich, the military judge said Thursday. Chessani was the highest ranking Marine charged with a crime in connection with the deaths of 24 Iraqi citizens following a roadside ambush in the dusty Iraqi city during November 2005. “Chessani will not be a witness,” announced military judge LtCol. David Jones. “We lost that battle,” said chief defense attorney Neal Puckett, himself a former Marine military judge. Chessani was one of...

January 2, 2012The 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...

“Eight Marines were charged. Seven have been cleared as the facts have been revealed. Now one more trial remains.” — Defend Our Marines Welcome to 2012. The headlines will be awash in presidential politics this week, but I want to make sure you take note of the trial of SSgt Frank D. Wuterich set to open Wednesday. He’s the last of the Marines charged in connection to an alleged massacre of Iraqi civilians in the village of Haditha in 2005. The late corruptocrat John Murtha and the New York Slimes convicted and hanged the Marines in 2006 over the case...

The Tribune Democrat, Johnstown, PADecember 27, 2011William Russell | Don’t rewrite Murtha’s legacy William Russell — On Dec. 18, Tribune-Democrat Editor Chip Minemyer called for someone in our military to step forward and acknowledge that “Murtha got it right” on Haditha. He cites a New York Times report that classified documents found on an abandoned base in Iraq “support assertions by the late congressman that Marines – stressed to the breaking point by the nature of that conflict  – killed 24 people, including women and children, on Nov. 19, 2005.” Mr. Minemyer is dead wrong. The only fact in his...