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).
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).
Marine Bump!
I have been saying for it seems like years now that these Marines will ALL be exonerated .
My gut tells me that these Iraqis were killed by crossfire and/or by the bad guys before they “bugged out.”
In any case, no autopsy, no murder convictions.
Semper Fi,
Kelly
Sullivan's gone?
I wonder if they're trying to avoid him having to explain Mendoza's "deal":
Sullivan, who is prosecuting Wuterich, may eventually face some heat of his own for how and why star prosecution witness LCpl Humberto Mendoza managed to get transferred to Sullivan’s Chicago-based reserve unit as a driver after he was granted immunity. The defense also wants to know if Sullivan intervened in making Mendoza’s immigration problems disappear. Last week Mendoza stumbled his way through a day of testimony under Sullivan’s tutelage.
At one point during cross-examination Vokey tried to discover if Mendoza’s civilian attorneys had ever made any deals with the prosecution. An unidentified female representing herself as Mendoza’s civilian attorney from Philadelphia rose from the gallery to speak, but was cut off by multiple objections from Sullivan. The answer was left hanging when Ware called for a recess. Later on one of the defense attorneys was heard to mutter, “This isn’t the end of that.”
And finally, the defense wants to know if Mendoza’s lawyers allowed their client to be interviewed by prosecutor’s hunting for a “perfect witness’ before they decided to grant him immunity and provide him the alleged benefits of serving in Chicago instead of staying at Camp Pendleton where he was easily accessible. If they did than Mendoza’s remarkable about face against his former squad mates could be more easily explained.
http://warchronicle.com/TheyAreNotKillers/Blog/DefendOurMarines-MarineDefenderFired-NatHelms.htm
Justin Sharratt will testify on behalf of two enlisted Marine infantrymen waiting general court-martial in the infamous case.... It is expected by both defense teams and courtroom observers that Justin Sharratt will provide testimony beneficial to Lance Corporal Stephen Tatum and Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich.... The decision was made by Lieutenant General Samuel T. Helland and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alice S. Fisher.
I guess this says something (very good!) about Lt. Gen. Helland.
Let’s not forget Sergeant Vela, another soldier who needs our defending, a young husband and father (see my tag line).
Until these cases, I was completely supportive of the war in Iraq, or anywhere the U.S. needed to go to kill and capture terrorists. However, when our rank-and-file troops are made into scapegoats, persecuted for following orders or defending themselves in a complex war situation, actually just properly carrying out their training, I really begin to wonder if our country has the “moral high ground”...?
These persecutions of our troops have shocked me more than any other stupid thing our government has done since 9/11.
A great tactical move by the defense.
I don’t understand: I always thought that immunity provided by the PROSECUTION was only granted when the prosecution thought the testimony would help ITS case. How does this help the prosecution????
Ping
Where’s fat bot Murtha? at the all you can eat buffet?