Most of the Haditha Marines have been exonerated, though the government is appealing.
In an interview with nationally syndicated radio talk host Michael Savage, the lead attorney for Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani said he and his client will look into suing Murtha and the Time magazine reporter, Tim McGuirk, who first published the accusations by Iraqi insurgents.
But the attorney, Brian Rooney, said nothing will happen immediately because he wants Chessani, described as a devout Christian and the father of six homeschooled children, completely “out of the woods” legally before any action is taken. The government, through Lt. Col. S.M. Sullivan, today filed a notice that it would appeal the case to the next judicial level.
Rooney suggests citizens complain about it- he sounds like a lawyer with a lot of passion for his case, and close connections to his client:
Rooney, an attorney for the Thomas More Law Center who served a tour of duty in Iraq himself, is urging citizens to tell their representatives in Congress and military officials that they want the case to come to an end.
“At some point you have to have somebody in the chain of command, whether it’s civilian or military, saying enough is enough,” said Rooney, who served with Chessani in the second battle of Fallujah.
Rooney told Savage the Haditha case is the largest investigation in the history of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, with 65 agents assigned by the government.
The old ‘bleeds, leads’ standard at work again:
He noted the New York Times featured the case on the front page when it was being compared by war critics to the infamous My Lai massacre in Vietnam. But now, with evidence the Haditha accusations were a smear, the story has been relegated to the back pages.
There’s a roll call of those who formerly rushed to judgment here.
And more here:
Of the eight marines accused, six had all charges against them dropped, and a seventh – Lt Andrew Grayson – was acquitted after facing a court martial.
Only one marine – Sgt Frank Wuterich – still faces charges in relation to the incident.
Sgt Wuterich will be tried on nine counts of voluntary manslaughter later this year.
The Thomas More Law Center has more on the government’s appeal. The Law Center calls it persecution.