ANN ARBOR, MI – Military prosecutors are desperately fighting to prevent the testimony of Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha, Secretary of the Navy Donald Winters and several top Marine Generals, including former Marine Commandant Michael Hagee and the current Commandant James Conway.
The requested witnesses will show the dirty hand of unlawful command influence—considered by the courts as the “mortal enemy of military justice.” The hearing on the motion to produce the testimony of these high ranking officials will begin tomorrow morning at Camp Pendleton, California.
The Unlawful Command Influence motion (click here to read motion) was one of seven motions brought on for hearing this week by the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Court decisions on unlawful command influence require the military judge to avoid even the “appearance of this evil” in his courtroom. The Law Center, along with two detailed Marine lawyers, is defending Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, the highest ranking military officer charged in the November 19, 2005, Haditha incident.
Law Center attorneys Rob Muise and Brian Rooney, as well as detailed military defense counsel, Lt. Col. John Shelbourne, USMC, and Captain Jeff King, USMC, will present oral arguments on the seven motions to military judge Colonel Stephen Folsom, USMC.
“It was obvious from the outset that Lt. Col. Chessani was being made a political scapegoat. Even before the investigation was completed, Congressman Murtha publicly accused the Haditha Marines of “cold blooded murder” and officers of covering it up. Murtha claimed he got his information from the highest level of the military,” said Richard Thompson, Chief Counsel of the Law Center.
The criminal charges against Lt. Col. Chessani stem from a house-to-house, room-by-room battle four of his enlisted Marines engaged in on November 19, 2005, after being ambushed by insurgents in the town of Haditha, Iraq. Even though Lt. Col. Chessani immediately reported the events of that day to his superiors, including the death of 15 noncombatant civilians caught in the crossfire, nobody in Lt. Col. Chessani’s chain of command, all the way to General Casey showed any interest in conducting an investigation because they understood this to be combat action—not a law of war violation.
However, months later, a Time magazine story instigated by an insurgent propaganda agent, caused Pentagon officials to order the largest investigation in the history of the Naval Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS). As a result, Lt. Col. Chessani, one of America’s most effective combat commanders in Iraq, now faces dismissal (an officer’s equivalent of a dishonorable discharge), loss of retirement, and imprisonment of up to 3 years.
Thus far, after 30 months of investigation costing millions of dollars, the cases against three of the four enlisted men charged for their part in the Haditha incident have been dismissed.
If defense attorneys are able to produce some evidence of unlawful command influence, the burden will shift to prosecutors to show beyond a reasonable doubt that: (1) the predicate facts alleged by the defense are untrue; (2) the predicate facts alleged do not constitute unlawful command influence; or (3) the unlawful command influence will not affect the proceedings.
This burden is high because command influence deprives service members of their constitutional rights. It is important to note that the court will determine not only whether there was actual unlawful command influence, but also whether there was an appearance of impropriety that would taint the public’s perception of the fairness of the court-martial.
On May 17, 2006, months before the investigation was completed, Congressman Murtha held his first news conference on the Haditha incident. Murtha said he had been told by the highest levels of the Marine Corps that there was no IED, there was no firefight, and the Marines “killed innocent civilians in cold blood.”
The next day, Murtha again spoke about Haditha and confidentially proclaimed “All the information I get, it comes from the commanders, it comes from people who know what they’re talking about.” “It’s much worse than reported in Time magazine.”
He told a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer that Gen. Michael Hagee had given him the information on which he based his accusations.
Murtha’s claim of cold blooded murder and cover-up fly in the face of previous investigations conducted by Army personnel.
The first investigation conducted by Army Colonel G. A. Watt found “there are no indications that [Coalition Forces] intentionally targeted, engaged, and killed noncombatants.” A second, by Army Major General Aldon Bargewell concluded there was no “cover-up” by the chain-of-command, and that “[The inaccurate press release that launched Time magazine’s investigation] was not the result of any intent to conceal misconduct . . .”
When Colonel Watt’s findings were given to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on March 10, 2006, one Pentagon official recalled, “Rumsfeld told aides that the case promised to be a major problem. He called it ‘really, really bad — as bad or worse than Abu Ghraib.’”
Several sources, including Generals Hagee and Conway, have told defense counsel that Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld decided to set up an oversight “body” to keep tabs on the investigations and prosecutions of the Haditha cases.
The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life through litigation, education, and related activities. It does not charge for its services. The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization. You may reach the Thomas More Law Center at (734) 827-2001 or visit our website at www.thomasmore.org.
ANN ARBOR, MI – On Monday, April 14, 2008, the Honorable Larry Alan Burns, a federal district court judge in Southern California, will hear oral arguments in the ACLU’s latest lawsuit to tear down the Mt. Soledad Cross. When Judge Burns considers the case, he will have in his file a compelling brief supporting the Mt. Soledad Cross filed by the Thomas More Law Center.
Robert Muise, the Thomas More Law Center attorney who authored the brief, is a former Marine Major himself. Said Muise, “Our brief demonstrates that tearing down the memorial cross will cause real, irreparable harm to these grieving families, as compared with the contrived ‘harm’ the ACLU will ‘feel’ because the memorial cross remains. Indeed, it is the ACLU in this case who is creating the sort of religiously-based divisiveness that our Constitution was designed to prohibit.”
ANN ARBOR, MI — National homosexual groups saw an opportunity to make an example of Oklahoma State Legislator Sally Kern when her comments about homosexuality drew national attention. They targeted her for their special venom in hopes to get her to publicly back down. Even Ellen DeGeneres, the openly lesbian television host and comedian attempted to get into the fray. She called Rep. Kern on her television talk show, but Kern’s voicemail was full.
Homosexual groups first focused their ire on her after her comments to a Republican club meeting appeared as a You Tube audio clip. On the audio clip, which contains only about 500 words of the her 4000-word speech, one can hear Rep. Kern expressing her concern that the homosexual agenda is destroying our nation, and that young school children are being indoctrinated into believing that the homosexual life style is normal.
ANN ARBOR, MI – Last week, federal judge Charles R. Simpson, III, dismissed an ACLU lawsuit against a Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children (recently renamed Sunrise Children’s Services) following an 8-year legal battle. The case began when Alicia Pedreira, a seven month employee, sued the Home, which provides social services for at-risk children, after she was terminated for an openly proclaimed lesbian lifestyle. The reason for the termination was that her lifestyle was contrary to the Home’s Christian mission and values.
To permanently protect traditional marriage between one man and one woman, now being threatened in the courts and legislature, volunteer coalitions have come together to pass an amendment to the California Constitution. 
ANN ARBOR, MI — Representative Sally Kern, a devout Christian and Oklahoma legislator, has been targeted by some of the nation’s largest and most radical homosexual groups, she has received over 27,000 vulgar, hate filled e-mails, she has been verbally ambushed by homosexual radicals at public meetings, but she hasn’t backed down.