Officer Called Haditha Routine

[cal04]

Marine Said Deaths Didn't Merit Inquiry
The Marine officer who commanded the battalion involved in the Haditha killings last November did not consider the deaths of 24 Iraqis, many of them women and children, unusual and did not initiate an inquiry, according to a sworn statement he gave to military investigators in March.

"I thought it was very sad, very unfortunate, but at the time, I did not suspect any wrongdoing from my Marines," Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani, commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Marines, said in the statement.

"I did not have any reason to believe that this was anything other than combat action," he added.

Chessani's statement, provided to The Washington Post by a person sympathetic to the enlisted Marines involved in the case, helps explain why there was no investigation of the incident at the time, despite the large number of civilian deaths, and why it took several months for the U.S. military chain of command to react to the event.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/18/AR2006081801366.html

[Monkeyman]

1. Chain of command is broke

[saigon68]

7. Jeffrey R. Chessani is BRAIN DEAD

He apparently is unconncerned when his people MOW DOWN a few ISLAMOFASCISTS

He would have been admired in the

KILL A KOMMIE FOR MOMMY ERA.

[acmavm]

2. Our whole country is broke. Spiritually, morally, and financially.

And we have the corrupt bush** administration and the republican party to thank for that.

[Vidar]

6. There you have it.

[OnyxCollie]

3. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Sounds just like the new commander, the one making the decision to press charges against these atrocities.

Props to another DU'er that discovered this.

MSNBC: Source: Haditha evidence implicates Marines

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14150687

The decision on whether to press criminal charges against four Marines ultimately will be made by the commander of the accused Marines’ parent unit, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif. That currently is Lt. Gen. John Sattler, but he is scheduled to move to a Pentagon assignment soon; his successor will be Lt. Gen. James Mattis.

So, who is Lt. Gen. James Mattis? He's this asshole.

General: It's 'fun to shoot some people'

"Actually it's quite fun to fight them, you know. It's a hell of a hoot," Mattis said, prompting laughter from some military members in the audience. "It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up there with you. I like brawling."

"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil," Mattis said. "You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them."

Can you say "white wash"?

[lumpy]

4. Sick son of a bitch.

nt

[heliarc]

9. Hold on...

Yes its sick that this guy thinks the death of 24 civilians is routine, but I think the article is a little misleading. It suggests at the beginning that Commander Chessani was on the ground with those guys who carried out the massacre and thought that it was routine, but later in the article it seems like he was actually the one receiving the reports that the killings occured because of a roadside bomb and small arms crossfire which was the lie that the really sick soldiers propagated to cover their barbarity.

So my first question is this. Was he on the ground with those assholes or not? Seems to me like he was back in the barracks and only had contact with the Marines by radio or from reports when they returned to base.

If he was not on the ground with them them the sick thing is that 24 innocent people getting offed in one day is just like any other day. But if its true than there's more of a reason to understand that an official inquiry wasn't raised... just pay the poor victims families just like any other day <Sigh>. That's awful enough.

If he was on the ground with them, than the prospect of killing them deliberately was routine. I find this harder to believe is the actuality and he is being taken out of context in the article to try to put him on the ground with those guys when he wasn't. That's how I read the article at least?

[saigon68]

10. White wash ? HOW ABOUT White trash !! His problem is his grandather

Is also his Father.

[azurnoir]

5. We need another "Dick Cavet " show

us old folks remember the episode of the early'70's talk show that was instrumental in changing the way Americans saw the Viet Nam war, he had 6 veterans who had returned from there and they told it like it was exactly. I remember the veterans saying that there were a couple of Mai Lai's every day, that was how the war was fought.

[OneBlueSky]

8. he's covering his ass . . .

there's been a lot of evidence of official U.S. policies -- disseminated through the chain of command -- that are clearly illegal under both U.S. law and international law . . . things like approval of torture, and the killing of all military-aged males . . .

this guy is afraid that if he doesn't "support his troops," his troops will turn on him and disclose some very illegal policies that were also official U.S. policies -- and that this "commander" was among those who made sure his troops implemented same . . .

[thepurpose]

11. His statement shows a level of incompetence that is unreal. This officer

let his Marines down, the Iraqis down and America. There is just no way to justify having an incident of this nature and not launching an immediate investigation. If his Marines did nothing wrong and an immediate investigation protects them. However, if they did then knowing right away and being honest about it helps America.