Five of the eight enlisted Marines charged in the massacre of 24 Iraqi men, women and children at Haditha on November 19, 2005 have escaped court martial. The latest dismissal involved a lance corporal[AP photo] who was charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and aggravated assault. The Marine Corps said it was dropping all charges and granting him immunity "in order to continue to pursue the truth-seeking process into the Haditha incident". The leader of the patrol responsible for the killings, Sergeant Frank Wuterich, still faces nine counts of manslaughter and remains on active duty. The lance corporal's defense lawyer denied that his client had struck a deal in which he would testify against his former team leader. The defense lawyer claimed his client had reacted according to his conditioning while on patrol in Haditha and was therefore legally innocent of any wrongdoing.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Another Killer Gets Off
Five of the eight enlisted Marines charged in the massacre of 24 Iraqi men, women and children at Haditha on November 19, 2005 have escaped court martial. The latest dismissal involved a lance corporal[AP photo] who was charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and aggravated assault. The Marine Corps said it was dropping all charges and granting him immunity "in order to continue to pursue the truth-seeking process into the Haditha incident". The leader of the patrol responsible for the killings, Sergeant Frank Wuterich, still faces nine counts of manslaughter and remains on active duty. The lance corporal's defense lawyer denied that his client had struck a deal in which he would testify against his former team leader. The defense lawyer claimed his client had reacted according to his conditioning while on patrol in Haditha and was therefore legally innocent of any wrongdoing.