So a Judge has decided that the non Marine, John Murtha, won’t have to testify at the hearing of one of the Marines being charged with murder.
A member of Congress who publicly condemned U.S. Marines fighting the war on terror in Iraq for killing civilians in “cold blood” is being granted an exemption that means he will not have to answer questions about his statements, including his earlier explanation that his information came from the highest levels of the Marine Command.
The exemption has come in a military court proceeding against Marine Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, one of four Marines still facing charges in the battle that erupted when a team of his Marines was attacked by insurgents in the city of Haditha.
Murtha’s statements are key to the defense of Chessani, according to officials with The Thomas More Law Center, which is representing Chessani against the charges.
“If you go back [to Murtha’s description] there was no [Improvised Explosive Device], there was no firefight, it was like there was a phantom menace,” said Brian Rooney, a spokesman for the center, told WND.
It seemed that Murtha had been given information that was privileged and confidential…instead of keeping quiet on it, he chose to go public and bash the Marines. He should be required to reveal his sources, in order to rule OUT the possibility that USMC brass was engaging in preemptive assumptions of guilt in this case. But no…Murtha won’t testify. He’s special. Lt. Col Chessani is expendable, as are all the Marines charged in the Haditha debacle.
From the Thomas More Law Center:
“This entire prosecution is politically motivated and stinks to high heaven. Denying us the right to take Murtha’s deposition so that we could show undue command influence, as well as denial of our request for production of documents in the possession of Lt. Col. Chessani’s superiors makes it impossible for us to render this loyal Marine officer the effective assistance of counsel he deserves — they are attempting to throw him under the bus. In many ways this is a trial like the one in Alice in Wonderland—the verdict first and then the trial.”
Justice? I don’t think so.
