Unlawful Command Influence
Rep. Jack Murtha may be in deep do do over his Haditha comments. A story in the Washington Times gives the details:A criminal defense attorney for a Marine under investigation in the Haditha killings says he will call a senior Democratic congressman as a trial witness, if his client is charged, to find out who told the lawmaker that U.S. troops are guilty of cold-blooded murder.
Unlawful Command Influence under the Uniform Code of Military Justice means poisoning the jury pool. It is a rule meant to prevent the hierarchical nature of the military from influencing the outcome of a military trial.
Attorney Neal A. Puckett told The Washington Times that Gen. Michael Hagee, the Marine commandant, briefed Rep. John P. Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat, on the Nov. 19 killings of 24 Iraqis in the town north of Baghdad. Mr. Murtha later told reporters that the Marines were guilty of killing the civilians in "cold blood." Mr. Murtha said he based his statement on Marine commanders, whom he did not identify.
Mr. Puckett said such public comments from a congressman via senior Marines amount to "unlawful command influence." He said potential Marine jurors could be biased by the knowledge that their commandant, the Corps' top officer, thinks the Haditha Marines are guilty.
"Congressman Murtha will be one of the first witnesses I call to the witness stand," Mr. Puckett said yesterday.
Not only that, it appears that veterans are rising up to defeat Murtha. He is being opposed by Diana Irey in the November elections. She is supported by Vets for Irey. This will get ugly.
Hat tip: Instapundit.
Update: 16 June '06 1618z
Sweetness & Light has a nice bit about how the lawyers are getting on the Haditha case.
Update: 16 June '06 1746z
I expound a bit on military justice at Sweetness & Light. Here is what I had to say:
Basically because the military is a strict hierarchy, the chain of command is supposed to stay out of all judicial matters not involving non-judicial punishment. And even those are subject to review. Once a command unduly puts its fingers on the scales of justice the prosecution is over. No matter which side the command put the pressure on. It is also a very big black mark on an officer’s career.Update: 18 June '06 0905z
The Squiggler has more on the anti-Murtha campaign. Curiouser & Curiouser focuses on the Irey campaign.
Update: 10 Sept '06 0704z
Irey for Congress www site.
Technorati:
Murtha, Jack Murtha, Pennsylvanian, Irey, Diana Irey, Veterans for Irey, Unlawful Command Influence, Haditha, Marines, US Marines, Lawyers, Military Law, UCMJ, Uniform Code of Military Justice, NJP, Non Judicial Punishment
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9 comments:
The Savage Nation Starts the Avalanche!
Pictures from the San Diego Rally in Support of Marines
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Check out PJ Media for some weird super-strong Heroin adulterant.
Thanks doug,
I'm aware of the heroin bit. It is the sort of thing you get when you put criminals in charge of drug distribution.
Thanks for the link to The Squiggler and my coverage of Jack Murtha. Although I now live in So. Calif., Murtha represents my hometown where I was born and raised and still have friends. Every time I hear this senile old man, I think of my Dad and how he would be rolling over in his grave if he knew about Murtha and his claims. I agree this could get ugly, especially if the Vets join forces to defeat him.
I was the wife of a career military man, although not the Marines. The Navy doesn't stress the Semper Fi of the Marine Corps, but there is still a high priority put on service/command loyalty. It must be very hard for Marines to contemplate turning on one of their own, but loyalty includes keeping a comrade from losing his dignity thru either total stupidity or senility. In this case, I believe it is senility.
Cliff,
I followed the link (can you do html links?) and found nothing of substance. Just a bunch of name calling.
Perhaps you could give us a couple of sentences that clearly explain your point.
Chancuff,
What you have given us is a bunch of blog commentary and not news.
Facts are important. Got any?
"Facts are important. Got any?"
that was humor, riiiight?
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said...
"Swift Boat Veterans for Themselves" ignored a couple issues CRITICAL to our troops at war during the run-up to the 2004 election.
First they sat silent knowing full well that Bush NEVER USED the number of troops he incessantly claims his generals asked for. Turkey would not allow the 40,000 troops of the 4th to pass through and participate in Bush's invasion of Iraq.
Second, These same Lookatme! Showboaters sat silent when this very same troop shortage resulted in America's greatest tragedy of the war in Iraq.
EVERYONE who's ever gone through basic training knows that when you find your enemies weapons, you keep them secure.
Hundreds of tons of high explosives that our troops had captured at Al Qaqaa were abandoned specifically due to troops shortages, CREATED by Bush's incompetence in war.
These explosive stolen from Al Qaqaa are the weapons that have been used to blow our troops into too many parts to count each and every day of this war.
When some pasty butt wimp, like Larry Bailey of bootmurtha.com, decides to pass his "gimme' some money" collection plate to support his concept of patriotism for a circus tent performance at The Cambria County War Memorial on October 1st of this year ...
Some would say there's nothing more patriotic than putting a moron who's never given a hoot about our troops at war (or he would have spoke up about those 40k troops left behind and Al Qaqaa IN 2004) in his proper place ...he's a coward.
To make matters even MORE entertaining, Larry Bailey actually thinks having John O'Neill, the original Lookatme! Show Boater, as his surprise guest speaker is a feather in his cap.
You may not like the stand John Murtha has been making, but for anyone who supports our troops at war, there's no way to respond to these idiot Swiftboaters' Reunion in Murtha's home town of Johnstown, Pa, than a chorus of Bronx raspberries.
I hope this clarifies.
Cliff Hancuff
The World of Journalism Is Flat, Too
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Things are JUST NOT GOING WELL for the folks at the "Diana Irey for Congress" camp.
Diana Irey Press Release UPDATE!
http://community.cnhi.com/eve/fo...611/m/911101894
(read first 4 posts, the rest if you fancy to)
http://community.cnhi.com/eve/fo...611/m/631100794
http://community.cnhi.com/eve/fo...611/m/134103794
(click all links found in post, or you will get/be lost)
Tue Sep 12, 05:45:34 PM UTC
Uh, Chancuff,
So because mistakes are reported faster they should not happen? A truly novel approach.
You are leaving out lags. Suppse it takes 6 months to see that a policy is not working. It then gets reported instantly. Then suppose it takes another 6 to 9 months to revise policy and see how the new effort is working.
You expect because reporting is instataneous that results will be too?
It is really too bad that reporters don't have careers in the middle level of organizations before reporting on anything.
I was at the very bottom of the mid-level as an aerospace engineer. I have seen how orgnizations work. Sometimes they have to learn by making mistakes. The key is, if you know a policy is not going to be effective, is to be ready to help in the revision with a minimum of "I told you so".
What I have seen so far is a lot of criticism of Bush with no suggestion of how to fix it except to leave the Iraqis to their fate. I think that will be hard to sell to more than a minority.
Here is one thing that could be focused on to improve the Iraq situation:
Electricity
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No IVth Infantry?
Nothing in war goes according to plan.
Our "ally" Turkey prevented the IVth from deploying over its prefered route. The Turkish government leans towards the islamists these days (then too) so it was not a total surprise that tthey delayed the IVth instead of giving a flat no.
So the IVth went to Iraq a few weeks later than planned and out of position relative to the original plan.
In wartime (anytime actually) allies can be perfidious. Just look at the majority of Democrats these days.
Nothing new. Lincoln had Copperhead Democrats and FDR had a pack of Republicans at his heels.
The party out of power always discredits itself in war time. It would be nice if the MSM was on side. It is probably too much to expect. Their depth is limited. Mistakes they can see. A way out of the (inevitable) blunders is beyond them.
BTW Chancuff,
You will love this one:
Gitmo Nurse Speaks About Gitmo Detainees
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