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2007-08-20 Iraq

Trial of officer charged at Abu Ghraib to begin

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Posted by Fred 2007-08-20 00:00|| || Front Page|| [4 views ] Top
File under: Iraqi Insurgency

#1 Unites States Marine Corp
U.S. MARINE CORPS FORCE CENTRAL COMMAND
7116 SOUTH BOUNDARY BOULEVARD
MACDILL AIRFORCE BASE, FLORIDA 33621-5101

AUG 08 2007

From: Commander
To: Lance Corporal Justin L. Sharratt, U.S. Marine Corps

Subj: DISPOSITION OF CASE

Ref: (a) Commandant of the Marine Corps ltr to Commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command ded 06 Jun 2006 (Subj: Designation as Consolidated Disposition Authority for Any Necessary Administrative Actions Relative to the Haditha Investigation)
(b) Army Regulation 15-6 Investigation of Events in Haditha, Iraq on 19 November 2005 (MG Bargewell AR 15-6) dtd 15 June 06 Forwarding Endorsements
(c) The Naval Criminal Investigation Service's Reports of Investigation Concerning the Haditha Incident from 12 April 2006 to 25 May 2007
(d) Uniform Code of Military Justice Article 32 Investigating Officer Report ICO United States v. Lance Corporal Justin L. Sharratt, U.S. Marine Corps

1. Pursuant to reference (a), and based upon my thorogh consideration of reference (b), (c), and (d), I have determined that the charges in your case will be dismissed without prejudice. I have made this decision based upon all of the evidence and have specifically considered the recommendation articulated in references (d) from the Article 32 Investigating Officer and his determination that the evidence does not support a referral to a court-martial.

2. The experience of combat is difficult to understand intellectually and very difficult to appreciate emotionally. One of our Nation's most articulate Supreme Court Justices, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., served as an infantryman during the Civil War and described war as an "incommunicatable experience." He has also noted elsewhere that "detached reflection cannot be demanded in the face of an uplifted knife." Marines have a well earned reputation for remaining cool in the face of enemies brandishing much more than knives. The brutal reality that Justice Holmes described is experienced each day in Iraq, where you willingly put yourself at great risk to protect innocent civilians. Where the enemy disregards any attempt to comply with ethical norms of warfare, we exercise discipline and restraint to protect the innocent caught on the battlefield. Our way is right, but it is also difficult.

3. The event in which you were engaged on 19 November 2005 has been exhaustively examined by Marine, Army, and Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigators. An independent Article 32 Investigating Officer has considered all the facts and concluded that you acted in accordance with the rules of engagment. His comments on the evidence are contained in reference (d). The intense examination into this incident, and into your conduct, has been necessary to maintain our discipline standards and, in the words of the Marines' Hymn, "To keep our honor clean." I recognize that you have been through a most difficult experience. I am optimistic that you remained aware that you were, and have always been entitled to, and received the benefit of, the presumtion of innocense that is the bedrock of our military justince system.

4. You have served as a Marine infantryman in Iraq where our Nation is fighting a shadowy enemy who hides among the innocent people, does not comply with any respect of the law of war, and routinely targets and intentionally draws fire toward civilians. As you well know, the challenges of this combat experience put extreme pressures on you and your fellow Marines. Operational, moral, and legal imperatives demand that we Marines stay true to our standards and maintain compliance with the law of war in this morally bruising environment. With the dismissal of these charges you may fairly conclude that you did your best to live up to the standards, followed by U.S. fighting men throughout our many wars, in the face of life and death decisions made by you in a matter of seconds in combat. And as you have always remained cloaked in the presumtion of innocense, with this dismissal of charges, you remain in the eyes of the law - and in my eyes - innocent.

ORIGINAL SIGNED
J. N. MATTIS

Posted by Besoeker 2007-08-20 03:14|| 2007-08-20 03:14|| Front Page Top

#2 Lot of mis-spellings in there. Did you transpose this letter or copy and pasted it?

Posted by Jack is Back!">Jack is Back! 2007-08-20 12:01|| 2007-08-20 12:01|| Front Page Top

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