Lt. col. in Hadithah case can retire at rank

[unhappycamper]

Lt. col. in Hadithah case can retire at rank
Staff and wire reports
Posted : Friday Dec 11, 2009 19:41:47 EST

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — A three-member panel found Friday that a former battalion commander charged with failing to fully disclose and investigate the killing of two dozen Iraqi men, women and children in 2005 should retire at his current rank.

The panel of senior officers decided that Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani “demonstrated substandard performance of duty, but did not commit any acts of misconduct,” a Marine Corps spokeswoman, Maj. Erin Wiener, said in an email.

The panel, formed as a Board of Inquiry, made its decision on the sixth day of the hearing to determine whether Chessani was derelict in his duties following the civilian deaths in Hadithah on Nov. 19, 2005.

Marine Corps prosecutors contended that Chessani, who at the time commanded 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, balked at investigating the killings and didn’t file complete reports about the incident even after local Iraqi leaders complained of war crimes days after the deaths.

A broader investigation of the Iraqi deaths didn’t happen until January 2006, a few months before a Time magazine article detailed the killings, which happened when a 3/1 squad swept through several houses after a roadside bomb detonated, killing one Marine and injuring several others during a patrol. The Marines also had shot and killed five men in a car near the explosion. The dead included nine women and two children, and the U.S. military eventually made $38,000 in condolence payments to families.


Rest of article at: http://marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/12/marine_hadithahcol_121109/



unhappycamper comment: 24 Iraqi civilians died in Haditha. To put this in some context, only five Americans were killed in the Boston Massacre.