Category: Military

Slap On Wrist For Chessani Means Bloody Lip For Murtha

Slap On Wrist For Chessani Means Bloody Lip For Murtha — A three-member Board of Inquiry ruledFriday that Marine  Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani should not be demoted in rank and will recommend such to the Secretary of the Navy.

Chessani commanded the 3rd Battalion, 1st MarineRegiment which was involved in an incident Nov. 19, 2005 in Haditha, Iraq in which 24 Iraqi men, women and children were killed.

An initial report said that 15 deaths were caused by bomb blasts with 8 persons dying in an ensuing fire fight. Questions by Time Magazine prompted a military investigation which filed a report indicating  U.S. Marines may have deliberately shot civilians.

Congressman John Murtha (D-PA12) took that preliminary report as license to publicly claim in November 2005 “It’s much worse than reported in Time magazine. There was no firefight. There was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood. And that’s what the report is going to tell.”

Criminal charges were brought against eight Marines including Chessani, who was charged with failing to investigate the killings. By June 2008 all criminal charges had been dropped against six of the eight defendants including Chessani, with First Lt. Andrew Grayson being acquitted after trial.

Chessani, however, still faced an administrative hearing with regard to his actions which could have resulted in his demotion to major. While the panel did find that Chessani’s response to the killings was substandard because he “failed to provide as detailed and accurate a report as possible” it left it at that.

“It’s been a long four years, but it hasn’t been a miserable four years,” Chessani said. “A lot of good has come out of it, and I praise God and am thankful for all the people that have stood by us

The only Marine still facing charges is Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich who is charged with nine counts of involuntary manslaughter. Wuterich sued Murtha in August 2006 for defamation, which a federal appeals court dismissed last April saying Murtha was protected because he was acting in his official role as a lawmaker when he made the statements.

Slap On Wrist For Chessani Means Bloody Lip For Murtha

Ahmed Hashim Abed — Words Fail At The Shamefulness

Ahmed Hashim Abed was the mastermind of the March 2004 murder and mutilation of four Blackwater security guards in Fallujah, Iraq. He was finally captured Sept. 3 by Navy SEALs

So do the SEALs get medals, citations and a hero’s parade? No. Three of them are facing charges because Abed got a bloodly lip. The SEALs are refusing non-judicial punishment and are demanding a trial by court-martial.

I guess if the SEALs want sympathy from the powers-that-be they should join a radical Islamic group and counsel soldiers not to fight.

Ahmed Hashim Abed — Words Fail At The Shamefulness of the Obama Administration

Ahmed Hashim Abed -- Words Fail At The Shamefulness

Was Obama Almost Denied Dover AFB Photo Op?

Was Obama Almost Denied Dover AFB Photo Op?

Kristinn Taylor at FreeRepublic.com has reported that 17 of the 18 families of the fallen denied media permission to photograph the return of their loved ones at Dover Air Force Base this morning for President Obama’s photo op.

The only family to grant permission was that of Sgt. Dale R. Griffin.

Griffin’s casket was the last to be brought off the
C-17 cargo plane that carried the bodies of 15 soldiers and 3 DEA
agents killed this week in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon, in April, lifted an 18-year ban on media covering the
return of fallen U.S. service members if family permission is provided.

Since the ban was lifted the approval rate has been about 60 percent.

Was Obama Almost Denied Dover AFB Photo Op?

Kamikaze Survivor Visits Us

Kamikaze Survivor Visits UsWhile doing some clean up today at the old Garnet Valley Press office in Concord Township (Pa.) Fred Mitchell stopped by thinking the office remained open and looking for a recent paper with a story about him written by Eileen Shomo.

Fred revealed he had been a 17-year-old sailor manning an anti-aircraft gun aboard the destroyer USS Drexler  which was sunk by a kamikaze plane on March 27, 1945 off Okinawa. Out of  crew of 336 there was 158 dead and 52 wounded, one of whom was Fred.

Fred said he nursed an enduring hatred for the Japanese to the dismay of his wife and parents. He said he wished we had dropped three atom bombs on the country.

His wife noted he said the Lord’s Prayer at church and wondered if he wasn’t being a bit hypocritical when it he said the part about “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others”.

Fred said he caught a documentary on TV regarding three Marines who fought on Iwo Jima and had, had  the same hatred with regard to the Japanese. He caught them questioning whether they wanted to die with that hatred. He said the Marines decided to try to meet with Japanese who fought them there. They found three and they met on the island where they had been trying to kill each other. What died was their hatred. The Japanese also confessed to fear dying with hate.

Fred said before a reunion of Drexler survivors his group had been contacted by a Japanese-American woman who made documentaries and wanted to interview them. The ensuring film led to a visit to Japan for the survivors and their wives sponsored by the Japanese business community.

The hatred died.

Fred said they were treated like movie stars, and ever a sailor, was quite taken with the loveliness of the Japanese hostesses.

Fred said he plans to return.

Fred was also quite complementary of the health care he was receiving in the VA medical system.

Kamikaze Survivor Visits Us