wnbubbleboy
Veteran
Eight of the 24 people whom Marines are accused of killing in Haditha, Iraq, were described yesterday as insurgents by a defense attorney and a Marine liaison officer during a pretrial hearing.
Defense attorney Charles Gittins said the eight were identified by human and electronic intelligence. They were not mentioned by name.
The eight were among five men ordered from a car and shot to death and four men killed in a home cleared by Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, said Gittins, who is representing Capt. Randy Stone at a pretrial hearing at Camp Pendleton. Stone is charged with failing to investigate and properly report the killings.
Last week, Capt. Jeffrey Dinsmore, the intelligence officer for the battalion, testified that “it’s fairly well established through the (unmanned aerial vehicle) coverage that there were insurgents in those homes,†referring to the homes where civilians were killed.......................
John Hutson, former judge advocate general for the Navy and now president of the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, N.H., agreed that this could help the defense.
“If it is true and one-third are insurgents, it would certainly be complicated to explain how these guys should have been able to differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys,†Hutson said.
“It gives the defense the argument they were looking for.â€
http://www.baltimorereporter.com/?p=3945#more-3945
Defense attorney Charles Gittins said the eight were identified by human and electronic intelligence. They were not mentioned by name.
The eight were among five men ordered from a car and shot to death and four men killed in a home cleared by Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, said Gittins, who is representing Capt. Randy Stone at a pretrial hearing at Camp Pendleton. Stone is charged with failing to investigate and properly report the killings.
Last week, Capt. Jeffrey Dinsmore, the intelligence officer for the battalion, testified that “it’s fairly well established through the (unmanned aerial vehicle) coverage that there were insurgents in those homes,†referring to the homes where civilians were killed.......................
John Hutson, former judge advocate general for the Navy and now president of the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, N.H., agreed that this could help the defense.
“If it is true and one-third are insurgents, it would certainly be complicated to explain how these guys should have been able to differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys,†Hutson said.
“It gives the defense the argument they were looking for.â€
http://www.baltimorereporter.com/?p=3945#more-3945
