The Real Command Influence
Russ Vaughn
In dismissing the very dubious war crimes charges against Marine LTC Jeffrey Chessani, his trial judge, COL Steven Folsom, said this:
“Unlawful command influence is the mortal enemy of military justice,”
COL Folsom was referring to influence within the Marine Corps command structure, specifically involving two officers of general rank. We should all applaud the colonel’s decision as it would make no sense whatsoever for the Marines to try an officer for failing to investigate crimes that to this point several military courts have failed to establish ever occurred. With one exception, all of the Haditha Marines now have been exonerated. The exception is SSGT Frank Wuterich and if the Marines insist on pursuing his prosecution, they will find themselves in the position of trying to prove homicidal behavior on the part of a non-commissioned officer whose troops apparently killed no one in an unlawful manner according to Marine courts. The only conclusion is that he acted alone, in the midst of battle, while commanding his troops, he somehow single-handedly slaughtered more than twenty innocent Iraqi civilians.
Sounds preposterous, right? Well, that’s apparently what the Navy would have us believe. And make no mistake about it, it is the Navy that controls military prosecutions in the Marine Corps, and the Navy appears willing to pursue this prosecution even though SSGT Wuterich’s subordinates and his two superiors who were charged have all been cleared by military courts. That leads us to speculate that either SSGT Wuterich killed those Iraqi civilians all by himself or Navy JAG is desperately in need of at least one face-saving conviction in this Haditha mess.
Or is there another reason? Perhaps command influence from a higher level? Most civilians are unaware of the tremendous pressure members of Congress are able to bring to bear on military commanders. If a particular senator or congressman doesn’t happen to be on a committee or subcommittee with direct oversight over military budgets or affairs, you can bet one of his cronies does. This is particularly true with flag rank Navy officers and generals in the other services because their promotions into these lofty ranks require congressional approval.
By now you must have guessed where this is going. Consider…who is the most powerful person in this situation who stands to not only look like the grandstanding, blowhard fool that he is but could perhaps be threatened with defamation lawsuits by the young Marines whose lives he turned into hell by publicly proclaiming them “cold blooded killers.” Ah yes, that would be the reigning Prince of Pork, John Murtha. Think about it, with a single conviction of any one of the Marines charged, Murtha can claim vindication and use that conviction as an effective defense against any defamation suits from any of the other defendants.
So the question begging to be asked is whether or not this congressman, who was videotaped by the FBI as indicating he is bribable, is pulling strings behind the Navy/Marine Corps command structure to pursue this phony war crimes prosecution to the bitter end. Murtha claims to be an ex-Marine to which I say, you may have worn the uniform, John, but you are sure as hell no Marine. As I have said before, the Marine Corps motto is Semper Fi, always faithful; John Murtha’s motto is Semper I, always him.
Russ Vaughn
Vietnam 65-66
….Thank you Russ for writing this and sending it to me.
What would Corps legend Gunny DI Lee Ermey do to Lee Harvey Murtha? FULL METAL JACKET, eh? I have a feeling Murtha hasn’t faced the ‘best’ that’s yet to come WT!
Russ, what a magnificently written post. The fact that Murtha is alive infuriates me.
All General Staff, Active and Retired, should have him “caned” before Congress.
This caning should be filmed and shown to all Navy and Marine Commands.
Polite decorum and morality prevents me from saying anything else about Non-Marine Murtha.
p.s. Chrissie, I love the picture…it’s a “keeper”.
Well I for one don’t believe the Navy has anything to do with this prosecution. This is a Marine Corps, thing, to protect for the overall good of the Corps.
This goes back to before the Korean War, when Truman wanted to disban the Marine Corps. During the 1950’s and 60’s the Marines were the only service not to spend all of their alloted budget, they would return the unspent funds.
The old saying, ” If the Marine Corps aint got it the Army aint shit-canned.” The last thing the Marine Corps wants is to be in the National Spotlight, with something as despicable as ‘Killing innocent civilians.’ This goes back the the MyLai massacre in Vietnam and Fragging charges in the early 70’s.
This Haditha incident, is the 21st century version of the Ribbon Creek incident, where the media had the Marines in their cross hairs and were out for blood. Had it not been for General Puller the whole mess would have been blown way out of proportion.
The only difference is a Congressman of with no credibility is involved, this puts the Marine Corps in High Survival mode. In order to defend the Corps.
The first thing any congressman wants to do is disban the Corps, and the Marines will fight to the death to defend it.
As Russ said, there is congressional pressure, from the anti-American deomcrats, this pressure is driving the prosecution, but it is HQMC who is the impetus behind this. As if to say, ‘See we take care of our own problems’.
The Marine Corps has always had an image problem and they work very hard to keep it as positive as possible. After the invaision of Tarawa, with all of its casualties, it was the first battle to be filmed live, When it was finally shown to the public, Marine Recruiting dropped 50% for a couple of months. It goes back to the rap the Marines got from Korea, of being, ‘Underpaid, oversexed, teenage killers,’ a reputation the Marine Corps doesn’t like. This is the impetus behind these prosecutions.
Semper Fi. VN 66-67 1/9…aka ‘the walking dead’
This old sailor agrees… Murtha IS an EX-Marine. As opposed to all the FORMER Marines out there.
A former Marine is a Marine whose enlistment/active service ran out; an EX-Marine is any Marine that has disgraced himself or the Corps.
There are probably a number of Marine and Navy brass that have had less than honorable reasons to pursue this non-case. I hope they all get their just rewards.
Murtha ,though, should be the number one target for retaliatory action. Maybe with enough publicity about the Haditha case being a kangaroo case pursued and predecided by Murtha, his constituents will vote him out of office. That would be his biggest shame, to lose reelection.
This just goes to verify what Col.Hackworth
said about the so called “Perfume Officers”!!!!
Well worded Mark. Thank you Rick, you said it well. Thank you Tincan, Darth and my ‘ole Buddy, TomR for yo’ support.
OT: Individual Right To Bear Arms AFFIRMED!!!
I just saw this from yesterday. This is great news and I’m happy, but 5 to 4 vote is scary as hell. What would our Nation do if it was the other way around?
I have a good feeling about our next “Revolution” or “Civil War”. Texas still has the Right and Legal Authority to split off from the United States. Maybe some folks with brains should start
thinking about that. After all, Texas IS bigger than France.
Why isn’t there more about this in the press and news? Maybe I’m just not seeing it. These guys should get the same attention being exonerated at they did when Murtha and his cronies “convicted” them!!!!
I wish there was a good attorney out there in WT’s blog readers that would have the balls to go after Murtha!!! What a disgrace this idiot is to the human race and doesn’t deserve to be called an American let alone hold public office!!!!! We could save a lot of taxpayer’s money by shooting the bum!!!!
Darth, good I sure hope that’s is what happens.
LOL I love what you said about Gunny DI Lee Ermey. heh heh
SSgt Steve, USMC (Hard Corps), thanks so much.
Mark, thank you so much for sharing about this.
Freedom has a high price, and that price paid in blood, sweat and tears. I think that is what ticks me off the most about Murtha. He should know better, he should have stepped back and waited and instead he jumped at an opening that was not proven yet to be true and slandered our awesome Marines.
For KheSanh Vietnam hills 881n and 861. For the brave Marines of Bravo 1/9,aka. The Walking Dead and Fox 2/3,we must never forget those brave men.
Rick yes and that label will be his for life. If he is not punished then I hope at least people will never forget what he did.
Tom, yes oh if that could only happen. Not to be elected again would let him know people have had enough of his actions and what he did.
Tincan Sailor, he was good. I miss him.
John, there is one Marine that has a lawyer that is going to sue Murtha and there might be more then join him in this. I hope so.
Political motivated??? The heck you say.
Frankly, I’m surprised the WHOLE lot of the marine’s accused of crimes aren’t railroaded in order to prevent “Shame” from being placed on the head of their mouthpiece Murtha.
Good luck Marines, you are going to need it, screams and outcry’s from the public have little effect WT, ask Ramos and Compean.
There is an excellent website, “Boot Murtha – A campaign organized by Vets for the Truth to redeploy John Murtha” at:
http://www.bootmurtha.com/
Enjoy!
This is particularly true with flag rank Navy officers and generals in the other services because their promotions into these lofty ranks require congressional approval.
BINGO!!! You hit the nail on the head with an atomic powered sledge hammer. Congressional approval is required for promotion but also for retirement at the 3 and 4 star ranks. That promotion and retirement is much more important to many of them than some lowly NCO or Junior/Field Grade Officer
Les, thanks for the link.
Aussie David Hackworth was one bad *ss warrior! Gunny dad Vader met him before he died at a Marine Corps ball event in Atlantic City. What a warrior and LEADER!! RIP David…