According to witnesses these are the words used by LtCol Chessani when he was first informed about the 24 civilians killed at Haditha. LtCol Chessani did, however, make an earlier statement to NCIS, wherein he stated “I could have done a better job preparing the Marines for this deployment as it relates to R.O.E. training.” The investigating officer, Colonel Conlin, who has been somewhat critical of LtCol Chessani, stated that many other battalion commanders would have joined their troops in the battle area during such an engagement. LtCol Chessani did not join his Marines. LtCol Chessani is in the picture on the right, Col Conlin is on the left.
It is remarkable that the investigating officer would not be a judge advocate (a military lawyer, all of whom are required to be certified civilian lawyers as well) as is the usual case in an Article 32 investigation. While there is no requirement that the investigating officer be a judge advocate, in the overwhelming majority of Marine Corps cases the investigating officer is a judge advocate. Col Conlin, in contrast, is an infantry officer by MOS (”Military Occupational Specialty”). Perhaps obviously, there’s an argument to be made that an infantry officer might be better suited to adjudge the combat-related actions of a battalion commander in a case such as this.
yojoe out
Filed under: Haditha
[...] The purpose of the hearing is to conduct further examination of evidence submitted during the original investigation in May 2007. The prosecutors recommended, to LtGen Mattis, that two additional charges of [...]
This article is totalling wrong about standard procedure. Most Article 32 investigations are done by junior officers and certainly not judge advocates. When death is involved, it does have to be an O-6 Colonel and it was. Not to say that in this case a JAG wouldn’t have been a good idea, but there aren’t very many O-6 Jags around in the first place. An infantry officer like Conlin has the advantage of being versed in what the Marines were doing or supposed to be doing in the first place.
You are Clueless – I do not think that I am clueless. In the Marine Corps, Article 32 investigations are almost exclusively done by Judge Advocates (Marine Corps term for JAG). I have been a 32 officer, a trial counsel, and defense counsel. And at every Art 32 I have been involved in the 32 officer was a Judge Advocate. Also, in all of the other Haditha cases the Art 32 officer was a LtCol Judge Advocate.
This may not be the case in other branches, but in the Marine Corps I can assure you that this is the case.