LtCol P.J. Ware, USMC, filed the report of his investigation into charges against LCpl Stephen B. Tatum, wherein he recommended no criminal charges. LtCol Ware characterized the shootings as tragedies, but LCpl Tatum did not violate the law.
LtCol Ware wrote:
“I believe LCpl Tatum’s real life experience and training on how to clear a room took over and his body instinctively began firing while his head tried to grasp at what and why he was firing. By the time he could recognize that he was shooting at children, his body had already acted. What occurred in house 1 and 2 are tragedies. The photographs of the victims are heart wrenching, and the desire to explain this tragedy as a criminal act and not the result of training and fighting an enemy that hides among innocents is great. However, in the end, my opinion is that there is insufficient evidence for a trial. LCpl Tatum shot and killed people in houses 1 and 2, but the reason he did so was because of his training and the circumstances he was placed in, not to exact revenge and commit murder.”
LtCol Ware previously recommended no charges be brought against LCpl Justin L. Sharratt. LtGen Mattis accepted the recommendations and dropped the charges against LCpl Sharratt. The decision to send LCpl Tatum to a court-martial now rests with LtGen Mattis. It will likely be two weeks before he hands down his decision.
Here is the report, via Ace of Spades HQ and Hot Air.
yojoe out
Filed under: GWOT, Haditha, Iraq, LCpl Stephen Tatum, Law, Military Law, War, War on Terrorism
1. I agree with the investigating officer’s recommendation. No one likes the tragedy that occurred. But once the decision was made use to use deadly force, instinct prevailed. I recall some years ago when the USS Vincennes declared the Iranian Airbus erroneously a hostile aircraft, it was nearly impossible, inspite of indicators to the contrary, to change that decision. It seems to me it is far easier to make a decision of hostile intent than to negate one already made. V/R Bill Bonnett