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January 25th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
Wuterich was accused of being the ringleader in a series of Nov. 19, 2005,
shootings and grenade attacks that left two dozen civilians dead in Haditha,
a city west of Baghdad that was then an insurgent hot spot.
The killings were portrayed by Iraqi witnesses and military prosecutors as a
massacre of unarmed civilians – men, women and children – carried out by
Marines in anger after a member of their unit was killed by a roadside bomb.
Defense lawyers argued the deaths resulted from a fast-moving combat situation
in which the Marines believed they were under enemy fire.
The squad leader, who was originally charged with murder in the case, said he
realised that his name “will always be associated with a massacre,
being a cold-blooded baby killer, an ‘out-of-control monster.'”
But he insisted that he and his fellow Marines behaved honourably under
extreme circumstances, and said he “never fired my weapon at any women
or children that day.”
Word of the maximum sentence sparked outrage in Iraq, where Ali Badr, a
Haditha resident and relative of one of the victims, called it “an
insult to all Iraqis” and “solid proof that the Americans don’t
respect human rights.”
In his statement on Tuesday, Wuterich, directed an apology to family members
of those killed in Iraq, he said, “Words cannot express my sorrow for
the loss of your loved ones.” But he said civilians were not singled
out for attack.
“The truth is, I don’t believe anyone in my squad … behaved in any way
that was dishonourable or contrary to the highest ideals that we all live by
as Marines,” he said, reading calmly and deliberately. “But even
with the best intentions, sometimes combat actions can cause tragic results.”
In a final plea for leniency, his civilian defence lawyer, Neal Puckett, said
his client “is not evil.”
“He is decent and moral, and his integrity is unfaltering,” Puckett
said. “He knows that his Marine Corps career has come to an end.”
Any discharge process faced by Wuterich, a father of three girls, will be
separate from his sentencing.
Called to the stand as a character witness on Tuesday, Jeffrey Dinsmore, an
intelligence officer with Wuterich’s battalion at the time of the killings,
said “insurgent groups … had complete control over the city (of
Haditha) at the time” and the unit had received word that an ambush was
likely. He also said insurgents were known to commandeer homes as places to
launch attacks and to deliberately use civilians as human shields.
Six of the eight Marines originally accused in the case had their charges
dismissed by military judges, and a seventh was cleared of criminal
wrongdoing.
Wuterich enlisted in the Marines after his 1998 graduation from high school,
where he was an athletic honour-roll student and played with the marching
band. He was serving his second tour of duty in Iraq when the Haditha
incident occurred.
Source: AP
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