And I mean the other, other Manning.  PFC Bradley Manning will face a general court-martial in the Wiki[shhh] case reports the AP (via WaPo here)  Commanding General, Military District Washington referred charges against Manning this Friday. According the AP, “Military District of Washington commander Maj. Gen. Michael Linnington referred all charges against Pfc. Bradley Manning to a general court-martial:”

Here is a link to brief AP coverage of the on-going re-sentencing in the case of SSGT Ray Girouard. As we previously reported,here, after CAAF reversed SSGT Girouard’s negligent homicide conviction based on a US v. Jones LIO issue ACCA remanded the case for a new sentencing hearing. The case involved charges of alleged unlawful killings of Iraqi civilians in Samra and a subsequently staged attack to cover up the killings. More AP coverage here (via The Republic)

AP reports, here, that LCpl Jacoby Jacob was sentenced in Hawaii yesterday to reduction, loss of pay, and 30 days in the brig in the hazing related assault of a fellow Marine. That Marine LCpl Henry Lee killed himself after the incident. Our prior coverage of the hazing allegations can be found here.

Hereis a story from Jacksonville, NC.  Apparently a V-22 squadron operations officer, Maj. Danny Cohlmeyer, down in New River is accused of doing naked fly-bys of local females.  He’s charged in both local court nad a GCM scheduled to start next week. According to the Ft. Campbell docket, here, the trial starts Feb. 6 in front of an all officer panel, preceded by an Art. 39(a) session on Feb. 3rd. 

An Air Force Art. 32 hearing is deciding the fate of a cadet charged with rape on USAFA gorunds.  The Colorado Springs Gazette reports, here:

Thomas, Colangelo, Claxton and several other cadets were drinking and partying in Colorado Springs when Thomas said he noticed a woman, a former cadet, was extremely drunk.

None of the cadets knew where she lived, so they brought her back to the dorms, Thomas said. After placing her on a bed, Thomas said he and other cadets left the room.

A few minutes later, Colangelo said he asked Thomas why the door was locked.

Colangelo testified to Lt. Col. Rhonda Bershok — who presided over the hearing — that he and Cadet David Burns banged on the door.

Colangelo said when Claxton opened the door, he and his friends found the woman with her pants unzipped and her shirt pulled up.

Moments later, Claxton punched Burns in the face, yelling “I’m not a rapist. I’m not a rapist,” Thomas said.

The cadets reported the incident to their superiors that night.

The SGT Brent Burke court-martial in the killing of his wife and mother-in-law is scheduled to start next month.  Coverage here from the Bowling Green Daily News.  Our prior coverage of the facts and two prior civilian trials is here and here.

From CNN, here:

A U.S. military judge sentenced a Marine squad leader charged with alleged war crimes in Iraq to a maximum of 90 days in prison and a reduction in pay and rank.

But because of a plea deal with prosecutors, Staff Sgt. Frank G. Wuterich won’t serve any time in the brig. The military judge was obligated to abide by the plea arrangement between prosecutors and the defense.

In the end, Wuterich’s sentence amounts to a reduction in rank — to private — and a pay cut.

So ends the Haditha cases . . . or at least until a creative Appellate Defense counsel gets a hold of the plea record in the next decade or so.   I would imagine the next step is some sort of mandatory high year tenure separation proceeding stripping SSgt (Pvt) Wuterich of benefits.

UPDATED:  A couple of additional reactions from the US’s rule of law protege countries, here.

Here is te LA times update of our post from yesterday, here, about the video that may get Marines in some stinking hot water as they are shown in the video apparently urinating on the corpses of dead Taliban fighters.  The LA Times reports that “Lieutenant General Thomas Waldhauser, commanding general of Marine Forces Central Command and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, will direct the investigation and determine whether criminal charges should be levied or administration punishment meted out.”

Here is AP’s (via NC times) update on testimony from former Sgt. hector Salinas in the SSgt. Frank Wuterich court-martial.  Salinas testified that he would have used an airstrike against the home in which many of the killings at issue in the case occurred.

Here is the San Diego Union-Tribune coverage of yesterday’s SSgt Frank Wuterich court-martial hearing.  Yesterday’s testimony included that of Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, who was then a corporal and admitted urinating on some of the Iraqis killed in Haditha.  Dela Cruz testified that when he jumped off a truck in Haditha with Wuterich:

[H]e saw a group of Iraqi men standing in front of a white car parked on the road. A couple had their hands up in the air or locked behind their heads . . . Then one dropped to the ground.

Wuterich had taken a knee and was pointing his gun at the men, Dela Cruz said. He assumed his squad leader had seen something threatening and was shooting, so Dela Cruz opened fire.

Wuterich . . . has said the Iraqi men started to run and he thought they might have triggered the bomb.

. . . .

Dela Cruz’s credibility as a witness was impaired by his admission that he lied in his initial sworn statements to naval investigators in Iraq. According to him, he conspired with Wuterich to cover up what happened.

“Sgt. Wuterich approached me and told me if anyone asked that they were running away and the Iraqi Army shot them — those five individuals near the white car,” Dela Cruz said. (Wuterich and his lawyers deny that and say he has always been truthful.)

More later today.

The camera wielding Army soldiers at Abu Ghraib and in the 5th Stryker Brigade brought much of their pain on themselves when they photographed their misdeeds with Iraqi prisoners and Afghan detainees, respectively.  Now it would appear that US Marines have joined the masochistic trend and are trying to bring the full wrath of the MilJus system down on themselves.  According to the WaPo Checkpoint Washington  blog, members of “a scout sniper team with the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines” allegedly recorded video of themselves urinating on Taliban corpses.  The blog post with graphic video can be found here.  An investigation is reportedly underway.

Here is LA Times’ update for yesterday’s proceedings that included the testimony of former Cpl Stephen Tatum.  Tatum, according to the LAT, testified that ”Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, labeled the home [where many of the killings occurred] ’hostile,’  [and told the squad that] there was no need to ask questions to distinguish between combatants and noncombatants before killing those inside with M-16 fire and grenades.”  The story also reports that after testifying that “[t]he only thing that gave me the idea that there was hostile intent [on the part of residents] was Staff Sgt. Wuterich firing,” Cpl Tatum responded on cross that he thought SSgt Wuterich had not done anything wrong in the killings.

Better coverage of Tatum’s testimony here, courtesy of the North County Times.

Here is LA Times coverage of Monday’s opening arguments in the court-martial of SSgt Frank Wuterich. The North County Times has additional coverage here. 

Prosecutors painted a picture of a Marine who lost control and said they will present “[t]estimony . . . that Wuterich stood at the foot of a bed where a woman and child were cowering in fear and shot them in the head.” Defense attorneys say their client operated within the ROE and will be exonerated, putting “Haditha behind us.”  I am not sure the Iraqis or the victims families can just put the incident behind them, but the quote may be out of context.

Members selection began today in the court-martial of SSgt Frank Wuterich reports the AP (via WaPo here).  A good summary of the SSgt’s personal life since the case began can be found in the AP report:

Wuterich’s charges were . . . reduced to voluntary manslaughter in nine of the 24 deaths and other crimes. Wuterich also has been charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice.

Since his ordeal began, Wuterich has gotten divorced and gained custody of his three school-age daughters, who live with him in nearby Temecula. He works a desk job at Camp Pendleton’s 1st Marine Division headquarters.

He has completed his service but can’t leave the military until his case has been resolved.

More to follow tonight.

I missed this a couple weeks ago, but thought it was worth posting in light of the ongoing trial of SSgt Wuterich at Camp Pendleton.  Apparently a NYT reporter discovered, story here, some 400 pages of classified investigation materials at a dump site in Iraq after US troops departed.  The documents appear to be part of the investigation into actions by Marine Corps officers and NCOs in the now infamous Haditha case.  No word if Mr. Puckett will attempt to make use of the leak and or the documents themselves at trial.

The long awaited SSgt Frank Wuterich court-martial begins today at Camp Pendleton. NPR reports, here, that Wuterich will face voluntary manslaughter charges stemming from the now well known November 2005 shooting where Wuterich’s “Marine squad killed 24 Iraqis, some of them women and children, in the village of Haditha.”

A 7th Special Forces Group soldier may not be so lucky the second time he tried to board a plane with explosives in his bag. Scott Atwater will be arraigned after screeners found what is likely C-4 explosives in his carry on bag, see LA Times report here.  Atwater was detained a few days earlier when a smoke grenade was found in his bag the story reports.

The LA Times has this report on the death of two Navy pilots over the holiday.  Local police say no suspects are at large, draw your own conclusions.

The intrepid McClatchy team of Michael Doyle and Marisa Taylor today posted this follow-up article to their previous reporting on the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory — whose actual unit crest is Mickey Mouse with a magnifying glass. (You can’t make this stuff up.)

Today’s article documents delays by USACIL in revealing derogatory information about its analysts and tests to defense counsel.

Here is a link to the Julian Assange/Wiki(shhh) writ appeal at CAAF to essentially have access to the classified portions of PFC Manning’s Art. 32 hearing. Yes, that is correct.

Here is the fairly entertaining Motion to Supplement.