Cao’s Blog » Blog Archive » Camp Pendleton 8

6/21/2006

Camp Pendleton 8

My previous rant on this is here.

Already charged in the media with murder, even though they haven’t even had the opportunity to talk with their attorneys, the incarceration of the Camp Pendleton 8 continues. This is becoming a very familiar and sad thing, when you consider the hysteria over Haditha and the media claiming it’s another ‘my lai’.

From Fox:

The allegation is that Marines pulled an unarmed Iraqi man from his home on April 26 and shot him to death without provocation. Seven Marines and one Navy corpsman from the Pendleton-based 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment were taken out of Iraq and put in the brig pending the filing of any charges against them.

Jane Siegel, an attorney representing one of the accused Marines, Pfc. John Jodka, 20, said she had not yet been given a copy of the charges.”It’s just amazing and a little bit horrifying that they have decided to play this to the media before they have talked to counsel,”she said.

The charges are over the death of one old guy that they supposedly dragged out of his house and killed, and then laid a shovel next to him to make it appear as though he was going to plant and IED somewhere. This is my understanding. The suspicious theme, however, is the fact that his relatives have come forward to be paid off; because this is the new ‘policy’ of government these days…when a civilian is killed, the American government pays off the family. I’m not sure what legal or historical precedent this has unless they’re just trying to make sure Human Rights Watch doesn’t come after them along with the ACLU with a ‘wrongful death’ lawsuit.

I don’t recall that we did this during WWII or WWI…and I KNOW there were civilian casualties during those conflicts. Were there civilian casualties during the Korean War? Vietnam? Any of the other conflicts we were engaged in?

Frontpage Magazine:

In recent years the ranks of alleged victims championed by civil libertarians on the political Left have swollen to include everyone from the terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay, to anti-American radicals, to environmentalist ultras and illegal immigrants. But there’s at least one group ineligible for victim status under the legal Left’s guidelines: American troops.

This seems to be the lesson of the “Camp Pendleton Eight.” A group of seven Marines and one Navy corpsman, they are currently being held–reportedly under excessively harsh conditions–at the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base in southern California on suspicion of kidnapping and killing an innocent Iraqi man in the town of Hamdania, west of Baghdad, on April 26. Charges have not yet been filed, but investigators in the case have reportedly used a variety of coercive methods–including threatening the soldiers with the death penalty, interrogating them for upward of eight hours without water or toilet breaks, and keeping them shackled at the hands, waist and ankles–that, one might assume, would stir furor among those groups, such as the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights and the National Lawyers Guild, who relentlessly profess themselves guardians of American civil liberties and constitutional standards. Instead, as inquiries to these organizations by FrontPageMag.com revealed, these groups have responded to the soldiers’ plight with collective indifference.

As far as the ACLU seems to be concerned, the case does not exist. This is not because the ACLU is reluctant to take a stand on the war on terror. In the past few years, the organization has taken several stands. When not cheerleading for illegal immigration under the guise of promoting “civil liberties,” the ACLU has sided with convicted Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami al-Arian. In court briefs, the ACLU even attempted to undermine the government’s case against al-Arian by declaring inadmissible evidence collected in an FBI investigation, on the dubious grounds that the search warrants used by investigators were too broad. Taking a different tack, Howard Simon, the executive director of the Florida ACLU, cited unconfirmed allegations that al-Arian was allowed to change his underwear only once a week and his prison jumpsuit every two weeks and portrayed al-Arian as the victim of “the disgusting raw exercise of power by John Ashcroft.” (Prison officials dismissed the claims.)

No such sympathy seems forthcoming for the troops. Neither Simon nor his ACLU colleagues have had anything to say about the fact that U.S. soldiers, who, as noted, have not yet been charged with a crime, are kept in shackles and were, until recently, held under maximum pretrial confinement. Apathy to prison conditions cannot explain the ACLU’s silence. This May, the organization filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of women prisoners in Wisconsin, charging that the state’s prison system provides “far inferior mental health treatment” to women as opposed to men. To date, however, the ACLU has issued not a single statement on the far more prominent case of the Camp Pendleton Eight.

Thanks to Stop the ACLU

Ok here’s the other article on this that caught my eye. From the LA Times:

CAMP PENDLETON — Charges of premeditated murder, kidnapping and conspiracy have been filed against eight servicemen in connection with the death of an Iraqi civilian, officials said today.

The charges against seven Marines and one sailor were lodged by Lt. Gen. John Sattler, commander of all U.S. Marines in the Central Command, which covers Iraq. The charges now go to the military equivalent of a preliminary hearing or grand jury proceeding to determine if courts-martial will be convened.

“The Marine Corps also prides itself on holding its members accountable for their actions,” said spokesman Col. Stewart Navarre of the charges, the latest involving questionable military actions in Iraq.

The eight accused have been held at Camp Pendleton since they were shipped back from Iraq in late May. All are from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment, 1st Marine Division.

They were identified as: Marines Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, Cpl. Trent Thomas, Lance Cpl. Tyler Jackson, Pvt. 1st Class John Jodka, Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate Jr., Lance Cpl. Robert Pennington and Cpl. Marshall Magin Calba and Navy Corpsman Melson Bacos.

If convicted on the murder charges, they could face the death penalty.

This is a repeat of the Pantano incident from last year, IMO.

Rhymes With Right linked with Troops Charged --A Proper Decision
Blue Star Chronicles linked with Civil Liberties for Terrorists but not for US Sold

11 Responses to “Camp Pendleton 8”

Blue Star Chronicles Says:
June 21st, 2006 at 6:13 pm
Civil Liberties for Terrorists but not for US Sold

There seems to be no reprieve for our Soldiers. The left declares their support for the troops and at the same time criticize their every move.
tony Says:
June 21st, 2006 at 10:33 pm
You are a little silly on this. The ACLU supports the civil liberties provided by the constitution for persons in the U.S. and U.S. citizens, so there is no way that– even if the “one old man” was brutally murder– the ACLU would be involved in prosecuting a wrongful death case on behalf of his family. And these soliders are getting the due process they signed up for under the Code of Military Justice. If they find it constitutionally insufficient, then they should ask the ACLU for help. (The ACLU agrees with them (and you?!?!) that the CMJ does not provide enough protection of due process rights of accused criminals.) But they have retained private attorneys and specifically not asked for the ACLU’s help. Contrary to popular myth, the ACLU does not go shopping for clients. Like all law firms, they are required not to solicit clients (with some exceptions thanks to the Supreme Court). But I understand it must be fun to attack straw men — not all that different than what the soliders are alleged to have done.

p.s.. your preview feature is awesome.
Rhymes With Right Says:
June 21st, 2006 at 11:38 pm
Troops Charged –A Proper Decision

It pains me to type those words. Having grown up in a military family, I would like to believe that each and every soldier is a hero in uniform, flawlessly following the rules and orders laid out for them. But…
Cao Says:
June 22nd, 2006 at 4:02 am
Oh that’s a laugh. “Due Process” my ***. You didn’t follow the link to Laskin’s piece over at Frontpage Magazine, apparently you’re willing to skewer me as being all alone on this. Sorry, there’s more that illustrates the point that our boys are getting the shaft from these legal leftist groups:

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the ACLU’s ideological confederate, has likewise recused itself from the controversy surrounding the troops. Yet the CCR is hardly averse to staking out controversial positions. At its 2004 annual convention, the CCR paid tribute to radical New York attorney Lynne Stewart, a declared supporter of terrorism who has been convicted of abetting the terrorist activities of her client, Egyptian “blind sheik” Omar Abdel Rahman. Stewart helped Rahman pass along secret messages to his followers calling for terrorist attacks, a fact that did not deter the CCR for audaciously depicting her initial indictment as “an attack on attorneys who defend controversial figures, and an attempt to deprive these clients of the zealous representation that may be required.” For the troops who served their country, however, the CCR has not spared a thought.

It is a telling omission. Consider that the CCR goes to great lengths to portray the suspected terrorist detainees at Guantánamo Bay as the hapless victims of a ruthless U.S. government. In April of 2005, the CCR launched its Guantanamo Global Justice Initiative, a legal advocacy project dedicated to promoting the cause of the detainees. In keeping with this spirit, CCR attorney Joshua Denbeaux claimed last week that these detainees, far from enemy combatants, are a pressing “civil rights issue.” And his employer seldom misses an opportunity to condemn what it calls “the Bush Administration’s policy of indefinite detention.”

In bemoaning this alleged policy, however, the CCR maintains a double standard. Thus the fact that the Camp Pendleton Eight were taken into custody on May 12, and have been jailed in the absence of formal charges, has elicited not a shred of concern from the organization that boasts of its commitment to “protecting and advancing the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” Evidently, in the CCR’s perverse moral calculus, terrorists come before American troops.

Additional examples of the legal Left’s selective conscience abound. For instance, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) proudly notes that it works “to safeguard and strengthen the rights of workers, women, farmers and minority groups, upon whom the welfare of the entire nation depends.” Conspicuously excluded from NLG’s list of worthy causes are those who wear the uniform and put their life on the line to defend that welfare.

By contrast, would-be terrorists can count on the NLG’s support. On June 12, the NLG denounced an FBI crackdown on eco-terrorist groups like the Earth Liberation Front and animal-rights extremists like the Animal Liberation Front, complaining that prosecuting such groups for the use of “destructive devices”–explosives and high-caliber weapons in non-legalese–evidenced a “disturbing trend of targeting protesters engaged in dissent, and in imposing draconian sentences for expressing such dissent.” The NLG especially objected to the use of the word terrorism to describe these groups’ activities “because it obfuscates issues about the evidence and the ability to fairly evaluate the merits of the case.” But while radical terrorists command the NLG’s sympathies, the imprisoned U.S. troops have not even captured its attention. The NLG has ignored their case altogether.

None of this is inexplicable. As even a cursory review of their record shows, the leading organizations on the legal Left have focused much of their efforts since the beginning of the war on terror anathematizing the military. To listen to the ACLU, one would think that American troops are the world’s leading human rights abusers. Repeatedly alleging “torture and abuse of detainees in U.S. military custody,” the ACLU has simultaneously clamored for an investigation of “senior military” leaders to determine whether they are guilty of “authorizing, acquiescing or consenting, in any way, to acts of torture committed by their subordinates.” That the ACLU has already reached a judgment on the matter is confirmed by its own website, which demands that these leaders be “held accountable” for their supposed crimes.

Equally outspoken on the subject of the military’s alleged misdeeds is CCR president Michael Ratner. Among other examples of fact-free demagoguery, Ratner has charged that the U.S. military presides over “incredibly inhuman conditions” at Guantanamo. For Ratner, the preferred image of the armed forces is that of “crew-cut marines, standing over a row of kneeling, shackled goggled men in the Cuban sun” — an image that, he insists, “became the iconic image of all that the U.S. was doing wrong to the Muslim world.” [1]

Not to be outdone, the NLG has established a special Military Law Task Force, a curiously dissociative name for a project that essentially opposes all things military. Beyond railing against what it calls the “military/industrial clique,” and “unnecessary militaristic involvement” (which, in the NLG’s definition, amounts to all militaristic involvement), the NLG also holds that the very idea of a military force — even on a volunteer basis — is a violation of civil liberties: “To maintain the availability of such a force, men and women in uniform are routinely deprived of civil liberties and subjected to bigotry, abuse and harassment,” according to the NLG.

If recent news reports are accurate, the NLG’s statement may actually have some relevance to the case of the Camp Pendleton Eight. For it to be taken seriously, however, requires that the NLG and likeminded groups reconsider their near-reflexive hostility to the U.S. military — something that, if past history is any guide, they are constitutionally incapable of doing.

And so it has proved. One week ago, some two dozen people gathered outside Camp Pendleton to protest the confinement conditions of the troops. But self-styled civil-liberties groups were nowhere to be found.

ENDNOTES:

[1] Ratner, Michael, and Ray, Ellen. Guantanamo: What the World Should Know. (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2004) p. 36.

Look at my aclu section…or better yet…why don’t you take a look at Stop the Aclu?
Lisa Gilliam Says:
June 22nd, 2006 at 12:07 pm
Tony,please….stop being a sucker alright!read the 411 that Cao and others have,even better read the ACLU’s on bylaws if you don’t believe her,this group is Communists through and through,their founder a man by the name of Robr Baldwin stated what they were about at Harvard in in the 30’s.The ACLU or not any different than Lenin,Stalin,or Mao,they just are more slick and duplictious in their actions.But,they don’t fool a lot of us.Since when did they have a right to interfere in matters of National Security huh?Since they are doing this and other stuff that is dangerous to this nation,they shouldn’t be getting tax exempt status.And now just in case your missing it,they are beginning to try and curb their own members freedom of speech by putting gag orders on them,when they challenge the hypocrisy of this group that they are members of,they are imploding as we speak and I’m pleased they are,it would be even better if somebody took some construction equipment and bulldoze their building to send a message.
John McDonald Says:
July 8th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
The Camp Pendleton 8 are heros even if all the charges are true.

Aren’t the guys who bombed Dresden, Hiroshima, and other cities killing 100,000’s of civilians heros are we going to start imprisioning the WWII and Korean “Greatest Generation” Soldiers too.
Mark Says:
July 14th, 2006 at 1:42 pm
Here’s something for the ACLU to chew on:

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/07/13/news/top_stories/21_30_467_12_06.txt

And some more:

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/07/13/news/top_stories/21_30_467_12_06.txt
Jessica Says:
July 26th, 2006 at 12:35 pm
This whole thing stinks. I’m not letting it go, just finished ranting a while ago on my own blog. This is a miscarriage of justice and I can’t believe that the majority of the American people aren’t more outraged. I suppose not till it happens to THEIR family eh? Keep up the good work, let’s fight for truth and justice here for these guys. You know when they get off, if they do, their lives will forever be ruined.
Brian Barringer Says:
July 28th, 2006 at 4:13 pm
Hi,

I am a friend of LCPL Tyler Jackson who is one of the innocent 8. I just wanted to let you know we are having a few fundraisers in order to raise money for his defense fund in Tracy, Ca. If you are in the area consider comming.

Brian

http://www.fightingfortyler.com/
http://friendsoftyler.blogspot.com/

We are going to be selling buttons, tee-shirts, and wrist bands. All proceeds are going directly to Tylers defense fund.thanks

Events:
Day In The Park (hotdogs, DJ, games)
Rummage Sale
tri-tip dinner at the Legion hall.
Miguel Hidalgo Says:
August 25th, 2006 at 2:18 am
A few of us “Die-Hard Faithfuls” are participating in Rallies every Saturday to free the Pendleton 8.

For additional information and to get involved, go to http://www.pendleton8.com
Marine Wife Says:
November 23rd, 2006 at 2:02 am
I honestly think that if they don’t want them to shoot anyone then why hand them a gun and teach them to tactics they teach them today. I’m sorry, but they teach these boys to be men and fight for us. They are not fighting for the Iraqi’s they are fighting for OUR country. What the Hell?!?!?