Betrayed by His Own Government—Officer Recommends General Court-Martial For LtCol Chessani Thomas Moore Law Center

The Thomas More Law Center, a national public-interest legal advocacy firm today announced that Colonel Christopher Conlin, USMC has recommended that LtCol Chessani face a general court-martial. The Law Center has been representing Lieutenant
Colonel Jeffrey Chessani, USMC since January of this year. Chessani is charged with “dereliction of duty” and “orders” violations. These charges stem from a battle in the insurgent held town of Haditha, Iraq on November 19, 2005. Marines were alleged to have purposely killed Iraqi civilians and that their officers were involved in a “cover-up” of the incident.

Richard Thompson, the President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center commented, “This recommendation deals more with political correctness than criminality. Colonel Chessani is chastised in the report because he had more confidence in his men than in insurgent propaganda. It glorifies paper pushing over fighting and has the unintended
consequence of dampening the spirit of the most ferocious fighters on Earth.”

Continued Thompson, “This fight is about the future of the American fighting man. If good officers and men like LtCol Chessani can’t react to combat situations the way they were trained, if our young soldiers are forced to hesitate in battle because they may be criminally charged by their own government, they will be killed. Further, if the higher command doesn’t correct the injustice of this flawed recommendation, ultimately there will be no aggressive military left to defend the life of our nation.”

Full Article...

Sphere: Related Content