Published on 03/23/10
By Mark Walker
NC Times
Gen. James Mattis, one of the most revered commanders in the Marine Corps, said Monday that he was never improperly influenced when deciding how to prosecute troops charged in the slayings of 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq.
“I don’t recall a single time that anyone tried to influence me unlawfully,” Mattis testified in a Camp Pendleton courtroom, where the lone remaining Haditha defendant, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, is seeking to have the charges against him dismissed.
Mattis testified for more than 90 minutes. He said he independently reviewed all the investigative reports about the killings, which occurred after a roadside bomb killed one Marine and injured two others.
“I do my duty and let others do theirs,” said the four-star general, who now heads the U.S. Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va.
Wuterich’s attorneys want a judge to rule that unlawful command influence stemming from the role of a legal adviser to Mattis illegally taints the prosecution.
The 30-year-old Wuterich is charged with manslaughter, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, obstruction of justice and dereliction of duty arising out of his role in the November 2005 incident.
He said little during the packed hearing other than to answer a couple of procedural questions posed by the judge.
Mattis was the convening authority over the eight Marines charged with crimes at Haditha, the largest prosecution of U.S. troops in the Iraq war, when he was stationed at Camp Pendleton in 2006-07 as head of the I Marine Expeditionary Force.
In his role as convening authority, Mattis had final say on which defendants would ultimately face trial.
Mattis acknowledged Monday that Col. John Ewers sat in on meetings in 2007 to consider alleged wartime abuses by U.S. troops but said the aide recused himself from discussions on the Haditha case.
The defense argues that Mattis was improperly influenced by Ewers, who investigated the killings and later became a top legal adviser to the general. Military policy prohibits Ewers from offering legal advice on Haditha because he was also an investigator in the case.
Similar arguments of unlawful command influence led to the dismissal of dereliction of duty charges against Wuterich’s battalion commander, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani. Chessani’s attorneys successfully argued, and were upheld on appeal, that Ewers’ mere presence constituted unlawful influence.
Mattis also testified in that case that he had no improper contacts or advice. Mattis, who led the Marine Corps’ invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, testified that he pored over thousands of pages of investigative reports into the Haditha killings, which ultimately resulted in a Pentagon requirement that all civilian killings receive at least a cursory investigation.
“I intended to have a better grasp (of the cases) than anyone before I subject Marines to situations like we are in today,” the general said.
At one point, a prosecutor handed Mattis a binder full of pictures of the slain Iraqis.
After thumbing through pages, Mattis said he recognized the victims as “noncombatants.”
Mattis said he did consult with his legal advisers, but not with Ewers, who had recused himself from offering any specific advice.
Final prosecution decisions came from him alone, Mattis said. “I’m obligated to do my duty,” he said. “I did my best.”
After Mattis testified, Lt. Col. George Riggs, who preceded Ewers as the general’s legal adviser, testified that Mattis always made his own decisions and wasn’t swayed by anyone, including those above him.
“General Mattis is one of the most single-minded commanders we have,” Riggs said. “He doesn’t give a damn what higher headquarters thinks. He’s his own man.”
On Tuesday, retired Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland is expected to testify about his recollections of Ewers’ role in the Haditha decisions Helland made after assuming the I Marine Expeditionary Force command and oversight role from Mattis in mid-2007.
Seven of the eight original Haditha defendants have had the cases against them withdrawn, dismissed or been acquitted.
The Wuterich hearing is expected to last most of the week.
If the judge rules in Wuterich’s favor, the Marine Corps has several options, including an appeal or ordering an entirely new investigation.
Wuterich, 30, was on his first combat assignment at Haditha, leading a unit from Camp Pendleton’s 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment.
After the roadside bomb was triggered, he and his troops stormed a series of homes, resulting in the deaths of 19 men, women and children.
Five men who drove up in a car immediately after the bombing also were slain. Investigators have said that none of the Iraqis who were killed could be tied to the insurgency.
Wuterich, who remains on active duty at Camp Pendleton, and is scheduled to go on trial starting Sept. 13.
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