Editorial: No justice in secrecy - Marine Corps Community, discussions, blogs, photos & video - Marine Corps Times

Editorial: No justice in secrecy

We may never know exactly what happened on March 4, 2007, when Marines from a special operations company in Afghanistan responded to a suicide attack on their convoy with overwhelming firepower.

Some say the Marines killed as many as 19 Afghan civilians, firing indiscriminately at vehicles and pedestrians along a 10-mile stretch of road while escaping from the attack site.

Others, including Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland of Marine Corps Forces Central Command, say the Marines “acted appropriately and in accordance with the rules of engagement and tactics, techniques and procedures in place at the time in response to a complex attack.”

If Marines were going to be charged in the case, Helland was the one to make the call. But while three officers face nonjudicial punishment related to other aspects of the deployment, no Marines will be charged criminally as a result of the shootout.

Helland based his decision on a rare Court of Inquiry, a noncriminal investigative panel conducted over three weeks in January Camp Lejeune, N.C. Led by a pair of Marine colonels and a lieutenant colonel, the panel heard testimony from more than 45 witnesses and reviewed more than 12,000 pages of documents.

Exactly what those officers believed is unclear; the Corps is not required to release their findings, and has declined to do so.

So, is this justice? Not really.

Having promised a full and open inquiry, the Corps held many hearings in secret session, held the findings secret, and released its decision on the disposition of the case on the Friday afternoon before Memorial Day, the perfect time to bury such news in a long holiday weekend.

The Corps wanted this to just go away because of the embarrassment it caused and the doubts it cast on the fledgling Marine Corps Special Operations Command.

Now, there are also lingering doubts over whether justice was indeed done, and worse, open questions about the credibility, honesty and professionalism of the institution.

What a shame.

DISCUSS: Was justice served?