Lt. col. in Hadithah case can retire at rank - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Lt. col. in Hadithah case can retire at rank

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — A three-member panel found Friday that a former battalion commander charged with failing to fully disclose and investigate the killing of two dozen Iraqi men, women and children in 2005 should retire at his current rank.

The panel of senior officers decided that Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani “demonstrated substandard performance of duty, but did not commit any acts of misconduct,” a Marine Corps spokeswoman, Maj. Erin Wiener, said in an email.

The panel, formed as a Board of Inquiry, made its decision on the sixth day of the hearing to determine whether Chessani was derelict in his duties following the civilian deaths in Hadithah on Nov. 19, 2005.

Marine Corps prosecutors contended that Chessani, who at the time commanded 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, balked at investigating the killings and didn’t file complete reports about the incident even after local Iraqi leaders complained of war crimes days after the deaths.

A broader investigation of the Iraqi deaths didn’t happen until January 2006, a few months before a Time magazine article detailed the killings, which happened when a 3/1 squad swept through several houses after a roadside bomb detonated, killing one Marine and injuring several others during a patrol. The Marines also had shot and killed five men in a car near the explosion. The dead included nine women and two children, and the U.S. military eventually made $38,000 in condolence payments to families.

Chessani’s defense attorneys defended his actions, telling the panel that the blast was one of a series of coordinated attacks by insurgents that day. Chessani, who they described as a respected officer, visited the scene the following day and notified his superiors of the civilian deaths, but the higher command did not investigate further, they said.

Chessani and two of his company commanders were relieved of command after the battalion returned home to Camp Pendleton in the spring of 2006. The Corps later charged him and seven other members of the battalion on counts ranging from dereliction of duty to unpremeditated murder.

Chessani was one of four officers and four enlisted Marines in the battalion who originally faced charges, but charges for Chessani and five others were dropped and a military jury acquitted the battalion’s intelligence officer. The squad leader at the time, now-Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, still faces a court-martial on nine counts of manslaughter.