Haditha Attorney: Pentagon Has Misled Public

From those terrorist enablers at Reuters:

Haditha attorney accuses Pentagon of deception

By Kristin Roberts

January 17, 2007

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An attorney for the leader of a group of U.S. Marines accused of murdering 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq, said on Wednesday that Pentagon officials intentionally misled or deceived the public about the case.

Mark Zaid, attorney for Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, said the original 2006 investigation report, obtained by Reuters, fully cleared his client and other Marines of wrongdoing.

But Defense Department (DoD) officials speaking anonymously last May about that first report from Col. Gregory Watt, as the case began to grab international attention, had said the investigation raised questions about the Marines’ actions.

"I think the Watt report is proof of a concerted effort by certain DoD officials to either mislead or deceive the public on what occurred in Haditha," Zaid said.

Zaid said his client and the other Marines were victims of a U.S. government crackdown aimed at improving public perception of the American presence in Iraq after the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal and amid a series of cases in which service members were accused of killing civilians.

"Because of the timing of this case with other clear criminal acts by the U.S. military it has caused these Marines to be held accountable on a macro level for policies they had nothing to do with," Zaid said…

It is simply appalling that even the Pentagon cannot prevent leaks.

But it is far worse if there has been a campaign there to prevent the accused Marines from getting a fair trial.

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• NYT: Haditha Locals Want To Tear Accused Apart
• Murder Counts Brought Against Haditha Sargent
• Investigator: Haditha Shootings "Appropriate"
• Officer In Charge: Haditha Didn't Warrant Inquiry
• Unnamed NYT Sources: Haditha Marines Guilty
• Weekly Standard On Haditha Media Smear
• Marine Lawyers Question Haditha Video Source
• The WP Presents Haditha Marine's Side Of Story