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| |  | | Jeffrey Chessani | | | context : | Iraq  | | judgement place : | United States | | status : | Dismissal - lack of jurisdiction | | particulars : | Charged with dereliction of duty for failure to investigate; charges dropped on 17 June 2008 | | position : | Lieutenant-Colonel in the Marines Corps, Commander of 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, Iraq |
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| | | | Jeffrey Chessani was born in 1964, and comes from the small town of Rangely in Colorada (USA). In 1988, he gained a university degree from the University of Northern Colorado. During his military career, he participated, notably in Operation Just Cause, the Panama invasion of 1989, as well as in the Gulf War. At the time the Iraqi conflict broke out, he was a lieutenant-Colonel in the Marines.
In Iraq, Chessani was in command of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion of the 1st Marine Regiment. His troops were based in an agricultural region situated on the Euphrates, some 250 km to the north-west of Baghdad. In this zone, the American and Iraqi forces had fought unsuccessfully against foreign and local insurgents during a large part of the war. Chessani’s men were the main American target of enemy attacks. The company had already lost twenty of its men at the time of the alleged facts.
On the morning of 19 November 2005, a bomb exploded as a convoy of marines was passing not far from the village of Haditha. The explosive device had been set by the rebels. Corporal Miguel Terrazas, 20 years old, died on the spot. Two other soldiers were wounded.
The men from this unit allegedly reacted by raking a taxi with machine gun fire, killing its five occupants, aged between 18 and 25 years. According to reports the soldiers then entered the village of Haditha. They are then said to have broken into several houses and killed in cold blood anyone they came across. No one was spared, women, children or the elderly. Twenty four civilians in all were reportedly murdered.
After the drama, several villagers went to the military base seeking justice. It is alleged that being eager to cover up the facts, the marines offered up to 2500 dollars to certain of the families affected in exchange for their silence.
The following day, the Army issued a preliminary (allegedly falsified) version of events. The communiqué of 20 November 2005 indicated that an improvised explosive device had killed an American soldier and 15 civilians, and that an exchange of gunfire following this had resulted in the death of eight Iraqi insurgents.
In its first commentary, even the Pentagon dismissed the affair. It was only after several months that the American President, George Bush, promised to take proceedings against those responsible. The President did so under pressure from international public opinion informed via the media of the tragedy in Hathida.
Despite the accusations from Iraqi witnesses, no enquiry was opened until January 2006. It was only at this time, after a video broadcast by an Iraqi student active in human rights that the villagers’ version of the event was made apparent. Images of bodies in the morgue clearly demonstrated that these were not insurgents. They showed women and children in pyjamas and an old man holding a Koran between his hands. Moreover, the various eye witness accounts of villagers recorded by the student corroborated exactly.
In March 2006, an article in Time magazine made American public opinion aware of this serious incident and provided confirmation that the soldiers had indulged in an outright killing spree. The article specified further that the soldiers had attempted to cover up the truth with the complicity of their hierarchy, to which Chessani belonged. This public denunciation forced the Army into opening up two internal investigations, one of which led to the commencement of criminal proceedings.
The massacre in Haditha potentially constitutes the most serious crimes of which the American forces in Iraq have been accused. However, what caused the most criticism were the allegedly orchestrated efforts by the American Army and Government to cover the affair and to present over the longest possible period of time an allegedly falsified version of the facts.
In April 2006, soldiers of the Kilo Company were relieved of their duties and repatriated to California. Chessani was relieved of his command, together with two of his company commanders. The military authorities stated that the loss of confidence in these three men was the result of a series of incidents that were not specified.
On 19 October 2007, General James Mattis decided to have Chessani tried by a court martial. | |     click for more... | | Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty. | |  |  | | last time seen : | | | United States | | | period of charges : | | | 19.11.2005 | | | charges : | | | War crimes | | | profile last modified : | | | 18.06.2008 |
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