tagged w/ Civilian deaths
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Dear Dirty Newswire
PAKISTAN -- 24 dead Pakistani troops magically returned to life Saturday after U.S. Gen John Allen apologized "to the families and loved ones of any member of the Pakistani security forces who may have been killed or injured."
The soldiers were killed by a NATO helicopter attack, and would have been one of the deadliest attacks for Pakistani security forces by the U.S.-led coalition, had the apology not brought back to life the dead service members.
An anonymous source close to Allen admitted he didn't think the General's apology would actually mean anything. "Nobody could have predicted that these soldiers would have come back to life, but I guess that's the best possible scenario. I wouldn't be surprised if we started apologizing more often for civilian and friendly-fire casualties," he told reporters.
The bloody incident, which was being investigated, has now been closed. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also weighed in. "This could have been really bad for the United States' rapport with Pakistan and the world, had Gen Allen not apologized. I want to apologize to the families of the dead, or once dead, Pakistani soldiers. The U.S. and NATO never actually means to kill any innocent people."
Gen Allen went on to say, "I apologized real hard, and we closed this matter without further incident. I'm glad, too, because this could have started a war with one of our battered allies."
Before its soldiers were resurrected by the General's apology, Pakistan had closed its border crossings to NATO in retaliation for an "unprovoked" and "gross violation of their country's sovereignty."
For more news, see the Dear Dirty Newswire:
http://deardirtyamerica.blogspot.com/2011/11/24-pakistani-soldiers-brought-back-to.htmlDear Dirty Newswire
PAKISTAN -- 24 dead Pakistani troops magically returned to life... more
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Allegations of Libyan civilian deaths as a result of NATO bombing have often been covered in the corporate media as an opportunity to scoff at the Gadhafi regime's unconvincing propaganda (FAIR Blog, 6/9/11).
But dramatic new allegations that dozens of civilians were killed in Majer after NATO airstrikes on August 8 have been met with near-total media silence.
According to Libyan officials, 85 civilians were killed in Majer--a town south of Zliten, a site of frequent clashes and NATO airstrikes. There is no reason journalists should take this claim at face value. But reports from the scene suggest that something significant happened. According to Agence France Presse (8/9/11), "Reporters attended the funerals of victims and saw 28 bodies buried at the local cemetery.... In the hospital morgue, 30 bodies -- including two children and one woman -- were shown along with other bodies which had been torn apart."
The AFP report included NATO denials, with a spokesman claiming that the target "was a military facility clearly."
A Reuters correspondent (8/9/11) "counted 20 body bags in one room, some of them stacked one on top of the other.... In total, reporters saw about 30 bodies at the Zlitan hospital." The New York Times (8/10/11) ran a 170-word version of a Reuters dispatch which noted: "There was no evidence of weapons at the farmhouses, but there were no bodies there, either. Nor was there blood."
Amnesty International has called for an investigation, which led to this mention from CNN anchor John King (8/11/11):
Amnesty International is demanding that NATO investigate whether a Monday strike on Moammar Gadhafi's forces killed 85 Libyan civilians including 33 children. NATO says it has no evidence of civilian casualties at this point.
A Nexis database search yields very little coverage in U.S. outlets beyond that brief comment. But that is not because no reporters were present. CNN correspondent Ivan Watson covered a mass funeral after the strikes. But his report aired only on CNN International (8/10/11). Watson reported a visit to "three or four houses that had been demolished by some kind of missiles from the sky."
He added:
We were also shown a morgue where there were the bodies of at least 25 people. Many of them appeared to be men. There were some women and children included among those corpses.
Watson noted that it was "impossible for us, from this perspective, to confirm whether or not 85 people were in fact killed, but it does appear that at least some women and were among those hurt in this deadly strike." (You can watch Watson's report here).
Watson's CNN.com report (8/10/11) included an interview with a Libyan who claimed that nine members of his family were killed in the attack, including his two-year old daughter. Watson also interviewed a man who was burying his daughter.
It is curious that Watson's reporting was shared with CNN's international audience, but not broadcast to its domestic audience.
But Watson did appear on CNN a few days earlier from the scene of another NATO strike in Zliten. The point of that report (8/5/11) was to suggest that official claims of civilian deaths were suspicious. In that segment, Watson noted that on a visit to a law school that had been attacked by NATO forces, he found what "appear to be uniforms over here, these olive green pants. And then we have got boxes here that look an awful lot like they could have been holding ammunition."
Reporting that undermines Libyan claims of civilian casualties has been a staple of the war so far--as evidenced by headlines like "Libya Government Fails to Prove Claims of NATO Casualties" (Washington Post, 6/6/11) and "Libya Stokes Its Machine Generating Propaganda" (New York Times, 6/7/11).
Is Majer being ignored by the media because it is just more clumsy Libyan propaganda? Or is it because the story might conflict with the media's overriding message that Libyan civilians aren't dying in NATO's airstrikes? In any event, corporate media outlets that have so diligently sought to debunk Libyan claims of civilian deaths should investigate what happened in Majer. On the BBC website, reporter Matthew Price published one such effort (8/11/11), headlined "What really happened in Libya's Zlitan?" There should be more like it.
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4379Allegations of Libyan civilian deaths as a result of NATO bombing have often been... more
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On Friday, July 29, 2011, journalist Mohamad Ali al Atassi interviewed Riad al Turk, whose story was published in Dar al Hayat, (meaning House of Life in Arabic) and subsequently translated to French by Sham Al Mallah of the Babelmed website. Al Turk has been referred to as the 'Mandela of Syria', and yet, nothing in the Western Press has been written about him or his views on the Syrian uprising, nor about his 17-year sentence behind bars. While revolution in Syria appears to be quite real, it must be bittersweet for al Turk, as he had fought long and hard for citizens' rights. It took al Atassi quite a bit of digging around to locate al Turk, as he hints in his prologue that the man was literally 'underground'. To gain a better understanding of what is going on in Syria, al Turk's remarks to al Atassi's questions have been translated to English.
translated by Aimee Kligman
Al- Atassi: In your January 17, 2000 interview which was published in "Al Hayat" a few months before President Hafez al-Assad’s death, which was your first interview after your release, you said: ‘Silence is the only thing left for Syrian society to express its existence and its refusal of the status quo. Thus, silence is taken here as a position, but it cannot last indefinitely, and society must, with its vital force, produce new forms of expression under the register of declarations, public statements and actions’ . Now, four months after the start of the protests in Syria, many activists blame you for your silence. What is the reason for your silence to the media? Should we be seeingit as a position?
Al-Turk: My silence is largely due to my desire to see people exercising their rights. Now the street has spoken. The young revolutionaries have spoken. Those who have created the events have spoken. It is now the people who have emerged from their silence today, and undermined the walls of the kingdom of silence. Of course, what I am saying here does not mean that we, politicians, have to be silent and shirk our duty to support the Syrian revolution.
Continue reading on Examiner.com Interview with Riad al Turk, Syria's most prominent opposition figure - National Foreign Policy | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/foreign-policy-in-national/interview-with-riad-al-turk-syria-s-most-prominent-opposition-figure#ixzz1X1HTqbciOn Friday, July 29, 2011, journalist Mohamad Ali al Atassi interviewed Riad al Turk,... more
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This afternoon, spokeswoman for Syria's Ministry of Information, Reem Haddad, stated on al-Jazeera that international claims regarding state security forces shooting Syrian citizens sounded to her like a Harry Potter story. The question was part of a telephone interview between the two parties, and we were not able to see Haddad's face, but certainly heard her shrill and strident voice, oftentimes interrupting the al-Jazeera anchor.
She confirmed that 40 of Syria's security officers had been shot, although today's released numbers are between 80 and 120 officers. Haddad described it as a 'real massacre' and further proof that terrorist groups are fanning the flames in Syria among its different sects. This was the point at which the al-Jazeera anchor picked up, and justly so, on the word 'massacre', and told Haddad that considering the death toll of over 1100 Syrian citizens thus far, that the international community would have little sympathy for those responsible of the killings.
Continue reading on Examiner.com On Syria shooting its citizens: ’it ’sounds like a Harry Potter story’ - National Foreign Policy | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/foreign-policy-in-national/on-syria-shooting-its-citizens-it-sounds-like-a-harry-potter-story#ixzz1OWOo2rZUThis afternoon, spokeswoman for Syria's Ministry of Information, Reem Haddad,... more
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The news of Bashar Assad's wife, Asma, having fled to London with her children 2 to 3 weeks ago sounds like an awfully familiar scenario. When events were beginning to turn against Egypt's Mubarak, his son Gamal, wife and baby daughter also fled to London, but later returned to Cairo.
However, according to Arab diplomatic sources in the UK, Mrs. Assad and her children do not foresee returning to Syria anytime soon. Asma Assad was born in the UK to Syrian parents, and was schooled in Acton, London and completed graduate studies in the UK capital. She is an educated woman with Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and a Diploma in French Literature. She married Bashar in Syria in December 2000.
Syria has been swept by the fever of the Arab Spring, and its citizens have been demonstrating since January 26, 2011, asking for Assad to step down. According to Human Rights International, thus far there have been 800 civilian deaths since the uprising began.
Continue reading on Examiner.com: Syria: Asma Assad in London with her 3 children - National Foreign Policy | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/foreign-policy-in-national/syria-asma-assad-london-with-her-3-children#ixzz1Lp6jXm2DThe news of Bashar Assad's wife, Asma, having fled to London with her children 2... more
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The United States is caught between a rock and a hard place as it does not wish to upset Saudi Arabia. Aww.
The Saudis are not happy with Obama because they feel he threw Hosni Mubarak under the bus. Well, even if Mubarak was not a king, he certainly behaved as if he were. He was one of the 'clan'. The tightly knit family of ruthless dictators who kept their people in check through brutal national security forces, emergency law, human right violations and random imprisonment. And those dictators, propped and aided by the West, fed their public with daily doses of hate for America, Israel, infidels, imperialists, (add your own if you feel so inclined) - so that the fear was always greater than the desire for freedom. That was the magic formula: live large and well, keep your citizens hungry and fearful and xenophobic if that helped and the dictators happily lived on for decades.
Until recently.
Bahrain is an important ally of the United States, so why are President Obama and Hilary Clinton tiptoeing around the issues, calling for dialogue that leads to meaningful change when they know that the only dialogue taking place is at the point of a gun? Is the US using the same fear tactics about Iran's possible influence in Bahrain as an excuse to allow the slaughter of Baharaini opposition citizens to continue? Well, the US could risk having a Shiite state unnerving the Saudis 26 kms from their borders, but is that reason sufficient to ignore the bloodshed? And if Bahrain is now host to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, would an opposition government see an advantage in severing ties with the US?The United States is caught between a rock and a hard place as it does not wish to... more
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If you were thinking of traveling to Syria, you may want to consider the warning which was posted at Paris' Quay D'Orsay:
'Given the regional context and violent events in recent weeks in the country, where over a hundred deaths are regrettable, it is recommended to defer all nonessential travel'.
Have we become so inured to violent death that all we can say about it is that it's 'regrettable'?
The Syrian Revolution 2011, a motor behind the protests, marked the tone Saturday by posting on its main Facebook page a black banner with the word "Mourning" in English and Arabic.
According to revised figures announced by a Syrian human rights organization, the quelling of demonstrations on Friday and Saturday in Syria resulted in the deaths of at least 120 people, and provoked the resignation of two councilmen, a rarity among members of government in Syria. One of them is Nasser Hariri from the southern town of Daraa.
Hariri told al-Jazeera that there is no need for him to remain in the people's council since he is unable to protect his constituents from the bullets of 'traitors'.
Continue reading on Examiner.com: Syria bleeds with 120 dead in two days; mourners shot - National Foreign Policy | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/foreign-policy-in-national/syria-bleeds-with-120-dead-two-days-mourners-shot#ixzz1KNKCY0H0If you were thinking of traveling to Syria, you may want to consider the warning which... more
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German Weekly Der Spiegel published three out of 4,000 photos and videos related to the matter of Jeremy Morlock and his buddies engaged in killing innocent Afghan civilians. The Pentagon dreaded the publication of these photos, fearing another scandal such as was unleashed following the release of pictures from the Iraqi Abu Ghraib prison. There were five in the team, but Jeremy Morlock was the leader.
One of the photos has two smiling soldiers posing with the bloodied dead corpse of Mudin Gul, who was unarmed, and one of the soldiers is seen picking him up by the head. The murder occurred on January 15, 2010 in an Afghan village. There were two more murders. The shocking images prompted the US to present a formal apology to the Afghan government.
On March 23, 2010, Army Specialist Morlock was sentenced to 24 years in a military prison after pleading guilty in the murders of 3 innocent Afghan civilians. He will, in turn for this 'reduced sentence', be expected to testify against the other 4 members of the 'kill squad'. That will make him eligible for parole in another 7 years.
Details of the killings, the motives, the reasons given behind the premeditated murders can be found in hundreds of pages currently online. This is an act that cannot be condoned or excused as it is cold-blooded murder.German Weekly Der Spiegel published three out of 4,000 photos and videos related to... more
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On Wednesday, Syrian government forces cracked down on demonstrators in Daraa, a city in the Southern part of Syria, where the latest death toll is said to have reached over 150. Among them was an 11 year-old boy who died from tear gas inhalation.
In a press briefing today, State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said:
'The United States is alarmed by the violence overnight in Daraa by security forces against civilians, that we are deeply concerned by the Syrian government’s use of violence, intimidation and arbitrary arrests to hinder the ability of its people to freely exercise their universal rights.'
Last night, security forces stormed Daraa's al-Omari mosque, where hundreds of protesters had taken refuge, assuming that they would be safe in a house of worship. The attack began at 12:30 am Wednesday, as forces attempted to dispel demonstrators with the use of live ammunition and tear gas. Six people were reported dead by witnesses, however, by morning the death toll had mounted.On Wednesday, Syrian government forces cracked down on demonstrators in Daraa, a city... more
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NATO helicopter gunships killed nine young boys in Afghanistan on Tuesday while they collected firewood in the northeastern province of Kunar. It was at least the third instance in two weeks in which the U.S.-led NATO force was accused of killing a large number of civilians. We speak with independent journalist Rick Rowley of Big Noise Films, who has extensively reported in Afghanistan. "The strategy on which the surge was built, and billed, is over and has failed," Rowley says. "By every measurable means, the U.S. is losing the war." [includes rush transcript]
Follow the link for the video and the written transcript....... http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/3/us_apologizes_to_afghan_people_forNATO helicopter gunships killed nine young boys in Afghanistan on Tuesday while they... more
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ASADABAD, Afghanistan — Joint operations by Afghan forces and NATO-led foreign troops have killed 64 civilians in eastern Kunar province, including many women and children, over the past four days, the provincial governor said.
"They were killed by ground and air strikes in Ghazi Abad district," Fazlullah Wahidi, governor of Kunar province, told Reuters on Sunday.
Wahidi said 20 of the dead were women, 29 were children or young adults aged 7 to 20, and the remaining 15 were adult men.
Civilian casualties in NATO-led military operations, often caused by air strikes and night raids, have long been a source of friction between the Afghan government and its Western partners.
more at link...
Where are all you bleeding heart yuppie liberals? You're a disgrace to the anti-war movement! Cindy Sheehan could kick the sh!t out of all of you. You have no right to talk trash about Ron Paul. He's balls to the wall anti-war, always has been and always will be.ASADABAD, Afghanistan — Joint operations by Afghan forces and NATO-led foreign... more
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The Taliban on Wednesday branded as 'fabricated' the latest U.N. report on civilian casualties in Afghanistan that blamed insurgents for three-quarters of those killed and wounded in the first 10 months of 2010.
http://www.indiareport.com/India-usa-uk-news/reuters/National/70531The Taliban on Wednesday branded as 'fabricated' the latest U.N. report on... more
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The mainstream media continues to hide from the American people the rising tide of Afghan civilian deaths attributed to U.S. led coaltion forces in Afghanistan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxDlS3jJ8x0The mainstream media continues to hide from the American people the rising tide of... more
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According to a recent Humans Right Watch report, the Obama administration indicated it will stop training and equipping certain Pakistani army units that have been accused of killing prisoners and civilians.
The Pakistani military has yet to understand that a bullet in the back of the head is simply not the way to win hearts and minds in Swat. Killing terrorism suspects and their relatives in cold blood is vicious, illegal, and constitutes an appallingly bad counterterrorism practice that just creates more enemies.
Ali Dayan Hasan, senior South Asia researcher at Human Rights WatchAccording to a recent Humans Right Watch report, the Obama administration indicated it... more
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Sahar Issa: Iraqis scoff at notion that only 100,000 civilians died in war.
Bio
Sahar Issa is a McClatchy Baghdad Bureau Correspondent. She does the Round-up of Daily Violence in Iraq. In 2007, along with five other women from the McClatchy and Knight Ridder newspaper chain, she was honored with the Women of Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women's Media Foundation.
Transcript
PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Paul Jay in Washington. The WikiLeaks leak, over 390,000 documents. The outstanding pieces of information people have been focusing on has been the number of civilians deaths now admitted to, over 100,000, far more than at least had been unofficially acknowledged by the American military. Now joining us to discuss the reaction inside Iraq to the WikiLeaks leak is Sahar Issa. She's a McClatchy bureau correspondent in Baghdad. She happens to be in Washington for a few days now. And you'll see that we're shooting her in a way that you cannot see her face, and that's for security reasons. Perhaps to understand a little more why we're doing this, let me read you a couple of sentences from a speech she gave in Washington in 2007, when she accepted an award, along with five other members of the Baghdad bureau for McClatchy newspapers. The award was from the International Women's Media Foundation, given to women of courage in journalism. And here's a little bit of what Sahar had to say then. "To be a journalist in violence-ridden Iraq today, ladies and gentlemen, is not a matter lightly undertaken. Every path is strewn with danger, every checkpoint, every question a direct threat. Every interview we conduct may be our last. So much is happening in Iraq, so much that is questionable, so much that we as journalists try to fathom and portray to the people who care to know." Now joining us to talk about her experiences in Iraq, and particularly about WikiLeaks, is Sahar Issa. Thanks very much for joining us.
link.....
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=5789Sahar Issa: Iraqis scoff at notion that only 100,000 civilians died in war.
Bio... more
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In the information age that we live in, I find it only fitting to know that there is a whistle-blower organization out there in cyberspace releasing classified documents. WikiLeaks released 391,832 reports last Friday documenting the war and occupation of Iraq, from January 1st, 2004 to December 31st, 2009. The reports come straight from a top source: soldiers in the United States Army.
WikiLeaks' brave founder Julian Assange
The founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange claims the publishing of the Iraq War logs was an attempt to show “intimate details” of the conflict in an effort to reveal the truth, much like Daniel Ellsberg did when he leaked the “Pentagon Papers” in 1971. It revealed that the U.S. had deliberately expanded its war in Vietnam by bombing Cambodia. The most damaging revelation was that four Presidents
To keep reading visit: http://www.forgetthebox.net/mag/wikileaks-iraq-war-diaries-too-much-too-late.phpIn the information age that we live in, I find it only fitting to know that there is a... more
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Guardian shows one day in Iraq, which is described as being the 'bloodiest year in the conflict' three years after the 'mission accomplished' banner.
The animated log comes from the latest document leak by wikileaks, which has shown the large scale of civilian deaths at checkpoints and other situations. (click the main link to watch)
Channel 4 reports on the scale of the lose of life with shootings an hellfire missiles, reports state more civilians were killed than insurgents. Reading it you see repetitions of comments on how little post invasion planning there was and an atmosphere where civilians would be killed.
http://www.channel4.com/news/iraq-secret-war-files
"In total 391,832 individual logs - written by American troops in combat - tell the story of the Iraq war during the period between 2004 to 2009."
[...]
In EOF incidents between 2004 and 2009 the data shows that four times as many civilians (681) were killed at checkpoints as insurgents. In one log we can see that a doctor driving a pregnant woman to hospital, at speed, was shot. Analysis by TBIJ shows 13 coalition troops were killed in these incidents.
[...]
In one case, the files show, a group of children herding goats and collecting tree roots for firewood were mistaken for IED planters and fired on with a Hellfire missile from a US Apache helicopter. A 12-year-old boy was killed in front of his friends.
The documents also show American forces killed people who appeared to be trying to surrender. One log describes suspected insurgents "wanting to surrender."
A helicopter crew seeks advice via radio before being cleared to shoot by a military lawyer - who says the men cannot surrender to an aircraft. Moments later they are killed with a Hellfire missile. However, elsewhere in the files there are cases where enemy fighters were allowed to give themselves up to aircraft."-Channel 4 news
There are also documents that are reported to show torture and abuse after the Abu Ghraib scandal, channel 4 news say there are 300 pages on the abuse.Guardian shows one day in Iraq, which is described as being the 'bloodiest year... more
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The people of Pakistan had high hopes when Obama was elected President, but unmanned Drone attacks have dashed all of feelings about Obama in Pakistan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX4s6g6EiZAThe people of Pakistan had high hopes when Obama was elected President, but unmanned... more
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CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – Lawyers for a Marine sergeant whose squad killed 24 Iraqis said Thursday they are preparing a motion asking for the case to be dismissed because the Marine Corps retired his military attorney.
Defense attorney Neal Puckett, who represents Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, told a military judge that the Camp Pendleton Marine's defense has been compromised because the retirement violated attorney-client relationship rights.
The Marines retired Marine Lt. Col. Colby Vokey in 2008 despite the objections of Vokey, who wanted to stay on the case as his detailed military counsel until after the trial, Puckett said.
Defense lawyers are calling their filing the "Hutchins Motion" after Marine Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, whose murder conviction was thrown out this spring by a military appeals court that ruled he was given an unfair trial because his military defense attorney was relinquished before his 2007 court martial.
Wuterich's lawyers told military judge Lt. Col. David M. Jones on Thursday that they will send the motion to him immediately. Prosecutors declined to comment after the motion hearing.
Wuterich's defense attorneys said the military in the past routinely retired military attorneys when their active duties were up, even if their cases were not finished, and no one questioned such practices. But that changed with the Hutchins' case, which the Navy is appealing.
Wuterich, 30, of Meriden, Conn., faces reduced charges of voluntary manslaughter. He is accused of leading his men on a rampage that killed two dozen civilians in Haditha, Iraq, in November 2005 after a roadside bomb killed a Marine. Eight Marines were initially charged with murder or failing to investigate the killings. Six have had charges dismissed, and one was acquitted.
Wuterich is the last defendant in the case, considered to be the biggest to emerge out of the Iraq war. The trial is scheduled to start Sept. 13.
After retiring from the military, Vokey continued to represent Wuterich as a civilian lawyer. But Puckett said that is no longer possible because Vokey now works for a firm that has represented another Camp Pendleton Marine who is being called by the prosecution to testify in Wuterich's trial.
That presents a conflict of interest and would make it difficult for Vokey to cross-examine the witness during the two-week trial, Puckett said.
Vokey plans to withdraw from the case, and the defense will ask the judge to dismiss all the charges against Wuterich, arguing that his defense has been compromised, Puckett said. The case is similar to what happened to Hutchins, he said.
"The same routine dismissal of counsel that took place without inquiring the accused or the counsel is present in both cases," Puckett said.
At his preliminary hearing, Wuterich said he regretted the loss of civilian lives but believed he was operating within military combat rules when he ordered his men to attack.CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – Lawyers for a Marine sergeant whose squad killed 24... more
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