This Is My Rifle
This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my rifle is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than the enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will. My rifle and I know that what counts in war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, or the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit. My rifle is human, even as I am human, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strengths, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. Before God I swear this creed. My rifle and I are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life. So be it, until victory is America’s and there is no enemy. - U.S. Marine Corps Rifleman’s Creed.
The Rifleman’s Creed exemplifies what it means to be a Marine. The rifleman is the most basic element of the Marine Corps command structure. Without the rifleman, the Corps is nothing.
Everywhere on the globe where people bow their heads in gratitude for freedom, the blood of US Marine riflemen has soaked the earth. Generations of Marines have proudly served the Corps and will always do so, but recent disclosures appear to reveal a Marine Corps leadership that no longer adheres to it’s own core values of honor, courage and commitment. The honor to never bring shame upon the Corps. The courage to do what’s right in spite of the personal costs and above all, commitment to your fellow Marines and the Corps.
Frank Wuterich and three other Marines stand accused of murdering 24 Iraqi civilians in a botched raid after an IED attack on their convoy claimed the life of one of their fellow Marines, Miguel “TJ” Terrazas in Haditha, Iraq in November 2005. Four other Marines stand accused of failing to report or properly investigate the incident.
Frank Wuterich is the Marine’s Marine. He was so good at living up to the Rifleman’s Creed and Corps values that in the months since the incident, the Marines promoted him to Staff Sergeant. His attorney, Neal Puckett has maintained from the beginning that The Marines’ Rules Of Engagement that day allowed them to dismount their vehicles, pursue threats and clear dwellings using fragmentation grenades and that while unfortunate, the civilian deaths were unavoidable; a consequence of being used by terrorists as human shields. According to Iraqis in Haditha -a Sunni hotbed- , it was a helter-skelter type massacre. The Marine Corps has stressed at every opportunity that the defendants have been accorded all of their rights under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).
It would be bad enough just having to defend yourself without the negative headlines that convicted them last year after Time magazine broke the story. Congressman John Murtha (D-PA) felt compelled to proclaim them “cold-blooded” murderers on national television before any charges had even been filed.
Now comes the revelation that the Marine Corps is investigating how prejudicial information could have been leaked to the Washington Post. What’s even more unfortunate than the possibility that the Marine Corps leadership leaked the information on purpose is that the Post chose to prejudice the proceedings even further by showing previously unpublished photos, including a picture of five people allegedly shot dead near a taxi, with no context in which to judge the photo.
The insinuation is that four Marines plus five dead Iraqis times a few Sunni witnesses equals murder.
As I follow this case through the military justice system, it has become more apparent as time goes on that the rights of the accused to a fair, transparent trial free of prejudice have forever been publicly tainted on several occasions. The Marine Corps spokesman, Col. Stewart Navarre stated: “We are absolutely committed to holding fair and impartial proceedings in full compliance with the Uniform Code of Military Justice.”
Anyone familiar with the UCMJ knows that it comprises less text than an issue of Time Magazine, so it is hardly a compelling case for ensuring a fair trial for the enemy, much less our finest combat soldiers. It makes no provisions for gag or contempt orders to prohibit any prosecutorial monkey business and is not subject to civilian oversight.
Until proven otherwise these men are innocent until proven guilty. The leaks must be located, and punished severely in the interest of justice. The worst dregs in our society are constantly afforded inalieable rights against prosecutorial prejudice every day and yet John Murtha and his good ‘ol boys down at Camp Pendleton can’t seem to extend them to the accused who actually fight to secure them.
The Marine Corps exists because it draws it’s strength from the honor, courage and commitment of it’s riflemen to dispatch their enemy more efficiently than all others. But some in the Corps who leak to the press betray those values. The act of inflaming public opinion by leaking information is actually far worse than the charges against the accused because it serves no purpose other than to provide a form of civilian blessing to the military charges. The accused will be judged by a panel of officers so why leak to the public?
If these men like the Pendleton 8 before them become sacrificial lambs, it will be Taps for the US Marine Corps, having turned it’s back on that which it depends for it’s existence; 16 of it’s riflemen who answered their country’s call and survived, only to be devoured by the very legal system they fought to protect.
Facing charges of murder:
Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich
Sgt. Sanick P. De La Cruz
Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum
Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharrat
Facing charges of failing to report/investigate:
Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani
Cpt. Lucas M. Mc Connell
Cpt. Randy W. Stone
1st Lt. Andrew A. Grayson
