CBS' 60 Minutes grills Marine prior to court martial

After seeing CBS’ 60 Minutes last night in which correspondent Scott Pelley interviewed (make that grilled) Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich about killings in Haditha, Iraq, a hot-bed home to many insurgents, Grumpy Editor feels the only thing missing was a giant tear streaming down the right cheek of Pelley, much like this week’s doctored Time magazine cover photo showing President Ronald Reagan with a similar salty drop.

Wuterich and three other Marines are charged with murder.  Yet, after viewing 60 Minutes one gets the feeling that CBS is leaning toward conviction of the men in uniform during a war.  On the program, as related on the CBS News Web site, introduction of the segment uses terms such as “apparently innocent civilians” along with “rampage” and “slaughtering people.”

Then CBS asks, “Was it murder? Was Haditha a massacre? A military jury will decide.”  Indeed, the very last thing Pelley mentions in the segment extending past the half hour mark:  The court martial of Frank Wuterich, is expected later this year.

But on a March 18 airing, well before later this year, Pelley zeroes in on Wuterich, 25, and a Marine for more than seven years, with, "the accusation is made that your men went berserk that you got hit by an IED, one of the favorite guys in the squad was cut in half and lying in the road and your guys went nuts. You dropped the five guys next to the car because they happened to be there and then you went to the closest house and then you went down the hallway throwing grenades and shooting and you just killed everybody you could find."

Responds Wuterich, married with three young daughters, "That’s absolutely untrue.  My emotion was pushed back. My training came to play… but going completely crazy and acting wild, I don’t know who came up with that, but it’s false."

Neil Puckett, one of Wuterich’s civilian attorneys, then explains, "In an insurgency situation, Marines don't get a second chance If they aren't able to fire first, they die."  He added, “They're within the law because they were not done without legal justification or excuse.  They were done in a combat environment, in a tactical situation, in order to protect the lives of the remaining Marines who survived the IED that day. And that makes them lawful."

Deftly sandwiched in the segment was a quick mention by Pelley that when Wuterich’s superior, Lt. William Kallop arrived on the scene, the officer gave his okay to assault the house.

Those who were in the military know that when a higher rank issues an order, it has to be followed.