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Copyright © 2009 The JAG HUNTER

JAG HUNTER here (posting from the Sweetwater, Tennessee Library):

STEELE'S MARCH (PART II)

(PART I) - (PART III) - (PART IV) - (PART V with related links)

I wish to disabuse readers there was anything lawyerly, lawful, or moral regarding the IRON TRIANGLE series of courts-martial.

Ray Girouard, Ray's men and many others to include Marine Sergeant Lawrence Hutchins are imprisoned in Defense Department caves as innocent men.

To understand why, one must comprehend and appreciate the mind of Army General Courtney or "Court" Massengale.

Massengale is Anton Myrer's antagonist in the novel Once An Eagle.

Court Massengail is a very dark appellation spoken in low whispers in code throughout Pentagon corridors. The disparagement laconically and instantly identifies flag officers known to embrace Massengail's evil nature.

Massengail's is a severely practical and vicious mind. The power, design, dim and vague patterns found in all courts-martial are its sinister products.

To Massengail, Soldiers and Marines like Ray and Larry are no more than firewood--to be cut down, chopped up, stacked, then burned in sacrifice to flag officer careers and myriad Defense Department interests.

Michael Steele, Ray's commanding officer, entered Iraq with gloves off. Steele's command climate and battlefield antics in early 2006 renewed and darkly redefined the one-time motto: "An Army of ONE." As Steele's combat antics drew closer to public attention he became a frightening threat to the Massengails then officed in the Pentagon who perceived the potential of serious harm to BIG ARMY's image. Pete Chiarelli was particularly stressed.

Michael Steele was an overreaching, careless, and incompetent infantry combat commander. Movie star Steele will appreciate more than most the movie metaphor comparing Steele to the Nick Nolte character in The Thin Red Line.

Author Anton Myrer used Massengail to symbolize the abuses of the military discipline system whereupon men like Massengail are the predators, and soldiers like Ray Girouard become the prey. In the novel Massengail day-dreams--after promoting to four-star flag rank-- that his last name had been Marshall.

General Courtney Marshall.

General "Court" Marshall.

Coming to an understating regarding the personality and motives of emperors like Court Massengail is to completely appreciate why Ray Girouard is locked up at Fort Leavenworth this Christmas time.

When Michael Steele became a threat to the Army's public image he had to go!

BIG ARMY's "Steele dilemma" accelerated to warp-speed damage control status when Steele's standing order to "KILL ALL MILITARY AGE MALES" found its way to print journalists.

Brigade commander, movie star Steele was too high profile a personality to court-martial, so Ray's court-martial was used as the vehicle to obstruct and divert public attention. Ray and his men were courts-martialed in a subterfuge combat action, while behind the scenes, Steele was quietly stripped of his infantry brigade combat command, removed from the battlefield, removed from Iraq, now to be quietly ushered out of the Army.

Any number of combat actions could have been singled out, used as a cover-story to shield Mike Steele and Pete Chiarelli. But Ray and his men--unfortunately--won the Massengail lottery. Ray's name, like Hutchins in the Camp Pendleton Eight circumstance, was plucked from the hat with the pleasure, amusement, and relief men like Massengail experience with the infliction of wrongful suffering upon innocent subordinates.

Massengail's crimes against Ray and his men are crimes of passion ever after on display.

Massengail's guilty memory is recorded in the preliminary records leading up to Ray's bogus disciplinary hearing. We'll begin profiling "Massengail's memories" in Part III of this series.

HERE ENDTH THE LESSON!

Copyright © THE JAG HUNTER 2008

JAG HUNTER HERE (posting from the Sweetwater, Tennessee Library):

STEELE'S MARCH (PART I)

(PART II) - (PART III) - (PART IV) - (PART V with related links)

America's courts-martial scheme is burdened by a grim reputation. Experienced readers of courts-martial records become conscious always of power and design. In the series of courts-martial surrounding Operation Iron Triangle (9 May 2006), these distinctive factors quickly emerge from the shadows as a ship emerges from dense fog.

Army Ranger -- Staff Sergeant Raymond L. Girouard is being punished without a jury trial for crimes he never committed.

Courts-martial records are full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes. In consequence of reading yesterday some of the earliest Iron Triangle reports the diabolical government agency that acted against Ray and Ray's men took immediate shape and became coherent.

JAG-knifed, Ray Girouard pays with his life for Michael Steele's avarice of rank and audacity.

Colonel "Black Hawk Down" Michael Steele was Iron Triangle's senior on-scene commander and was in Ray's chain of command on 9 May 2006. Steele is a man of reputation.

The small mysteries attendant to the Iron Triangle investigations and discipline hearings are quickly undone with exposition of Steele's unique command climate and Steele's own personal rules of engagement (ROE).

50 to 71 people died during the IT operation. Army officials buried all the bodies in a tomb of classified records.

Steele--a disciple of Civil War General William T. Sherman--crafted an ROE that employed a system of urban infantry warfare fully expressing the power of the U.S. government designed to force the Iraqi people to succumb.

The Fake Article-32

The quicksand foundation in the conduct of the preliminary investigations and in the Article 32 hearing does not support the weight of any of the subsequent IT courts-martial. Instead the hidden hands of government intent are exposed. Ray and his men were picked to protect and shield with their freedoms and their lives the IMAGE of the U.S. Army.

Steele was commanding officer, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).

Ray's court-martial, as all the others, were command performances of the 187th Infantry Regiment. These were "family affairs." Mike Steele (brigade commander) was Nathaniel Johnson's, Jr. boss. It was Johnson who ordered the Article 32 investigation into being.

Johnson ordered James P. Daniel to sit as the Art. 32 hearing officer.

Daniel's duty as hearing officer to the formal Art. 32 was to impartially find and report facts.

But Daniel abrogated his authority as impartial fact-finder secretly switching roles to become a combination military detective and prosecutor. A government advocate. Ray's deliberate and dedicated enemy.

Daniel's subsequent activities rendered his own Art. 32 investigation, along with Ray's court-martial (and all the others) not just voidable, but void. All of the IT disciplinary hearings are nothing...as if they never occurred.

Daniel's formal Art. 32 commenced at 1850 hours (6: 50 p.m. local), Tuesday evening, 1 August 2006 in theater Iraq with all attorneys and other actors present.

Nearly two-hours earlier, at 1700 hours (5:00 p.m. local), James Daniel met privately, one-on-one, with suspect Michael Steele. There were no attorneys present. Daniel's purpose at this pre-Art. 32 gathering was to issue to suspect Steele his formal rights warning regarding the events surrounding the IT operation. Daniel would have interviewed Steele had Steele agreed to waive his protections.

Daniel met with six other Iron Triangle suspects to read them their protections and conduct interviews had these men been amenable. That Tuesday afternoon Daniel met with suspect Daniel C. Hart at 1649 hours, with Eric J. Geressy at 1650 hours, and with suspect Leonel Lemus (2253 hours) after the fake 32 hearing shut down.

Daniel met with Micah B. Bivins, Kevin A. Ryan, and David A. Neuman. The date and times of these secret meetings are not recorded.

The scope of Daniel's criminal conduct is extraordinary. None of the seven clandestine encounters were attended by attorneys. NONE OF THEM!

There's more.

In the first thirty-minutes of the Art. 32 starting that Tuesday night, Mr. Michael Waddington (civilian defense counsel for defendant William Hunsacker) asked James Daniel, "Do you know Colonel Steele?"

Daniel answered, "I've met him. I don't know him." Daniel continued, "We're not friends," I've never worked with him." Of course, at this moment in time and place, Daniel lied to a squad of attorneys representing Ray and the others.

The Article 32 hearing officer--Army Lieutenant Colonel James Daniel--openly lied in an open gathering. Daniel's lie is one of the keys that unlocks the door to Ray Girouard's prison cell.

Daniel's contact with suspects before and outside the formal Art. 32 hearing room constitutes witness intimidation and witness influencing/tampering.

Daniel's willful dissembling constitutes a great deal more.

To be continued.

HERE ENDTH THE LESSON !

Copyright © The JAG HUNTER 2008

JURIST - Forum: The Taguba Revelations: Lessons(?) from Abu Ghraib

"One primary reason for the failure to hold the military leadership accountable is that the Uniform Code of Military Justice provides no legal standard of command responsibility by which the conduct of senior military commanders can be accurately and fairly evaluated. It is long past time to adopt such a standard. "

This tennis return response (received within a half-hour)

"Please remove me from your list.

Anita Gorecki"
_______

Breaking!!

The below email correspondence is reprinted here for wider public examination and edification. More to follow on these pages regarding the criminal conduct of Alan Dershowitz, Anita Gorecki, Rich Brannon, David Brahms, Ted Miller, and others...

_______________________________________________________________

To:

Marine Captain Don Greenlaw, and Marine Sergeant Tim Harrington,

URGENT!!

Anita Gorecki threw Ray Girouard's general court-martial! And Gorecki lied to me Thursday night (21 June 2007) when confronted directly!

And Gorecki knows she's been caught!

Army Captain Theodore "Ted" Miller, assigned military defense counsel to Staff Sergeant Ray Girouard, abetted and aided Gorecki!

Gorecki's mendacities are effortless (she's caught in several lies) and tedious. Gorecki told me Thursday night she had no knowledge (until our conversation Thursday evening) regarding Colonel Steele's employment of Alan Dershowitz (widely reported since January).

I confronted Gorecki directly Thurdday telling her I believe she was part of the secret wrangling (with Dershowitz) that rigged Ray's trial.

Gorecki accepted my accusation without challenge. Gorecki refused to answer my direct questions.

I asked Gorecki, for instance, why she decided to pull the granted motion to call and question Colonel Michael Steele as a witness (recall Col. Steele received an Article 15 reprimand for events where subordinate soldiers suffered courts-martial).

I asked Gorecki directly why she didn't jump all over the gift she was presented by exposure of the Army's forced fiction regarding those events trotted out during the series of courts-martial of the events of 9 May 2006. Grabber, Clagett and Huntsaker are all on record telling us they suffered subornation in their perjury that Army JAGs forced in crafting Graber's, Clagett's and Huntsaker's testimonies.

Gorecki had dinner with Col. Steele in February. It's commonly known Steele had his attorney (Dershowitz) present. It's worth noting that Steele didn't rate Army JAG representation (the assignment of an Army defense JAG inasmuch as 1) Article 15s don't trigger defense JAG assignment, and 2) Steele wasn't facing charges in February 2007 - when he and Gorecki met at Steele's Atlanta "mansion" for dinner and drinks).

Gorecki told me Thurdsay evening she's never met Alan Dershowitz. Again, Gorecki told me Thurdsay she'd never heard of Steele's employment of Dershowitz until Thursday night.

Anita Gorecki is a liar who's ripped off the people of Sweetwater, Tennessee while sending off one of their soldiers to the military dungeons.

There are other clear evidences of the corruption of Ray's court-martial (and the corruption of the others). In simple terms, if Gorecki has nothing to lie about, why is Gorecki lying?

I called and emailed Dershowitz's office and his assistant's office on Wednesday (20 June 2007). No response.

The JAG Hunter letter to Sgt. Hutchins render the silence of publicly corrupt attorneys undisturbed at the expense of soldiers and Marines suffering in military discipline caves.

I'd like to point out here as well that the uniforms Ray Girouard wore at his March 2007 court-martial are stolen under Anita Gorecki's and Ted Miller's watchful eyes. Other personal property seized from Ray (valued at thousands of dollars) is also stolen. I'll be filing an email criminal complaint reporting the theft this weekend. Army Criminal Investigative Division (CID) Special Agent David Aaron Thomas is placed on notice as an addressee to this correspondence.

Dershowitz and Gorecki are both addees to this correspondence, as is Rich Brannon. I'm happy to be disabused regarding my findings which I'm preparing for posting at The JAG Hunter shortly.

Pass the word!

Here endth the lesson.

Beware the fury of the patient man,
/s/
Walter Francis Fitzpatrick, III
United States Navy, Retired -- Surface Warfare (command-at-sea qualified), Naval Parachutist
United States Naval Academy, Class of 1975
Still serving - John 15:13

Monroe County Advocate and Democrat--RAY GIROUARD sentenced to 10 years

“We are overwhelmed about it,” Bentley said. “He was just trying to protect his men. He had about three minutes to decide. He stood by his men. That’s what they got him on.”

MEMBERS NOW DELIBERATING STAFF SERGEANT GIROUARD'S FUTURE!!

Court-martial members ponder punishment recommendation

"You've judged the crime, and now you have to judge the man, said defense attorney Capt. John Merriam.

The Rick Amato Show: The Training Of Staff Sergeant Raymond Girouard

Girouard testified during the trial that he lied to investigators about the slayings to protect his soldiers, and that he never told two of his soldiers, Spc. William Hunsaker and Pfc. Corey Clagett, to kill the detainees.

VIDEO UPDATE: Sentencing expected Monday for Sweetwater soldier

"It would be one of the big thrills in my life to see Ray standing right here next Sunday morning," says Pastor Orr.

Dublin, IRELAND: Staff Sergeant's Ray Girouard's court-martial

Sergeant Girouard was the last of four soldiers to be tried over the killings during a radi on a suspected insurgent camp near Samarra last year.

Sergeant Girouard's sentencing hearing is set for Monday

Jury spares sergeant accused of ordering Iraqis' deaths

In the private family meeting room at the military courthouse, Girouard hugged and kissed his wife, Melanie Denise, and his 4-year old son, Hunter, according to his sister, Joy Oakes. Oakes helped lead a fundraising drive in the family's hometown of Sweetwater, Tenn., for legal fees.

"It's been a very good day," Oakes said after the verdict.

Soldier Guilty Of Negligent Homicide , But Found Not Guilty Of Premeditated Murder In Killing Of 3 Iraqi Detainees

Staff Sgt. Ray Girouard, 24, smiled as he hugged his defense lawyer and family members after the verdict was read. He faced up to life in prison had he been found guilty of premeditated murder.

Staff Sergeant Ray Girouard takes stand in own defense

The jury will hear closing arguments later today. Then, they'll receive instructions on the charges and begin deliberating.

Staff Sergeant Girouard testifies he didn't order killing detainees


When he saw they were dead, Girouard testified he was shocked and didn't know what to do. He said he knew his soldiers were in big trouble and he had to protect them.

GOVERNMENT SUBORNED PERJURY!

Testimony may help officer charged in Iraqis' deaths

Graber, Hunsaker and Clagett initially lied to investigators, saying the detainees were shot after they attacked Hunsaker and Clagett while trying to escape. The three soldiers have since testified that Girouard ordered the killings and staged a phony crime scene.

Sergeant Girouard denies ordering 3 Iraqis killed

Although Girouard denied ordering the detainees killed, he said the rules of engagement given to him by his commanders were "to kill every military-age male" on the island.

Asked by one of the seven military jurors what he was told to expect on the island, Girouard replied: "An Al Qaeda training camp of 20 known terrorists, sir."

Sergeant Girouard denies giving orders to kill detainees

Girouard says he was looking out for the well being of his soldiers.

Trial Continues in Death of 3 Iraqis

The attorney for Staff Sgt. Ray Girouard, who is charged with murder, said after court Tuesday that she expected military prosecutors to call Pfc. Juston Graber, the last of three soldiers who have already pleaded guilty in the shootings of three Iraqi detainees.

Staff Sergeant Ray Girouard's court-martial

101st Airborne soldier's murder trial opens

Girouard's civilian attorney, Anita Gorecki, denied that he gave any such order. Two soldiers who actually killed the detainees — "the trigger-pullers," she said — have falsely implicated Girouard in order to receive reduced sentences under plea bargains, she said.