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

MARINO'S MANIPULATION AND MENDACITY!

Dan Marino issued a threat Tuesday.


Marino communicated the threat through Marino's hostage, Ray Girouard.


Marino's threat was extended in agency with his colleague Tillman Finley, and on behalf of their law firm, Sutherland, Asbill, and Brennan.


Marino's extortion is this: IF Marino's name, or Ray's name, or Finley's name, or a few other names appear on these JAG HUNTER pages ever again, or IF Ray's case is ever profiled here again, Marino, Finley, and their Sutherland firm will cease all representation on Ray's behalf.


Marino and the rest will leave Ray hangin'.


IF...

One must wonder whether Marino and Sutherland have communicated similar threats against Seymour Hersh at The New Yorker, or Tom Ricks of The Washington Post, or to the producers and reporters at CBS 60-minutes attempting to suppress their expression of free speech.

Marino told Ray on Tuesday that one-half million dollars is already expended on Ray's case.

So many questions rise up.


Before Marino flew to Fort Leavenworth to meet with Ray on Tuesday, Marino called here Monday at 9:29 EST.


Marino was adamant regarding Ray's guilt. Ray confessed so far as Marino and Sutherland are concerned, that's that.


Marino and company are also down with the practice of attainder.


Meanwhile, there's been a flurry of secret meetings, negotiations and quiet agreements going to Ray's release burdening Ray with the weight of a federal conviction for life.


Then there're the press deals.


Marino wire-brushed Ray on Tuesday for announcing a reporter from The New Yorker had been in Sweetwater about a month ago.


But the irritating detail that just won't go away is that Staff Sergeant Ray Girouard is innocent. And Ray's innocence is so easily demonstrated.


First off, Ray is being punished by the State without a jury's permission (attainder). Next, discovered and reported at the JAG HUNTER just before Christmas is the riggin' of Ray's probable cause hearing, the Article 32.


Marino said Monday he finds no problem with Jim Daniel's lies at the very beginning of the Art. 32. Or with those difficult details Daniel was lying about. The Article 32 is corrupted and unsustainable. By extension, the Iron Triangle series of courts-martial are corrupted and unstainable.


Statements attributed to Ray and his men were coerced. Written statements recorded closest to the events regarding Iron Triangle remain concealed or are destroyed. Marino holds the belief Ray and his men confessed freely.


But Ray had no motive.


Evidence is necessary to prove any crime, and yet, no physical evidence is presented in the cases against Ray and his men. However, a great deal of physical evidence supporting their innocence is reported held in the custody of Army officials.


Marino is admitted during Monday's telephone conversation that he's okay having expended one-half million dollars working to ensure Ray's bogus conviction remains undisturbed.


Still, the paper trail of manufactured, misleading, and false evidence attendant to Ray's counterfeit displine hearings is publicly accesible and in plain view. Copies of relevant papers were mailed out Monday.


Then there's Marino's (Sutherland's) Tuesday threat of abandonment. Ray is kidnapped and held hostage as much by Marino as by Army General Pete Chiarelli. Both men (with uncounted cohorts) obstruct the truth through the exercise of intimidation, control, and extortion.


The terrifying part of blackmail is that the victim is afraid to fight the accusations no matter how false.


It needs be mentioned that the play-action in the Ray Girouard case is as much at work in the Marine Corps. The first card to fall in that house of cards is the manufactured case against Marine Sergeant Lawrence Hutchins (of the Camp Pendleton Eight).


Marino is expending time, energy, money and other resources (to the tune of half a million bucks) working with Army officials to handle the events surrounding Operation Iron Triangle as quitely as possible. All this goes on while Marino satifyies his own needs and interests at Ray's expense.


Marino's threat, and other ethically challenged and morally distressed activity in defense of Ray Girouard, taken together with Marino's other ethical lapses (not yet reported but widely known) render Marino severely vulnerable in a case for disbarrment. Marino's ethical misconduct stands to gravely damage the image and reputation of Sutherland, Asbill, and Brennan.


This then from Ayn Rand:

"Suffering as such is not a value; only a man's fight against suffering is. If you choose to help a man who suffers, do it only on the ground of his virtures, of his fight to recover, of his rational record, of of the fact that he suffers unjustly; then you action is trade [of value for value -- virtue for virtue] and his virtue is the payment for your help."

-Atlas Shrugged

Character counts!

HERE ENDTH THE LESSON!

John 15:13

Copyright © 2009 The JAG HUNTER

JAG HUNTER HERE: (POSTING FROM THE SWEETWATER, TENNESSEE LIBRARY)

STEELE'S MARCH (PART V - CONCLUSION)

PART I - PART II - PART III - PART IV

"So in the Libyan fable it is told

That once an eagle,stricken with a dart,

Said when he saw the fashion of the shaft,

With our own feathers, not by others' hand,

Are we now smitten. ' "

-Aeschylus

Exercising the power of clarity--putting ordnance on target--let's make clear the chaos of the treasonable motives threaded throughout the political power play narrated in this series.

Peter W. Chiarelli plays the role of General Courtney Massengale (aka General Court Marshall).

Pete got suckered! Ray Girouard and his squad mates are paying the price for Pete Chiarelli's and Michael Steele's cowardice and incompetence.

Urban infantry warfare tactics Chiarelli, Steele, and their Iraqi counterparts structured to engage and destroy the reported threat near Samarra were conceived using intelligence gathered by and confirmed by Iraqi sources. But instead of finding an ant hill of insurgent recruits and their drill masters, Girouard and the others in Steele's combat team landed at a convent.

The bad guys knew we were comin'. In consequence Iron Triangle did not unfold as expected. The raid was unopposed. And confusion reigned with the discovery of women and children populating what had been briefed and hyped as a hard target snake pit objective.

Army propagandists put the best face on the embarrassment as was possible.

Quoting an Army source, "The combined three-day [Iron Triangle] operation netted more than 200 [two-hundred] suspected insurgents. Propaganda materials, rifles, and video were found during searches. Iraqi soldiers also gathered names of potential threats from the detainees nabbed during the operation."

Only one U.S. troop was injured. No American or Iraqi soldiers died.

The bad guys put up no resistance. There was no fight.

One Iraqi Army officer proudly told print media, "We have found some smaller [weapons] caches and have captured more then 10 [ten] men who we found to be part of the Tahiwed and Jihad [insurgent groups]."

Some insurgent boot camp. Ten guys and a few guns. WOW!

Oh, don't forget the two-hundred [200] "suspects" collected up over the three-day combat action inside the 93-square mile OPAREA.

None of the Iraqi civilian deaths were publicly reported (between 50 to 71). We don't know their identities or how they died (Medical examiner reports remain under guard). Forty-eight (48) of those deaths occurred on Ray Girouard's objective, the Muthana Chemical complex.

Failures to report taken together with deceptive reports of success betray Chiarelli's guilty conscience.

Pete Chiarelli was baited. He took to the scent of the terrorist training camp like a Beagle to bacon.

Chiarelli assigned the mission to his Georgia Bulldog, Mike Steele, and Steele's Pit bull pups. Steele figuratively starved and beat his brood revving them for a fight to the death. Steele prepared his men to die.

Then something bad happened.

The dogs of war came off their birds shootin' at everything that moved. Sergeants like Ray Girouard recognized almost immediately something was wrong and worked furiously to restore sanity and restraint to a battle field where confusion blinded the confused.

"Insurgents" hiding behind women and children. Steele and Chiarelli were had. The mission was compromised and our guys got sucked into a politically explosive trap.

Operation Iron Triangle was unopposed!

Sergeants hitting the ground like Ray knew they had a problem and did what they could to keep their men and innocents safe. Ray left his men to load women and kids on a Blackhawk when three of the middle-aged males got capped.

But before order was restored on the Chemical Plant objective, forty-five (45) more died.

Still the restraint of sergeants saved lives.

What had been intended a great success in the days leading up to America's mid-term congressional elections turned out a miserable failure.

The trap snapped shut when word leaked out about the Iron Triangle combat action. Matters became frantic once Steele's ROE command made its way to print media ("kill all military age males"). Panic escalated once Steele's other combat adventures started coming under a microscope.

It's at this point Ray Girouard's life changed. Pete Chiarelli used Ray and his squad like the enemy terrorists had used the ladies and kids. That is to say, as ritual tribal cannibal sacrifice.

Someone on the Iraqi side set our troops up. Iron Triangle was doomed. Exposure of Iraqi duplicity was extraordinarily damaging to U.S.-Iraqi political relations in the five months before U.S. midterms and quick action had to be effected to reduce embarrassment all around.

The Iron Triangle Article 32 was a fraud. The courts-martial it spawned were all frauds!

Ray's fake Art. 32, with the promise of a series of pretend courts-martial, was the fix...and was fixed! Undeniable in its intrigue, the fake 32 is distinguished by invisible, deep, and subtle scheming. Chiarelli's evil offerings of Ray and his men were politically driven and remain criminally indecent.

Girouard and his men (and Marine Sgt. Hutchins) are kidnapped. Pete Chiarelli is one of their panic-stricken captors.

Accusations made against Ray lack motive. But government motives abound. Disguising Ray's combat experience as an isolated episode of a rogue cell facilitated the examination of small mysteries used to obstruct a more expansive and appropriate investigation regarding U.S.-Iraqi command involvements and decisions from Chiarelli down.

Chiarelli instead fed Ray and his men like chum to the blood-thirsty sharks in the press pool and to the denizens of the congressional cesspool. "Big Army" turned against Ray, then turned Ray's men against Ray.

The Iron Triangle men were JAG-knifed by a ruling military elite, mercilessly coerced to the point they were turned against each other and on themselves. Government accusations leveled against Ray and his men are unproven and unprovable. Today they are being punished without a jury trial for crimes they did not commit in sacrifice shielding Chiarelli and his cohorts.

Attendant death penalties worked to agitate an already frenetic feeding frenzy sensationalizing the already sensational. Ray and his men, and then their defense teams, were paralyzed in response, and rendered powerless to defend themselves.

Through all of this there is exhibited the expression of Executive Government to imprison men for reasons of State. It is the expression of the courts-martial system. It is the expression of the power of attainder.

It is remarkable to observe how Pete Chiarelli, Mike Steele, Nate Johnson, Jim Daniel, and remaining command racketeers responsible for entombing innocent men like Ray conducted their star-chamber council. In Ray's counterfeit, substitute probable cause hearing it's chilling to consider with what passionate consistency these men strove to ingnore and obscure facts.

Modern-day "Court" Massengales, our military royalty, regard the Constitution as merely a pesky legal technality. Think about this. Think on it very hard.

There exists here an enormous scandal demanding public exposition and public discussion. The first step is the release of Ray Girouard (and Larry Hutchins too). Let the Sergeants freely and publicly tell us what they know.

As a student of Ayn Rand,

"I do not make assertions. That is the moral crime peculiar to my enemies. I do not tell--I show. I do not claim--I prove. It is not your obedience that I seek to win, but rather your rational conviction. You have seen all the elements of their secret system. The conclusion is now yours to draw--we can help you to name it, but not to accept it--the sight, the knowledge and the acceptance must by yours."

-Atlas Shrugged

HERE ENDTH THE LESSON!

Related links:


"...if the supporters of Staff Sgt. Raymond Girouard have anything to say about it, the Sweetwater native will have his name cleared." (I guess we're going to find out real soon...)
MICHAEL STEELE'S PRE-DEPLOYMENT HOO-AH SPEECH!
Operation Iron Triangle Shuts Down Insurgent Training Camp
MICHAEL STEELE'S "KILL ALL MILITARY MALES" COMMENT

Lootenant Culpepper's Defense!
NO ARTICLE 32! NO COURT-MARTIAL

Ray Girouard: Named victim of ATTAINDER in a criminal complaint filed with DOJ!

Attainder's three-part test

Michael Steele's pre-deployment brief to Ray Girouard and his men

Army Says Improper Orders by Colonel Led to 4 Deaths

4 G.I.’s Tell of How Iraqi Raid Went Wrong
Anita Gorecki (at The JAG HUNTER)
Alan Dershowitz (at The JAG HUNTER)
Ray Girouard (at The JAG HUNTER)
WINTHROP'S CURSE
PETER CHIARELLI BIO
MICHAEL STEELE BIO
SUPREME COURT - DYNES v. HOOVER (1857)
THE RAPE OF MARINE SERGEANT LAWRENCE GORDON HUTCHINS, III
The American Military Legacy of Attainder
Copyright © 2008 The JAG HUNTER

JAG HUNTER HERE: (POSTING FROM THE SWEETWATER, TENNESSEE LIBRARY)

STEELE'S MARCH (PART IV)

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

No Article 32 probable cause hearing was conducted before Ray Girouard's general court-martial. Ray's court-martial-- in consequence--is rendered void even by Defense Department procedural standards. A Supreme Court ruling is consistent on this point and worthy of consideration.

Ray Girouard, belonging to the army is not subject to the illegal and irresponsible general court-martial he suffered, when the law for convening his court-martial and directing its proceedings and organization were so blatantly disregarded. In Ray's general court-martial, "everything which was done is void, not voidable, but void."

Ray's is an innocent man who must be released.

Beyond these facts, what remains of the narrative regarding Operation Iron Triangle becomes instructive if not interesting regarding requisite duties left to perform. The immediate release of Ray and his men for beginners.

U.S. Army and Iraqi Army commanders conceived, planned, and executed Operation Iron Triangle (OIT) based upon--in part--intelligence collected, evaluated, and confirmed by Iraqi Army planning and intelligence officers.

One U.S. Army planner and boots on the ground OIT participant remarked, "The partnership between Iraqi Army and Coalition Forces was one of the many successes of the [OIT] mission. Expanding on his compliment the American officer said, "The Iraqi Army is becoming more and more competent in the planning and execution of missions. In regards to that, they are very capable of doing their own tactical operations and reacting to intelligence."

Iron Triangle force levels deployed a reported 230 U.S. troops and nearly 200 Iraqi soldiers, all supported by about 80 wheeled vehicles. CH-47 Chinook and UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters were used in the airborne assault.

Pete Chiarelli, the senior in-theater Coalition commander, was primarily responsible for launching the 72-hour raid into a 93-square mile footprint. This complex combat event was a scrimmage for the Iraqi Army testing them in a joint-service assault on hard target objectives. Rules of engagement (ROE) varied depending upon the operational command level.

Ray's squad deployed against the Multhana Chemical Complex production facility after U.S and Iraqi intelligence sources pin-pointed the site as an active insurgent training camp.

Michael Steele, the senior on-scene OIT commander, issued written and verbal orders to Ray and his men to "kill all military age males" at their assigned objectives.

48 Iraqis died at Muthana. From 2 to 23 more died at other OIT sites (between 50 - 71 OIT total dead). At least 2 Iraqis were injured.

Coalition (friendly) forces reported one soldier injured, no deaths.

(Note: These OIT casualty numbers are not previously, publicly reported).

Almost immediately, and very quietly events surrounding Operation Iron Triangle came under military criminal investigation.

Mike Steele and his men faced charges in varying degrees of murder, manslaughter, assault, dereliction of duty, false statements, and failures to report.

Only the charges against Ray and his men came to public attention. Men in Ray's squad were tied to three (3) of the 48 Iraqis killed at the Multhana objective.

Army officials faked Ray's Art. 32, and later his court-martial to obstruct attention from the more sensitive IT operational details. All military criminal proceedings against Ray and his squad mates were pure deceptions, DOD intrigues.

The seriousness of these deceptions is difficult to describe. Death penalties were sought for men known to be innocent.

Pete Chiarelli, due to the scope and reach of the accusations, was required to divorce himself and all subordinates from investigative duties if the results were to be credibly relied upon. But rather than recuse himself from the several criminal investigation of his own combat event, Chiarelli illegally maintained command control over all inquiries.

Colonel Mike Steele was Chiarelli's OIT on-scene brigade commander.

Down Chiarelli's command chain, Nate Johnson was the battalion commander on the ground during OIT. James Daniel had carried out OIT intelligence assessments and operational planning.

These two lieutenant colonels were closest to Ray's fake Art. 32. Both officers were lawfully barred from investigating matters that could have reached to their own conduct and performance, not to mention reaching much higher up the food chain to their senior commanders. Indeed, it became Johnson's and Daniel's assigned duty to contain information regarding OIT by concealment and to keep their examination tightly focused.

Daniel's betrayed their criminal hands when he lied to the assembled audience at the fake Art. 32 regarding the roles of both light colonels.

Daniel, posing as a legitimate hearing officer, constructed a crime scene which as blatantly disregarded protections afforded to the accused service members as it was systematic (even in haste) toward enhancing the government's best advantage.

Jim Daniel was an imposter. Daniel, with his lies, endorsed the fraud of a fake Art. 32 and the part Daniel played in its conduct.

Under Johnson's watchful command perch, Daniel sorted out and eradicated all information Ray and his men needed to defend themselves. Daniel also made it impossible for any negative effects creeping up the command chain beyond Michael Steel.

Impostor Daniel's fake Art. 32 was the only probable cause hearing (leading to general court-martial) while there should have been many more. One for Mike Steele, and one each for each of Ray's men in the dock. Reducing the number of pre-courts-martial hearings minimized release and exposure of dangerous information that required tight control.

Daniel the impostor was the only officer who had to be compromised.

Daniel's clandestine appointments with Mike Steele and other OIT accused were completely illegal. Daniel took on the role as a biased law enforcement officer reading these men their rights. It then became impossible for Daniel to sit as an impartial fact finder at the probable cause hearing.

With malice of forethought characteristic to the morality of cannibals, Daniel the impostor became a criminal accessory in those illicit acts he suffered upon Ray and his squad mates.

Daniel the impostor allowed coerced testimony to be spoken while tightly restricting testimony impeaching witnesses who were clearly under duress. Mike Steele, for instance, did not appear at the fake 32 hearing scared away by Daniel's threat of a general court-martial.

Daniel obstructed and manipulated physical evidence. For example, Samarra hospital medical records and death certificates for the OIT dead are concealed or are destroyed.

Tersely, the plan of Daniel's fake 32 was to manage and control information, and not to discover facts. The fake 32 was under the command and control of officers who were personally involved in the planning and conduct of OIT, that specific combat event under direct examination. Those officers manipulating the fake 32 held a personal interest in its outcome.

This beginning to Ray Girouard's general courts-martial process is so completely compromised that nothing that follows can be supported. Daniel the imposter's fake 32 illustrates with precision the already established Army practice of dissemination of false information (recall Abu Ghraib and Army Corporal Pat Tillman). Ray's court-martial is completely consistent with the Army track record in the handling of bad information (as practiced by what Tony Taguba calls a military "mafia"). The command racketeers involved here are characteristically impassive and unconcerned to the obvious risk of discovery.

Those racketeers need to think again.

No Article 32, no general court-martial!

Release Ray and his men now!

More to follow in Part V.

HERE ENDTH THE LESSON!

Copyright © 2008 THE JAG HUNTER