Lootenant Culpepper’s Defense

“The [court-martial] went off all right with all the precision of a well drilled cast doing a well rehearsed play, the [court-martial] looked fine, up to the very last minute. The three witnesses told their stories clearly and simply, as if quoting their typescript statements from memory; their stories all jibed. The prosecutor explained with incontestable lucidity the infractions of the [Uniform Code of Military Justice] that had been committed and the penalty required by the [UCMJ] that had been committed and the penalty required by the [UCMJ] for such infractions…Everything looked rosy, everything was according to Hoyle. Then, at the last moment, with a sort of abortive outrage against destiny, Lt. Culpepper suddenly entered a furious plea of guilty and appeal for clemency on the grounds that all good soldiers were drunkards...

The accused could gladly have shot him...”

-James Jones

From Here to Eternity (1951)

____________________________________________________

I call it the “Lootenant” Culpepper’s defense, that is—no defense at all—because all accused military men are guilty doncha know. In America’s military courts-martial system “it is absolutely legally impossible to get…an acquittal.”

Those familiar with James Jones’ novel know that Culpepper’s client, Army Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt, was an innocent man.

Not that it made much difference.

Last January I was amongst a group of military folk closely watching the Ray Girouard case anticipating Ray was going to be coming home to Sweetwater, Tennessee after Girouard’s March general court-martial.

Ray is, after all, an innocent man.

Not that it makes much difference.

The columns in Ray’s defense were as numerous as they were strong and reliable proving Ray blameless. Tidbits of information—a glimpse here, a dissembling there—one built upon the next supporting the belief Ray’s release from shackles was eminent.

Witnesses against Ray had clearly impeached themselves by way of perjury encouraged by over-aggressive, predatory, outlaw Army prosecutors. Word had gotten out that Ray’s commanding officer, Colonel Michael Steele, had already been administratively reprimanded—fully responsible for the events of that day—begging the question why Ray hadn’t already been released outright. Then television news reporter Demetria Kalodimos discovered the existence of Colonel Steele’s pre-combat “hoo-ah” speech captured in a new film documentary.

Then ex-Army JAG Anita Gorecki had her “come-to-Jesus” meeting with Alan Dershowitz and everything went dark. Suddenly Ray found himself on a fast track leading directly to Fort Leavenworth.

Ex-Army JAG Gorecki, it turns out, is as much a traitor as she’s a less successful seductress.

Gorecki, influenced by the infamous Alan Dershowitz, added Ray Girouard’s general court-martial to a long list of rigged courts-martial (many publicly reported on these JAG Hunter pages, military ceremonies all, acts of attainder every one) that put Staff Sergeant Raymond Girouard in the dungeon at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Anita Gorecki was paid 28 thousand dollars to present the plain view defense that was available to free Ray Girouard. Community leaders in Ray’s hometown of Sweetwater, Tennessee fought hard to raise and then pay Anita Gorecki the $28k to bring Ray home.

Gorecki stole that money instead and sent Ray, an innocent man, to America’s martial catacombs.

Gorecki met with Alan Dershowitz in February 2007. The two of them brokered a deal to protect senior Army commanders from exposure and embarrassment. Readers need know little more than that Ray Girouard’s commanding officer, Colonel Michael Steele (of Black Hawk Down fame), was found fully accountable and administratively punished for something (we’re not exactly sure what, thanks to Gorecki and Dershowitz) that occurred in the same operation for which Steele’s men, including Girouard, faced court-martial.

Gorecki won a motion to force Col. Steele’s public testimony. Suspicions regarding Gorecki’s true loyalties erupted when Gorecki voluntarily declined to call Steele to the witness stand only after Gorecki met with Alan Dershowitz, and without Gorecki supplying any truthful explanation.

Anita Gorecki was paid cash money to dissolve the Army’s myth that formed the basis for false accusations thrown at Ray Girouard. I’m speaking about the perjury suborned under duress voiced by soldiers Graber, Huntsaker, and Clagett. One learns in lawyer’s school, in the “DEFENSE 101” class, that a case based upon lies, once its foundation is washed away, is a case where the accused gets to go home a free man (fruit of the poised tree stuff).

Instead, ex-Army JAG Gorecki worked aggressively to Ray’s demise making good use of Lootenant Culpepper’s defense—that is, no defense at all.

It’s one thing to inform a client the other side is ready to deal. It’s altogether another matter to aggressively push for a client to accept an offer. Gorecki’s duplicity is most dramatically betrayed by her begging Ray to take a take a deal that wasn’t even yet on the table.

Gorecki freely admits, almost to the point of blustering boast, she employed her womanly ways to seduce Ray (at the time a man who’d already suffered forced celibacy for over a half-year) to cave under extraordinary government pressures. Anita acted out with her self-admitted overly emotional assault on Ray’s psyche. Crying tears profuse enough to drown rats, Gorecki flipped through pictures of Ray’s wife, and Ray’s son Hunter. Anita cried Ray a river assuring Ray would never see his family again unless Ray took a deal.

Forty years (40 YEARS!) in a military cave was what Captain Fischbach offered first.

When Ray bravely told Gorecki (Dershowitz) and Fischbach to go to hell, Gorecki (Dershowitz) contumaciously tossed Ray and Ray's solid defense on the trash heap.

As vividly exampled above Gorecki refused to call Col. Michael Steele to the witness stand. Gorecki further refused to subpoena a film central to profiling the command climate Ray served under, "I Am an American Soldier: One Year in Iraq with the 101st Airborne, a documentary directed by John Laurence. In the film Col. Steele waves a World Trade Center flag to rouse men such as Staff Sergeant Girouard and Girouard’s subordinates (Grabber, Huntsaker, and Clagett) before a combat engagement, inciting those men to fight…later celebrating their battlefield performance.

In the days leading up to the court-martial ex-Army JAG Gorecki limited information, completely cut off communication between court-martial participants and those closely following its progress. Fischbach’s team reinforced this unofficial cloaked gag order. No one was to talk to anybody.

A group of three or four men barged into the Ms. Joy Girouard-Oakes military motel room at 2:00 a.m. just hours before Joy was scheduled to testify on Ray’s behalf. Joy’s frightened response quickly forced the group’s retreat. Alerting the front desk of the break-in, the front desk employee expressed surprise that Joy was still in the room.

The clerk explained that witness coordinator, Ms. Cheryl Young, called the front desk earlier—prompted by someone on Fischbach’s JAG team—that Ms. Girouard-Oakes’ room was empty and available for new occupancy. Captain Jerry Dugan, it turns out, directed Ms. Young to call motel management giving a green light to rent what Dugan and Young represented was an empty room.

Dugan was working for Fischbach.

Joy expressed her outrage to Gorecki hours later, before Ray’s court-martial reconvened, in a corridor outside the hearing room. Captain Dugan, overhearing Joy’s animated complaint approached with a smirk on his face punctuating his uninvited question, “How’d you sleep last night?”

This tactic is described in the law books as witness intimidation and it’s a crime. Consequently, because of actions reported here (combined with many others) Army JAGs Fischbach and Dugan are described as criminals.

Gorecki was unconcerned. “No big deal,” ex-Army JAG Gorecki said. “Let it go…forget it.” Whether Gorecki knew about or encouraged Fischbach and Dugan’s witness intimidation beforehand is unknown.

Gorecki sloughed off another report of witness intimidation. Ray’s advocate (defender), Anita Gorecki accepted the government’s explanation there were not enough vehicles to transport Ray Girouard, Huntsaker, and Clagett to prevent their talking to (influencing) each other. Huntsaker and Clagett, of course, worked hard on Ray in their importunities for Ray to take the government’s “deal.”

Gorecki, again, didn’t think a second example of intimidation and coercion of Ray meretricious (as Gorecki would know). Why would she? Gorecki had tired herself to seduce Ray into taking a plea agreement and failed (hence, a scorned, rejected woman).

One more item about Anita Gorecki: Anita’s husband, an Army officer wearing a Ranger tab, once served under Michael Steele’s command. Anita did not disclose her personal connection to Steele while money was being collected to pay Gorecki’s legal fees. Not until the court-martial hearing officer and Captain Fischbach announced the news during the court-martial was it publicly revealed Anita’s husband and Steele had once enjoyed a senior/subordinate command relationship.

Questions are swirling now about how Anita Gorecki introduced herself to Ray’s defense, and how it was she was to low-ball any other civilian attorney. From all appearances, Anita invited herself to this dance.

About to join Ray is Marine Sergeant Lawrence Hutchins, III (taking for granted nothing reported on these JAG Hunter pages will be effective in time).

Consistencies between Ray’s court-martial just completed and Larry Hutchins’, about to begin, and the consistencies between those military discipline hearings to the many others profiled at The JAG Hunter and JAGMIRE makes clear that what one man can hide, another can uncover.

Congressman William Delahunt (D–10^th MA) asked his counsel, Atty. John P. Kivlan, to act on Delahunt’s behalf to gather evidence in support of Sgt. Hutchins’ innocence. Regrettably (working for Delahunt) attorney Kivlan introduced Alan Dershowitz to Richard Brannon (Hutchins’ lead defense counsel). Now that Dershowitz and Brannon are good friends, Marine Sgt. Larry Hutchins finds himself defenseless and on a fast track to join Ray Girouard at Ft. Leavenworth.

Kivlan informs us (in a conversation with Tim Harrington) that students matriculated by Alan Dershowitz are perfecting Lootenant Culpepper’s defense (no defense at all) in the looming court-martial of Marne Sgt. Larry Hutchins.

During a recent phone conversation between Lawrence (father) and Kathie (mother), parents to Sgt. Hutchins, John Kivlan implied heir son was going to prison. All that was left to do was to determine for how long. Moreover, in a separate conversation, Kivlan explained further to Tim Harrington that he (Kivlan, with other staffers nodding heads north and south in agreement) knew the courts-martial system was crooked, but couldn’t be repaired in time to save Marine Sgt. Hutchins.

All this while, right there and in plain view, there exist clear and rock solid reasons to release Marine Sgt. Hutchins immediately.

I’ve embraced the teachings of W. Edward W. Deming for many years, especially his emphasis upon the business practice regarding trend analysis. Watching trends is also aggressively advocated as a best practice in the engineering disciplines.

It is significant then to recognize in the study of military discipline the anomaly (the outlying discrepant practice) is when advocates employed to defend a military member actually put up a fight protesting their client’s innocence.

For anyone keeping any sort of score card I’d like to observe:

Ray Girouard is an Army Ranger,

Larry Hutchins is a Marine from a family proudly steeped in Marine Corps service,

Alan Dershowitz is an ogre,

Lootenant Culpepper, er…I mean Rich Brannon is a bastard, and

Anita Gorecki is ah…well, a monster.

With that I offer this gentle suggestion that attorneys are feeding upon America from within, and that we’ve got the wrong people in our prisons.

Here endth the lesson.

Copyright © 2007: 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)

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

This narrative is intended to explain how and why senior commanders forced-marched Michael Steele into exile, and Steel's innocent subordinates into Defense Department catacombs. The four purposes served in this posting are:

(1) To discuss the "guilty memories" of Ray Girouard's commanders (Part II), exposing his Article 32 probable cause hearing as a counterfeit substitute,

(2) To justify the call for Ray's immediate release, the release of Ray's men, the release of Larry Hutchins, and every other innocent serviceman followed by,

(3) Effecting their return home by Christmas and,

(4) Using examples on these JAG HUNTER pages (this series in particular) to repeat the warning to Americans that U.S. military commanders have forsaken the U.S. Constitution.

So, anyone who has access, get the word to General of the Army George W. Bush (commander in chief): release Ray and the others today/tonight!

Anyone with access to Mike Steele, tell him God and sinners reconcile. Come forward and speak the truth!

MICHAEL STEELE'S BATTALION COMMANDER

~~NATHANIEL JOHNSON, JR.~~

Nathaniel Johnson, Jr. commanded the 3rd battalion of the 187th infantry regiment during the Iron Triangle Operation. Michael Steele, as the brigade commander, was one of Johnson's senior officers.

Ray Girouard was a squad leader and sergeant in CHARLIE company, one of the companies in Nate Johnson's 3rd battalion.

Nate Johnson was one of Ray's senior officers.

Mike Steele, Nate Johnson, and Ray Girouard--operating within there respective combat units--were on the ground on 9 May 2006, near Samara, Iraq, engaged in the combat actions of Iron Triangle.

Nate Johnson, as a combat battalion commander under Steele's brigade command, was intimately familiar and briefed completely on Iron Triangle operational details encompassing every aspect of urban infantry warfare. Nate Johnson had to be completely familiar, for instance, with Mike Steele's specialized Iron Triangle rules of engagement (ROE) so as to effectively deploy Ray Girouard's CHARLIE company in the subsequent battle.

Nate Johnson was present at the 4 May 2006 Iron Triangle pre-mission OPORDER briefing.

Nate Johnson was on the ground--in combat--on 9 May 2006 at and during the Iron Triangle assault, and...

Nate Johnson was present at the 14 May 2006 Iron Triangle post-operational briefing (or "hot wash-up" review and lessons learned meeting).

Nate Johnson's battlefield conduct during Iron Triangle, with that of Johnson's boss, Michael Steele came under criminal scrutiny on 11 May 2006 (OIT's third day).

In fact, Steele's entire stint as 3rd brigade combat team commander had become problematic to Army brass and had soared to crisis status as perceived a rapidly growing threat to the Army's public image. Steele's standing order to "KILL ALL MILITARY AGED MALES" had leaked to the press.

The frenetic activity that erupted to shield senior officers from examination and embarrassment locked-up Ray Girouard and his men in Fort Leavenworth.

EARLY INVESTIGATIONS

Brigadier General Thomas Maffey (one-star flag officer) was an early actor taking notes, gathering facts, interviewing soldiers who fought at Iron Triangle, taking their official statements.

The Army Criminal Investigative Division (or CID) began inquiries.

Steele's command climate rendered the Pentagon's Courtney Masengales panic-stricken.

Steele's KILL ALL MILITARY AGED MALES standing order produced
48 dead at the Multhana Chemical site, (not all of the dead were men) (44 bodies
added to body parts identifying 4 others).

The need for a cover-story pushing the problem to the lowest level combat unit-- disconnecting combat commanders Pete Chiarelli, Mike Steele and Nate Johnson from responsibility and accountability--was as evident as it was urgent.

Staff Sergeant Ray Girouard's name and the names of his squad mates were pulled from the hat in the "Massengale lottery."

It must surprise no one that battalion commander Nate Johnson was directed to assemble and oversee the Article 32 investigation that would ensure the safety of the Army's IMAGE and the careers of many senior political officers.

The Bogus Article 32

Nate Johnson ordered James Daniel to appear to the public as the Article 32 hearing officer. But in this ventriloquist's performance, Daniel was the wooden dummy sitting on Nate Johnson's lap, lifeless and powerless.

Exposition of Daniel--the Article 32 hearing officer--as a government mole is dispositive and fatal. Evidence of government intrigue rapidly accumulates seen through this magnifying glass.

The Article 32 plan was to create a fictive story intended to lead a false path. The fiction became sensational once the death penalty was put in play. The scheme was audacious in its false beginning spawning something even more sinister and hideous.

In these early moments, the work of Nate Johnson is recognized as attempted murder. Physical evidence available to betray Johnson's efforts is concealed or destroyed. What's left only serves to punctuate the government's deception.

The need for secrecy was imperative!

Nate Johnson issued a gag order regarding information that exposed the government campaign against Ray and his men for what it was.

All pertinent documents are locked up or destroyed.

Samara hospital records were collected by government officials and then disappeared. Medical examiner reports are gone. Papers recording the identities of the dead are guarded or shredded.

Available film footage was confiscated never to surface.

Nate Johnson was still in command of the 187th infantry regiment during Ray Girouard's 1 August 2006 Article 32. It was Johnson's 187th infantry regiment that engaged Iron Triangle objectives on 9 May 2006. Johnson himself was a full participant in this operation, and was called as a witness to his own hearing. Johnson denied the request that Johnson appear and answer questions.

Johnson did allow men under his command influence to testify. Twenty-three of twenty-seven Article 32 witnesses were under Johnson's command and control.

Johnson denied requests that his boss, Michael Steele appear to answer questions.

Thomas Maffey's earlier investigation report was disallowed into Article 32 evidence.

When questioned, James Daniel, Johnson's wooden dummy, lied to the assembled Article 32 audience regarding his connections to the case and seven accused soldiers. Daniel, for instance, said he did not know Michael Steele formally. What Daniel the wooden dummy failed to publicly state was that Daniel had met with Steele two-hours earlier to read Steele his rights and attempt an interview.

After the government agents had sufficient time and resources to perfect there counterfeit Article 32 substitution, Johnson dumped the fraud on unalerted and already overworked defense teams. It's a small point really. A belt and suspenders approach. Johnson's other plans made certain there was no possibility to prepare a counter-offensive, even if the time were available.

For example, in agency with other government officials, Johnson populated a witness list of over one-hundred people, knowing fully that many credible witnesses did not exist. This tactic was employed to engage Ray's advocates in activities counterproductive to Ray's defense.

For his part--enjoying the full protection and power afforded him by the U.S. government--Johnson was unconcerned he would suffer any criminal consequence for his manipulation of information and people .

Johnson's insurmountable conflict manifesting himself in command of the investigation of his own outfit was of no consequence to Army brass.

Johnson's mission was to pave the way for Steele's quiet ouster. Johnson's assignment was to ensure Ray and his men ran block to curious outsiders distracting them with a series of death penalty courts-martial.

Under America's War Articles (the Uniform Code of Military Justice) a general court-martial is prohibited without first conducting a proper Article 32 hearing.

Even under its own martial system of discipline, if military governors depart from established process, the investigation or court-martial is void. A nullity. It's nothing!

No Article 32--No
court-martial !!

These are the same pages from DOD's court-martial playbook used in the Camp Pendleton Eight courts-martial package. Marine Sergeant Larry Hutchins is innocent as well as Ray Girouard and for the same sorts of reasons.

More follows...

HERE ENDTH THE LESSON!

Copyright © The JAG HUNTER 2008

A MESSAGE FROM RICK AMATO

2-10-07

An American Soldier's Family Asks For Help

La Jolla, CA- The family of Staff Sergeant Ray Girouard, a 24 year old highly-decorated elite Army Ranger who has served two tours of duty in Iraq,is asking for your help.

While out on a mission to raid a terrorist training camp (let that sink in), Staff Sergeant Girouard gave orders to shoot three Iraqi detainees who he says had attempted escape after having been captured as prisoners. An investigation initially cleared him of any wrong doing, but he now faces charges of murder after a conflicting account of what happened was provided by a disgruntled soldier under his command.

Today Ray Girouard sits in a military prison and is unable to afford a civilian attorney for proper legal representation. He is represented only by the military equivalent of a public defender: someone who is over-booked, under-staffed and waiting for 5PM to arrive daily.

Ray Girouard deserves a fair hearing with expert representation free from politics and outside agendas. Without proper representation the military judicial system will force a plea bargain deal and harsh sentence without blinking an eye, as has happened to other soldiers in this case who also could not afford outside legal help. Sound impossible in America? Just ask Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose' Compeon.

Those interested in contributing to Girouard's legal expenses can write to:

American Legion Post 106, C/O Joe Tolson,
P.O. Box 256, Sweetwater, TN 37874.
The memo on your check should read SSG Ray Girouard Legal Expense

Best Wishes,
The Rick Amato Show
"Common Sense With Rick Amato"

Proudly Sponsored By:
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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

Walter Francis Fitzpatrick, III
P.O. Box 4003
Silverdale, Washington 98383-4003

The JAG Hunter

Email: walt@silverlink.net

Wednesday, 20 June 2007

Sergeant Lawrence G. Hutchins, III, USMC
Box 555226
Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base
Camp Pendleton, California

92055

Dear Sergeant Hutchins,

Now hear this Marine!

Rich Brannon, your civilian lead defense counsel, is actively obstructing your participation in your own defense.

Brannon leads a flying wedge of defense lawyers, coached by Harvard Professor/Counselor Alan Dershowitz, running blockers to knock down people such as myself holding the key proving your innocence and offering you freedom.

I’m certain, as in the case of Army Staff Sergeant Raymond Girouard, that sub rosa (secret) discussions are cobbling together and crafting a back-room deal between Rich Brannon, Alan Dershowitz, and government functionaries the purpose of which is to keep you in a Defense Department dungeon for a good part of the rest of your life.

You’ve already been found guilty.

Brannon is on the record (reported under the advice and counsel of Alan Dershowitz) declaring your criminal conduct the act of a sick man (that would be you Sergeant). All that’s left to determine is how long you’ll be kept in the military catacombs.

Brannon (aided by criminal companions like Dershowitz) is picking the pockets of anyone paying him.

All of this is going on while there exists a dispositive document record you and your defense team have reviewed in relevant part, laying down the template for the criminal operation of modern-day military ceremonies we know as “courts-martial.”

Elements of that pattern incorporate declarative written conclusions of guilt by accusers then free to assemble their own personal hearings—populating the hearing by their own hand—to examine their own invented and false accusations. The design allows for criminalizing non-crimes, naming innocent acts as somehow violations of military virtue. It allows for incompetent confessions that may be coerced or created (by criminal impersonation—forgery).

The courts-martial system embraces and encourages introduction of impostor or “ghost,” personages used to witness fictionalized episodes. More, JAGs routinely suborn perjury of real people (procured or induced) to witness in support of their military fantasies.

And advocates to the admirals and generals (JAGs) willfully destroy any written or electronic record that reports the truth. Destruction of real, tangible physical evidence is required in the world of make believe.

Criminals in high-command, convening authorities like Lt.Gen. Mattis in your general court-martial (agents deputized by the commander-in-chief), are perfectly positioned to operate corrupt and corrupted military ceremonies (courts-martial) that give life to government mendacity while simultaneously taking or destroying your life (along with the lives of family and friends).

Mattis, for instance, willfully relies upon the incompetent and infected investigative work product of JAMES H. CONNOLLY and ERNEST A. SIMON. These men—CONNOLLY and SIMON—are known and reported federal felons and extant participants in a long-running criminal enterprise reported widely, publicly, and separately. SIMON and CONNOLLY are then—as recognized and reported crooked cops—completely undone and impeached in their duties regarding their investigation of your case.

CONNOLLY and SIMON, along with other Naval Criminal Investigative Service special agents, are named as federal criminals this day in reports filed with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the NCIS among other police organizations. The NCIS is reported, as an organization, a group of henchmen working for contumacious flag officers —our admirals and generals—recently recognized a military mafia (quoting Army Major General Taguba from his contemporary The New Yorker magazine interview).

You are being punished without law in a system wherein these criminals in command are themselves immune from consequence.

You, Rich Brannon, Alan Dershowitz, and other members of your defense team are advised on these matters previously and aggressively in the belief that this information, conjoined with allied Navy-Marine Corps documents, stands as the strongest column in your defense.

My immediate understanding is you’ve directed Rich Brannon that these writings and my personal testimony are to be used in your defense to free you from incarceration.

Brannon and his team of merry men have ignored your directives. One month out from the commencement of you military ceremony, there are no subpoenas issued summoning document production or my appearance. There has been no trial preparation of any type or kind.

More than that, outside observers—I among them—are convinced your defense team holds you cloistered, forcing your silence by keeping you out of sight and out of mind. It’s believed Brannon, Dershowitz, and cohorts are determined to foreclose upon what’s commonly considered one of your chief opportunities for freedom.

Your mom and dad have been overpowered, and are overwhelmed. They can’t help you. Besides that, they’re not rich enough to buy you out of your troubles, as for example, our more senior military commanders are able to buy their way out of their travails (think of Colonel Steele, for instance, paying Professor Dershowitz as discussed anon).

Speaking for myself, I’m particularly troubled by reports of Harvard Professor /Attorney Alan Dershowitz’s unsolicited insinuation into your case.

Dershowitz is retained civilian defense counsel to Army Colonel Michael Steele involving Army Staff Sergeant Raymond Girouard (and others—the IRON TRIANGLE case). Your situation is nearly identical to that of Ray’s.

Ray Girouard’s GCM was the work product of Army JAGs who created a fiction born of coerced testimony used to punish Ray without the benefit of law. Army JAGs forced and suborned perjured testimony in an act of attainder while Ray’s defense team sat on their hands and studied their shoes. Now, Ray Girouard finds himself behind bars at the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth.

Ray Girouard demanded that Colonel Steele testify so as to support Ray’s going free as an innocent man. Army JAGs, Alan Dershowitz, and others successfully blocked Ray’s desperate efforts at self-defense by blocking Steele from undergoing public scrutiny and examination.

I’m being blocked now by your defense attorneys from testifying on your behalf regarding the criminal conduct of NCIS Agents CONNOLLY and SIMON (and others). My personal experience with the corrupt and corrupted courts-martial system is also being silenced.

Alan Dershowitz’s immediate participation in your court-martial is no coincidence. Dershowitz’s involvement in your case, due to active solicitation by your federal representative—Congressman William Delahunt, while contemporaneously defending Colonel Michael Steele sounds a blaring alarm siren.

All of this is observed in an atmosphere whereupon you’ve already been found guilty, as publicly voiced by a staff attorney to Congressman William Delahunt, to your parents and others. Delahunt’s mouthpiece further observed all that remains to be determined is how long you’ll be Ray Girouard’s neighbor. And again, know this; Brannon’s advance of a PTSD defense admits your guilt while offering an excuse for your criminal conduct.

Then this question to you Sergeant Hutchins: How much time do you think you’re going to do?

No attempt is being made, so far as I or anyone watching closely can tell, to protest your innocence by way of aggressive defense. Rich Brannon, working hand-to-glove with Dershowitz, has become your greatest threat.

Meanwhile, no one can get to you to sound the alarm. More than that, Rich Brannon—after declaring your guilt in advance and in public—has gone to ground.

I must testify on your behalf on those matters profiled here and elsewhere. I can do that for the price of cab-fare to the nearest video teleconference site anywhere inside the Kitsap Naval Base complex footprint surrounding my residence. If Lt.Gen. Mattis persists in advancing your GCM after reading this letter, and refuses to respond to efforts to defend yourself, this letter must be read aloud during your GCM and a copy introduced into the written record.

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
Still serving – John 15:13
B.S. United States Naval Academy (with military honors), Class of 1975
MBA Technology Management, UOP 2002
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