A four-star general Monday repeatedly denied being influenced by any outside forces in bringing charges against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani resulting from the 2005 killing of 24 Iraqis in Haditha.
Under questioning from Chessani's defense attorney, Gen. James Mattis (pictured) said he was never contacted by anyone from the Pentagon, Congress, the secretary of the Navy's office or Marine headquarters about the Haditha case.
Mattis said he was unconcerned that he might be criticized in the press for his handling of the case.
"I've already been drawn and quartered in enough newspaper articles that I was uninterested in that sort of thing," he said at a motions hearing for Chessani.
Chessani, who was the battalion commander, is charged with dereliction of duty for not ordering a more thorough examination after the Nov. 19, 2005, killings. The military started an investigation only after an expose in Time magazine.
Defense lawyers want the case dropped because of "undue command influence" -- arguing, in effect, that Mattis was pressured into bringing charges to mollify critics of the Iraq war in Congress and the press.
Col. Steven Folsom, the trial judge, delayed making a decision until later in the week. Chessani's trial is set to begin June 16 at Camp Pendleton. He is the highest-ranking Marine to face charges of misconduct in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Under questioning from defense attorney Robert Muise, Mattis also denied there was anything improper about permitting a Marine lawyer involved in the initial investigation into the Haditha killings to attend meetings in his office where the case was discussed before the preliminary hearing.
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