Preliminary Hearings

Two Marine captains testified Wednesday that they were relieved of duty after they resisted pressure from a senior officer to produce a report that would justify filing charges against two experienced drill instructors for abusing recruits. Capt. Taylor Buff and Capt. Jason Mansel testified that Lt. Col. Robert Scott, commander of a training battalion, seemed to have made up his mind even before evidence was collected against the drill instructors.

O.J. Simpson told two friends to "get some heat" so they could bully a pair of memorabilia dealers into handing over sports collectibles that the former NFL star said had been stolen from him, one of the armed men testified Tuesday. Walter Alexander testified during a preliminary hearing for Simpson -- who is charged with multiple felonies stemming from the September incident at the Palace Station Hotel & Casino.

A court hearing scheduled for today involving assault and battery charges against U.S. Rep. Bob Filner (D-Chula Vista) was postponed until Dec. 4. The Loudoun County General District Court granted a motion of continuance to Filner, who airport authorities said shoved a United Airlines baggage claim worker at Dulles International Airport. The House Ethics Committee has formed a subcommittee to investigate the charges against Filner.

A Marine facing murder charges in connection with the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis in Haditha, Iraq, told a hearing officer Thursday that he shot five men as they ran away from a roadside bomb explosion that killed a Marine and injured two others. Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, 27, making an unsworn statement at the end of his Article 32 preliminary hearing, denied shooting any of the other 19 Iraqis slain in and around three houses in the Euphrates River Valley town on Nov. 19, 2005.

The war-crime hearings underway here have led to an unusual public airing of some of the Marine Corps' most tightly held combat secrets: the so-called rules of engagement that govern when Marines can use deadly force in Iraq. Testimony thus far suggests the rules are ambiguous and subjective, and leave many Marines feeling they are being hamstrung in their ability to protect themselves by killing or capturing the enemy.

A Marine lance corporal accused of executing three unarmed Iraqi brothers in Haditha told a hearing officer Thursday that he killed them after two of them pointed AK-47s at him while he searched their home for insurgents. "I kept firing until my magazine was empty because I didn't know if they had body armor or suicide vests," Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt told the hearing officer at his Article 32 inquiry, similar to a preliminary hearing.

Wherever the Marines go, the movies are sure to follow. In boot camp, recruits are exposed to great movies of the past about Marine heroism. "Sands of Iwo Jima" (1949) with John Wayne, for example. In Iraq, Marines unwind after a dangerous day of patrolling the streets of Al Anbar province by watching movies, often war movies. The 2001 HBO series "Band of Brothers," about a battle-weary Army unit in World War II, is a particular favorite. Go figure.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys on Monday appealed to a hearing officer's experience as an infantry battalion commander in their final arguments of the preliminary hearing for Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, charged with failing to investigate the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha by Marines under his command. Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan, the lead prosecutor, told the hearing officer, Col.

The officer who gave the order that led to Marines killing 19 unarmed Iraqis in their Haditha homes testified Monday that none of his troops had positively identified the houses as containing insurgents before he ordered them "cleared." 1st Lt. William Kallop said he still believed his Marines acted properly because they later told him of hearing the distinctive "metal on metal" sound of AK-47s being prepared to fire in the first house and then took fire from the second house.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Wednesday defended a Pentagon decision to hold secret hearings for 14 suspected terrorists transferred to Guantanamo Bay last year, despite the fact that similar proceedings have been held in open session. The decision, announced earlier this week, represents a change in administration policy and was criticized by former military lawyers and human rights organizations.