After first reducing the charges against him, the government has dropped all charges against  Marine Lance Corporal Tatum:Tatum had been accused of shooting dead two unarmed children as Marines cleared houses near the scene of a deadly roadside bombing in Haditha, 260 kilometers west of Baghdad, on November 19, 2005. (snip) Four soldiers were initially charged with murder and four officers accused of staging a cover-up. However, since charges against the soldiers were first announced in late 2006, prosecutors have struggled to make the allegations stick. Four of the eight have had charges against them dropped, while charges of murder were replaced by the lesser offence of manslaughter in the cases of Tatum and his squad leader Sergeant Frank Wuterich. The military investigator overseeing Tatum's pre-trial hearing had recommended all charges against the soldier be dismissed.Not a single word of apology yet from Time  which first floated the lie that the marines had...(Read Full Post)