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__________________________
The
deposition was called to order at 0906, 26 March 2007.
GC: For
the record, I am Lieutenant Colonel Sean Sullivan, the trial counsel….
[rest of sentence blacked out in original]. We are here present
on the morning of 26 March 2007, here at Camp Pendleton, California,
for the videotaped evidence deposition of Captain Jeffrey Dinsmore.
The
videotaped evidence deposition has been ordered by the Commander U.S,
Marine Corps Forces Central Command. 19 March 2007, was his written
order. It appointed Lieutenant Colonel Permito as the deposition
officer in this case, and I am going to tender a copy of that order to
Lieutenant Colonel Permito for inclusion in the this — in the record
as Dinsmore Deposition Exhibit 1 for the record.
Now
this is going to be a classified, videotaped evidence deposition; and
for the record I want to state the procedures that have been set in
place to — to ensure that we adhere to all of the classified material
handling procedures that are required on the appropriate SECNAV
instructions.
First
of all, the court reporter is going to be taking classified court
reporter testimony via a classified computer. The videotape that is
going to be conducted here is going to be a classified, videotaped
session with the actual Sony video -- video camera hard disk being
designated as a classified recorder that will be at the conclusion of
the deposition, entered into the Court Security Officer's safe in
accordance with the classified material handling procedures.
All
classified — all evidence that is submitted during this deposition
will be classified as “secret” and handled in accordance with the
appropriate classified material handling procedures. They will be
attached to the record. That record will then be entered into the
Court Security Officer's safe and marked as the Captain Dinsmore
videotaped, classified evidence deposition, and segregated within that
safe for record keeping for production to the investigating officer
when this Article 32 proceeding commences either 14 May or possibly 30
May.
Page
31
Q: Do
you remember about what -- about what time that occurred, time period?
A: It
was -- I -- I gave the brief towards the end of October, and it was
part of -- part of their Operations Rivergate after action.
Q: So
this -- this slide and the information that you are going to -- I'm
going to have you tell us here shortly, is information you received
from the Force Recon Intelligence Officer?
A: Yes,
sir.
Q: And
you gave this during your ops intel brief; is that correct?
A: Yes,
sir.
Q: Did
you -- did you disseminate it down to the -- the lower levels, the
Company levels as well? ,
A: Yes,
sir.
Q: Tell
us about the significance of this -- of this event.
A: The
-- the blue arrow on the slide indicates what happened. What happened
in general terms was force recon entered a -- entered a house. I
believe it was part of a targeted raid. They entered the house, and
one individual at the front of the stack so-to-speak entered the
door. He observed four military-aged males laying under blankets on
mats on the floor, and he -- he assessed the threat and -- and
evidently they -- they -- they lifted those AK-47s from underneath the
blankets, engaged him; and -- and he was killed.
Q: Was
it your understanding the Force Recon team went into this -- this
structure soft so-to-speak? They went in without -- without fires
going into this area?
A: Yes,
sir.
Q: And
you had individuals that were under blankets appearing to be sleeping
but then pulled back the blankets and ambushed these Marines?
A: Yes,
sir.
Q: What
was the purpose of -- of passing this information on down to the --
down to the Marines down to the Company level?
A: It
was a --
Q: I'm
going to object to that. I didn't hear him say that
Page
46
Q: And
could you explain what -- what your assessment was.
A:
This is a -- this is a slide that -- the previous part that I put
together was just the documentation of the events; and -- and
generally giving the brief, I didn't add any analysis to that. This
was taking it to the next step and painting a future opera -- or a
future intelligence picture for the Commander. The keys points that
added into my intelligence assessment and to -- and to paint the
picture for the Commander were that we believed the -- the insurgents
conducted the planning in Albu Hyatt.
This
was intelligence that we received on about 17 November, prior to the
attack, in -- in which Weapons Company conducted an operation down in
Albu Hyatt, and they had intelligence reports that Syrians were
planning a major operation in the City of Haditha. My – that lead to
my assessment, that, and in conjunction with -- with the events as
they occurred, led to my assessment that it was an orchestrated
attack with two main elements: IED, small-arms fire complex attack on
Route Chestnut to begin the day; and then the small-arms fire ambush
on EOD responders and targets of opportunity.
To me
this was a -- this was a typical insurgent TTP, tactic, technique, and
procedure; and then -- and then the fact that there were ten to
fifteen insurgents involved, this was my assessment based on reporting
throughout the day and the fact that this was -- this was pretty
robust for the insurgents to mount this type of an attack that could
involve a squad size to start off the day and then -- and then, you
know, additional personnel throughout the city planting IEDs,
conducting small-arms fire ambushes, and so forth.
A: Now
you have listed here "interaction of the populace M&I approach." What
is that?
Q:
That's a -- that -- it's a couple of things, you know. The -- the fact
that they interacted with the locals significantly when they were
driving south in the blue sedan. They were yelling out the window,
talking to individuals around the area, some follow-on propaganda that
we received, and -- and the -- the way that they interacted with the
population.
A: And
I forwarded to the next exhibit page 55 of 156; and what does this
depict?
Q: This
was my assessed enemy course of action. What I was trying to do for
the commander was to paint a picture of how the enemy executed this
attack city-wide to give us |
