Unfortunately, some of the people in the military are

lawyers and politicians(and assholes, but I repeat myself) in uniform:
For three months after the non-incident, none of his superiors in his chain of command suspected a law of war violation, and it seems from his fitness report that his command style and his ability was something the Marine Corps could use more of.

Then, out of nowhere, some gutless punk up the chain of command panicked when the Time article came out and decided that this guy needed to take the fall for this "incident" so that their backside could be protected and their career could be guaranteed at the expense of this man because prior to this, Lt Col. Chessani was, according to his superiors, "a superb leader, who knows his men, knows the enemy, knows his business."

Proof that, despite the efforts of the good people in the forces, slime does manage to sneak in.