Criminal probe ordered into alleged killing of Iraqi civilian by US marines

[thedrifter]

Criminal probe ordered into alleged killing of Iraqi civilian by US marines
by Jim Mannion

A US commander ordered a criminal investigation into allegations marines killed an Iraqi man in April in an area west of Baghdad, the US military said.

Major General Richard Zilmer, the commander of the US forces in western Iraq, asked the Navy Criminal Investigative Service to investigate after Iraqis raised the incident with marine leaders on May 1, the military said.

"A preliminary investigation conducted by MNF-W (Multi-National Force-West) found sufficient information existed to recommend a criminal investigation into the incident," the military said in a statement.

It said several marines from the 5th Marine Regiment's 3rd Battalion were suspected of involvement in the incident and have been sent back to the United States pending the outcome of the investigation.

The statement provided no details on the incident except to say that it occurred April 26 in the area of Hamanidiya, west of Baghdad.

A spokesman for the command said he could provide no other details because the matter was under investigation.

"I can say that the Marine Corps takes allegations of wrongdoing by marines seriously and is committed to thoroughly investigating such allegations," Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Salas said by email.

"Additionally, the Marine Corps prides itself on holding its members to the highest standards of accountability," he said.

"If the allegations are substantiated, the Marine Corps will pursue appropriate legal and administrative actions against those responsible," he said.

It is the latest in a flurry of probes into killings of civilians by US troops.

The most serious incident to date are allegations that marines shot and killed at least 15 civilians in the western town of Haditha in November and then claimed they were killed in a roadside explosion.

Representative John Murtha (news, bio, voting record), a Democrat, charged recently that about 24 civilians -- not 15 -- were killed in "cold blood" at Haditha.

Duncan Hunter, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said last week that two investigations into the Haditha incident were expected to be completed next month.

They included the criminal probe and a separate investigation on how it was reported up the military chain of command.

The military also investigating a March 15 incident in the village of Al Bu Seifa, north of Baghdad near the town of Balad in which at least four civilians -- two women, a child and a man -- and as many as 11 civilians were killed.

The military said US troops looking for an Al-Qaeda suspect came under fire as they raided a house.

[thedrifter]

May 24, 2006
A dozen Marines may face courts-martial for alleged Iraq massacre

By Gayle S. Putrich
Times staff writer

A key member of Congress said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if a dozen Marines faced courts-martial for allegedly killing Iraqi civilians Nov. 19.

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., told Marine Corps Times that the number of dead Iraqis, first reported to be 15, was actually 24. He based that number on a briefing from Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Mike Hagee on Wednesday.


Hagee visited Capitol Hill in anticipation of the release of two investigation reports, which are expected to show that among the 24 dead civilians, five of the alleged victims, all unarmed, were shot in a car with no warning, Murtha said. The killings took place in Hadithah, 125 miles northwest of Baghdad.

At least seven of the victims were women and three were children.

“If the allegations are substantiated, the Marine Corps will pursue appropriate legal and administrative actions against those responsible,” said Col. David Lapan, a spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters.

“The investigations are ongoing, therefore any comment at this time would be inappropriate and could undermine the investigatory and possible legal process,” he said. “As soon as the facts are known and decisions on future actions are made, we will make that information available to the public to the fullest extent allowable.”

Murtha, an outspoken war critic and retired Marine colonel, has maintained for several weeks that the reality of the Hadithah incident was far more violent than the original reports suggested.

“They originally said a lot of things. I don’t even know how they tried to cover that up,” he said.

Two investigations into the incident are ongoing, according to the Pentagon — one by Multi-National Forces Iraq, expected before the end of the week, and a second by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, that is due in June.

The Marine Corps originally said a convoy from the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, hit a roadside bomb Nov. 19 that killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, 20, of El Paso, Texas.

Marine officials initially said 15 Iraqi civilians also were killed in the blast, but later reported that the civilians were killed in a firefight that took place after the explosion.

But a 10-week investigation by Time magazine resulted in a March 27 report that included claims by an Iraqi civil rights group that the Marines barged into houses near the bomb strike in retaliation, throwing grenades and shooting civilians who were cowering in fear.

Three officers from the 3/1, including battalion commander Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, were relieved April 7 for “lack of confidence in their leadership abilities stemming from their performance during a recent deployment to Iraq.”

The two other Marines who were relieved, Capts. Luke McConnell and James Kimber, were company commanders in the battalion.

Officials would not explicitly connect the firings to the Hadithah investigation.

While no charges have been filed yet, defense attorneys who handle military cases are bracing for what could fast become a busy summer season in the courtroom.

“It looks like it’s coming,” said one San Diego area-based civilian defense attorney who has handled other cases of assault and manslaughter and has gotten a sort of “warning order” about potential new cases.

“I think there’s a lot of pressure to do something,” the civilian attorney said.

“It’s going to be extraordinarily difficult for them to find enough defense counsel,” one Marine Corps attorney said.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, who was also briefed on the reports, said his committee will hold hearings on the incident after lawmakers return from their Memorial Day recess.

Hunter was matter-of-fact about the reports’ contents.

“It is not good,” he said. “Let the chips fall where they may.”

Hagee was due to brief leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee late Wednesday.

Staff writers Rick Maze and Gidget Fuentes contributed to this report.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Iraq
Pentagon Focuses on Two NCOs in Haditha Inquiry
by Tom Bowman

All Things Considered, May 24, 2006 · The Pentagon has narrowed its investigation into allegations that U.S. Marines killed 24 civilians, including 11 women and children, in the Iraqi city of Haditha last November. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other senior military leaders received an update on the probe this week.

A government official familiar with the criminal investigation tells NPR it is centering on a Marine sergeant and a corporal. And there is a possibility that three other Marines, all lance corporals, could be implicated in the killings.

The Marines were members of a 12-man squad from Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, based at Camp Pendleton in California.

Gary Solis, a retired Marine officer and law professor, says Iraq poses a difficult problem for U.S. forces. Insurgents operate among civilians, who sometimes can be used as shields. But American troops are trained not to overreact and to be precise when they shoot.

"You have to distinguish between the shooter and the non-shooter, the combatant and the non-combatant," says Solis. And you may not lawfully target a non-combatant; for example, a woman or a child without a weapon.

On Nov. 19, the Marine squad rolled into Haditha, a town northwest of Baghdad, in a four-Humvee convoy. The convoy struck a roadside bomb, which killed one Marine and injured two others.

During the chaos, a taxi suddenly pulled up, carrying five Iraqi men. The government official says investigators will report that the Marine sergeant quickly ordered the unarmed Iraqis from the taxi and shot and killed them.

Solis says non-commissioned officers, like sergeants, and officers have a special role in combat operations.

The sergeant then led some of the Marines on a search of four houses. There were initial reports that shots were being fired. Additional civilians in the houses were killed by Marine gunfire.

The government official says it's uncertain whether any firefight with insurgents took place. Only in the fourth and final house was there evidence of a firefight with Marines. One Iraqi male fired his AK-47 assault rifle. He was cut down by the Marines.

The day of the incident, the Marines put out a statement saying 15 Iraqi civilians were killed, all by the roadside bomb. And they reported another eight insurgents were killed in a battle with Marines. Now, investigators realize that report was untrue.

Investigators have also learned that two separate groups of Marines showed up at the four houses shortly after the attack. One was a team collecting intelligence information. The other was a foot patrol.

The government official says the Marine intelligence team took digital photos of the scene and then deleted them; he says that's because the team found no intelligence information of value. Marines from the foot patrol also took pictures. They are now in the hands of investigators. The government official describes them as "gruesome."

But why didn't these two separate groups of Marines, aware of a large civilian death toll, realize something was wrong? Should they have reported it? Those are questions investigators are still trying to answer.

Rumsfeld and the joint chiefs of staff were briefed on the investigations earlier this week. And Pentagon sources say Rumsfeld had a question for the senior military officers: Are commanders are doing all they can to make sure American troops behave professionally?

Before heading to Iraq, the Marines are instructed on when they can shoot. And they also spend weeks training in mock Iraqi villages.

Gary Anderson, a retired Marine colonel who advises the Pentagon on the Iraqi insurgency, says Marines and soldiers work with Iraqi-American role players to get a sense of what it will be like in Iraq. And they stage practice runs on houses where there are both armed combatants and unarmed civilians.

The Pentagon is now bracing for the completion of the investigation. Any wrongdoing by Marines or the release of gruesome pictures could intensify an already explosive situation in Iraq.

Anderson says the key question is how this is resolved in the minds of the Iraqis themselves.

"If they think it was fairly resolved and fairly investigated that's important," he says.

The investigation into how the Haditha attack was reported up the chain could be finished as early as this week. The criminal investigation is expected to wrap up next month.

[thedrifter]

US to check Iraq charge of a killing by Marines

By Robert H. Reid, Associated Press | May 25, 2006

BAGHDAD -- The US military has opened a criminal investigation into allegations that Marines killed an Iraqi civilian west of Baghdad last month, the US command announced yesterday.

Iraqi civilians made the allegation at a meeting with Marine officers on May 1, five days after the alleged killing, a statement said.

A preliminary investigation by Multinational Force-West found enough information to recommend an investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, the statement added.

It did not say how many Marines had been involved, but said they included ``several service members" from the Third Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment, based in the Fallujah area, about 40 miles west of the capital.

All those suspected have been returned to the United States, the statement added. The statement said the alleged killing was reported to have taken place near the town of Hamandiyah, but gave no details of the circumstances.

The announcement followed news that the military is investigating a dozen Marines from another battalion that may have killed at least 15 civilians, including women and children, last November in Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad.

The military initially described the Haditha encounter as an ambush during a joint US-Iraqi patrol that involved a roadside bombing in which a Marine died, followed by a firefight. However, residents of the neighborhood maintained that only US forces were shooting after the explosion.

Videotape aired by an Arab television station showed images purportedly taken in the aftermath of the encounter: a bloody bedroom floor, bullet holes in walls, and the bodies of women and children.

The military began its investigation to review whether the Marines involved had lied about what happened.

Last August, the Marine Corps announced a criminal investigation into the death of the cousin of Iraq's ambassador to Washington, Samir al-Sumaidaie, who was shot and killed in a search of his home in Haditha on June 25.

No announcement has been made about the findings of the investigation.

Meanwhile, Iraqi civilians in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, alleged that US troops killed several civilians, including a young girl, in a raid on Monday.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Top Marine to ‘reinforce’ Corps values
Allegations of misconduct in Iraq highlight need for refresher course
The Associated Press
Updated: 12:01 a.m. ET May 25, 2006

WASHINGTON - To highlight his concern over recent allegations that Marines in Iraq killed civilians, including women and children, the service commandant said Thursday he will go there to reinforce the values and standards of behavior that Marines are trained to uphold in combat.

“To a Marine, honor is more than just honesty; it means having uncompromising personal integrity and being accountable for all actions,” Marine Gen. Michael W. Hagee wrote in a lengthy statement issued by his office.

He referred to “recent serious allegations about actions of Marines in combat,” but he did not specifically cite the two cases — one from last November and the other in April — of alleged killings of civilians.

On Wednesday, the Marine’s operating base in Fallujah, Iraq, announced the opening of a criminal investigation into allegations that an unspecified number of Marines killed an Iraqi civilian west of Baghdad on April 26. Iraqi civilians made the allegation during a meeting with Marine officers on May 1, five days after the alleged incident, the statement said.

A preliminary investigation by Multinational Force-West, headed by Marine Maj. Gen. Richard C. Zilmer, found enough information to recommend an investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, the statement added.

The statement provided no details about the alleged killing, including either the gender or age of the victim. It said “several service members” from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, which is based in the Fallujah area about 40 miles west of Baghdad, were suspected of involvement. They were “removed from operations” and sent back to the United States pending the results of the criminal investigation, it said.

Investigation into Haditha incident
A criminal investigation also is under way in connection with Marines from another battalion who are accused of killing at least 15 civilians, including women and children, last November in Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad.

The military initially described the Haditha encounter as an ambush during a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol that involved a roadside bombing in which a Marine died, followed by a firefight. However, residents of the neighborhood maintained that only U.S. forces were shooting after the explosion.

Videotape aired by an Arab television station showed images purportedly taken in the aftermath of the encounter: a bloody bedroom floor, bullet holes in walls and bodies of women and children. An Iraqi human rights group called for an investigation of what it described as another deadly mistake that had harmed civilians.

The military began its administrative investigation to review whether the Marines involved had lied about what happened. A House committee will review the military’s investigation next month.

On May 17, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a decorated former Marine, said the toll in the Haditha attack was far worse than originally reported and that U.S. troops killed innocent women and children “in cold blood.” He said that nearly twice as many people were killed than first reported, maintaining that U.S. forces are “overstretched and overstressed” by the war in Iraq.

Last August, the Marine Corps announced a criminal investigation into the death of the cousin of Iraq’s ambassador to Washington, Samir al-Sumaidaie, who was shot and killed during a search of his home in Haditha on June 25.

No announcement has been made about the findings of the investigation.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

May 25, 2006
Investigations to uncover ‘terrible truth’ in alleged Iraq massacre

By Gayle S. Putrich
Times staff writer

Marine Corps leaders are preparing Congress for what is expected to be the terrible truth uncovered in the investigation of a Nov. 19 incident that left as many as 24 Iraqi civilians dead and three Marines relieved of their commands.

A key member of Congress said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if a dozen Marines faced courts-martial for allegedly killing Iraqi civilians in Hadithah last November. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said that the number of dead Iraqis, first reported to be 15, was actually 24. He based that number on a Wednesday briefing from Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Mike W. Hagee.


Brig. Gen. John Kelley, legislative assistant to Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Mike Hagee, was expected on Capitol Hill Thursday to make the rounds with lawmakers and staff to brief them on the status of the investigation.

Hagee himself was on Capitol Hill Wednesday in anticipation of the release of two investigation reports, which are expected to show that among the 24 dead civilians, five of the alleged victims, all unarmed, were shot in a car with no warning, Murtha said. The killings took place in Hadithah, 125 miles northwest of Baghdad. At least seven of the victims were women and three were children.

Following a briefing with Sens. John W. Warner, R-Va., and Carl Levin, D-Mich., the chairman and ranking Democrat of the Senate Armed Services Committee, respectively, Hagee would not predict when the reports, one on administrative issues and the other on criminal charges, would be completed. The two parallel investigations have been under way for six months.

Hagee said only that “the investigations are ongoing.”

According to the Pentagon, one investigation, being done by Multi-National Forces Iraq, is expected before the end of the week. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is handling the other investigation, which is due in June.

Warner and Levin deferred to Hagee for comment on what could happen to the members of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines.

Hagee said no sweeping decisions would be made. “Each individual will be looked at as an individual,” he said. “Once the investigations are complete, we will follow the same legal procedures that we always do.”

Though Hagee would not confirm that charges are pending, defense attorneys who handle military cases are bracing for what could fast become a busy summer season in the courtroom.

“It looks like it’s coming,” said one San Diego area-based civilian defense attorney who has handled other cases of assault and manslaughter and has gotten a sort of “warning order” about potential new cases.

“I think there’s a lot of pressure to do something,” the civilian attorney said.

“It’s going to be extraordinarily difficult for them to find enough defense counsel,” one Marine Corps attorney said.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, who was also briefed on the reports, said his committee will hold hearings on the incident after lawmakers return from their Memorial Day recess.

Hunter was matter-of-fact about the reports’ contents.

“It is not good,” he said. “Let the chips fall where they may.”

Murtha, an outspoken war critic and retired Marine colonel, has maintained for several weeks that the reality of the Hadithah incident was far more violent than the original reports suggested.

“They originally said a lot of things. I don’t even know how they tried to cover that up,” he said.

The Marine Corps originally said a convoy from the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, hit a roadside bomb Nov. 19 that killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, 20, of El Paso, Texas.

Marine officials initially said 15 Iraqi civilians also were killed in the blast, but later reported that the civilians were killed in a firefight that took place after the explosion.

But a 10-week investigation by Time magazine resulted in a March 27 report that included claims by an Iraqi civil rights group that the Marines barged into houses near the bomb strike in retaliation, throwing grenades and shooting civilians who were cowering in fear.

Three officers from the 3/1, including battalion commander Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, were relieved April 7 for “lack of confidence in their leadership abilities stemming from their performance during a recent deployment to Iraq.”

The two other Marines who were relieved, Capts. Luke McConnell and James Kimber, were company commanders in the battalion.

At the time, officials would not explicitly connect the firings to the Hadithah investigation.

“If the allegations are substantiated, the Marine Corps will pursue appropriate legal and administrative actions against those responsible,” said Col. David Lapan, a spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters.

“The investigations are ongoing, therefore any comment at this time would be inappropriate and could undermine the investigatory and possible legal process,” he said. “As soon as the facts are known and decisions on future actions are made, we will make that information available to the public to the fullest extent allowable.”

[thedrifter]

General to Marines: kill only when justified
Thu May 25, 2006 4:35 PM ET



By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Marine Corps general flew to Iraq on Thursday to tell his troops they should kill "only when justified," as the U.S. military investigated whether Marines killed civilians in two incidents.

The trip by Gen. Michael Hagee, the Marine Corps commandant, to meet with Marines at bases in Iraq showed his personal concern over recent allegations about the actions of Marines in combat, the Marines said in a statement.

"We do not employ force just for the sake of employing force. We use lethal force only when justified, proportional and, most importantly, lawful," Hagee said in remarks intended for Marines in Iraq and released by the military.

"To most Marines, the most difficult part of courage is not the raw physical courage that we have seen so often on today's battlefield. It is rather the moral courage to do the right thing in the face of danger or pressure from other Marines."

Marine Corps Brig. Gen. John Kelly, an aide to Hagee, briefed the Senate Armed Services Committee in a closed session about criminal investigations into the role of Marines in Iraqi civilian deaths in separate incidents in November and April.

The first investigation involves a November 19 incident in Haditha, about 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, in which Marines are suspected of killing civilians. The military has said 15 civilians were killed, while a senior Republican lawmaker last week put the number at about 24.

The second probe involves an April 26 incident, disclosed by the Marines on Wednesday, in which "several" troops are suspected in the death of a civilian in the area of Hamandiyah, west of Baghdad.

'VERY SERIOUS'

"I can say that there are established facts that incidents of a very serious nature did take place," said Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner, the committee chairman.

Asked if he considered them battlefield atrocities, Warner said he would "reserve any judgment" until reviewing all the facts and seeing pictures held by investigators.

There are 21,000 Marines serving in Iraq, and 717 Marines have died since the war began in 2003. Marines are serving in Anbar province, one of the most violent parts of Iraq and the heart of the Sunni Muslim insurgency.

Hagee will emphasize a need to follow the laws of war, the Geneva Conventions and rules of engagement set by the military, the Marines said.

"We must regulate force and violence, we only damage property that must be damaged, and we protect the noncombatants we find on the battlefield," Hagee added.

"Many of our Marines have been involved in life or death combat or have witnessed the loss of their fellow Marines, and the effects of these events can be numbing. There is the risk of becoming indifferent to the loss of a human life, as well as bringing dishonor upon ourselves," Hagee added.

The Marines said Hagee will address officers and enlisted troops in events over the next several weeks inside and outside the United States.

In Haditha, one Marine was killed by a roadside bomb. The military initially stated the blast also killed 15 civilians, then later said they had been shot. Time magazine has reported Marines entered houses after the blast and killed civilians in retaliation.

Rep. John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said last week military reports will show "our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood," including women and children.

(Additional reporting by Vicki Allen)

[thedrifter]

Sent to me from hubby....fontman

Probe Finds Marines Killed Unarmed Iraqi Civilians
By Tony Perry, LA Times Staff Writer
May 26, 2006

SAN DIEGO - Marines from Camp Pendleton wantonly killed unarmed Iraqi
civilians, including women and children, and then tried to cover up the
slayings in the insurgent
stronghold of Haditha, military investigations have found.

Officials who have seen the findings of the investigations said the
filing of criminal charges, including some murder counts, was expected,
which would make the Nov. 19 incident
the most serious case of alleged U.S. war crimes in Iraq.

An administrative inquiry overseen by Army Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell
found that several infantry Marines fatally shot as many as 24 Iraqis and
that other Marines either failed to
stop them or filed misleading or blatantly false reports.

The report concludes that a dozen Marines acted improperly after a
roadside bomb explosion killed a fellow Marine, Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas.

Looking for insurgents, the Marines entered several homes and began
firing their weapons, according to the report.

In its initial statement to the media, the Marine Corps said the Iraqi
civilians were killed either by an insurgent bomb or by crossfire
between Marines and insurgents.

But after Time magazine obtained pictures showing dead women and
children and quoted Iraqis who said the attack was unprovoked, the Marine
Corps backtracked on its
explanation and called for an investigation.

The Marines, many of whom were on their third deployment to Iraq, are
part of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment of the 1st Marine Division.

The battalion commander and two company commanders were relieved of
duty last month because, a spokesman said, Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski,
commanding general of the
division, had lost confidence in their leadership.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducted a separate
investigation, is expected to call for criminal charges, including
murder, negligent homicide, dereliction of
duty and filing a false report.

After the roadside bomb killed Terrazas, the Marines conducted a sweep
of the area, a common military tactic. But instead of following the
Geneva Convention rules about
identifying combatants, the Marines killed Iraqis in homes and five
sitting in a vehicle, reportedly without provocation, the investigation
found.

Bargewell's report is to be given soon to Army Lt. Gen. Peter
Chiarelli, the top operational commander in Baghdad. Chiarelli will make
recommendations involving leadership,
training and filing reports. Compensation has already been paid to
families of some of the slain Iraqis.

Marine officials also confirmed Thursday that an investigation had been
opened into an April 26 incident in which troops allegedly killed a
civilian in the town of Hamandiya, west of
Baghdad.

Marine Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee flew to Iraq on Thursday to talk
to Marines and remind them of long-standing orders to protect Iraqi
civilians and follow the Geneva
Convention.

Hagee is emphasizing "the importance of our core values" and reminding
troops about the laws of war, a Marine Corps statement said.

The Marine commandant planned to read to officers and enlisted
personnel a statement reminding them: "We must regulate force and violence, we
only damage property that
must be damaged, and we protect the noncombatants we find on the
battlefield."

Hagee last week briefed key congressional leaders on the upcoming
report. One of those, Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), a retired Marine colonel,
said later that Marines "killed
innocent civilians in cold blood."

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon), chairman of the House Armed Services
Committee, held a news conference last Friday to plead with reporters,
politicians and the public not to
judge U.S. troops by the action "of one squad, in one city, on one
morning."

The Marines have had more than 700 personnel killed in Iraq.

In his statement, Hagee said that Marines should overcome the tendency
"of becoming indifferent to the loss of a human life" in their dealings
with Iraqi civilians.

-30-

Semper Fidelis,
Mark

[thedrifter]

from hubby...fontman

Photos Indicate Civilians Slain Execution-Style
An official involved in an investigation of Camp Pendleton Marines'
actions in an Iraqi town cites `a total breakdown in morality.'
By Tony Perry and Julian E. Barnes, Times Staff Writers
May 27, 2006

WASHINGTON - Photographs taken by a Marine intelligence team have
convinced investigators that a Marine unit killed as many as 24 unarmed
Iraqis, some of them
"execution-style," in the insurgent stronghold of Haditha after a
roadside bomb killed an American in November, officials close to the
investigation said Friday.

The pictures are said to show wounds to the upper bodies of the
victims, who included several women and six children. Some were shot in the
head and some in the back,
congressional and defense officials said.

One government official said the pictures showed that infantry Marines
from Camp Pendleton "suffered a total breakdown in morality and
leadership, with tragic results."

The case may be the most serious incident of alleged war crimes in Iraq
by U.S. troops. Marine officers have long been worried that Iraq's
deadly insurgency could prompt such a
reaction by combat teams.

An investigation by an Army general into the Nov. 19 incident is to be
delivered soon to the top operational commander in Iraq. A separate
criminal investigation is also underway
and could lead to charges ranging from dereliction of duty to murder.

Both investigations are centered on a dozen Marines from the 3rd
Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. The battalion was on its
third deployment to Iraq when the
killings occurred.

Most of the fatal shots appear to have been fired by only a few of the
Marines, possibly a four-man "fire team" led by a sergeant, said
officials with knowledge of the investigation,
who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The same sergeant is suspected of filing a false report downplaying the
number of Iraqis killed, saying they were killed by an insurgent's bomb
and that Marines entered the
Iraqis' homes in search of gunmen firing at them. All aspects of his
account are contradicted by pictures, statements by Marines to
investigators and an inspection of the houses
involved, officials said.

Other Marines may face criminal charges for failing to stop the
killings or for failing to make accurate reports.

Of the dead Iraqis, 19 were in three to four houses that Marines
stormed, officials said. Five others were killed near a vehicle.

The intelligence team took the pictures shortly after the shooting
stopped. Such teams are typically assigned to collect information on
insurgents after firefights or other military
engagements.

Investigators and top officers of the Camp Pendleton-based 1st Marine
Expeditionary Force, which oversees Marine infantry, aviation and
support units in Iraq, have viewed the
pictures.

The incident began when a roadside bomb attached to a large propane
canister exploded as Marines passed through Haditha, a town on the
Euphrates River. Lance Cpl. Miguel
Terrazas, who was driving a Humvee, was killed and two other Marines
were wounded.

Marines quickly determined that the bomb was a "line-of-sight"
explosive that would have required someone to detonate it. Marines and Iraqi
forces searched houses and other
structures in the narrow, dusty streets. Jets dropped 500-pound bombs
and a drone aircraft circled overhead.

Time magazine, in a report published in March, quoted witnesses,
including a 9-year-old girl, Eman Waleed, who said that she saw Marines kill
her grandparents and that other
adults in the house died shielding her and her 8-year-old brother,
Abdul Rahman.

An elder in Haditha later went to Marine officials at the battalion's
headquarters to complain of wanton killings.

The Marines involved in the incident initially reported that they had
become embroiled in a firefight with insurgents after the explosion.
However, evidence that later emerged
contradicted that version.

"There wasn't a gunfight, there were no pockmarked walls," a
congressional aide said.

"The wounds indicated execution-style" shootings, said a Defense
Department official who had been briefed on the contents of the photos.

The Marine Corps backed off its initial explanation, and the
investigations were launched after Time published its account.

Some lawmakers are asking the Marine Corps why an investigation wasn't
launched earlier if the intelligence team's pictures contradicted the
squad's account. The pictures from
the intelligence team would probably have been given to the battalion
intelligence officer, and they should have raised questions immediately,
one congressional aide said.

The intelligence teams typically comprise Marine Corps reservists,
often police officers or other law enforcement officials in civilian life
who travel with active-duty battalions or
regiments.

Such questions were put to Marine Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee during
a series of individual briefings over the last week. One focus of the
administrative investigation by
Army Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell is to find out how high up the Marine
Corps chain of command the misreporting went.

Military officials say they believe the delay in beginning the
investigation was a result of the squad's initial efforts to cover up what
happened. Military and congressional sources
said there was no indication that the members of the intelligence team
did anything improper or delayed reporting their findings.

"They are the guys that probably provided the conclusive, demonstrative
evidence that what happened wasn't as others had described," a
congressional staffer said.

The Marine Corps apologized to the families of several of those killed
and made payments to compensate them for their losses. The families
have denied permission to have the
bodies exhumed for investigation.

Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), a retired Marine colonel, said there was
clearly an attempt to cover up the incident by those involved. But he said
he did not think the Marine command
was slow in investigating.

"There is no question that the Marines involved, those doing the
shooting, they were busy in lying about it and covering it up - there is no
question about it," Kline said. "But I am
confident, as soon as the command learned there might be some truth to
this, they started to pursue it vigorously. I don't have any reason now
to think there was any foot dragging."

As Marines moved across the desert into Iraq on March 19, 2003, each
Marine received a signed statement from then-Maj. Gen. James N. Mattis,
commanding general of the 1st
Marine Division, exhorting his troops to fight vigorously but to treat
noncombatants with "decency … chivalry and soldierly compassion."

"Engage your brain before you engage your weapon," he said.

As detailed in Bing West's book "The March Up: Taking Baghdad With the
1st Marine Division," Brig. Gen. John Kelly, assistant division
commander, was concerned about
instances of seemingly random firing by Marines, most of them untested
in combat. Kelly is now the Marine Corps' congressional liaison and has
helped Hagee deliver briefings
to legislators on the investigations into the Nov. 19 incident.

Hagee left for Iraq on Thursday to sternly remind Marines that harming
noncombatants violates Marine policy and numerous laws governing
warfare. He plans to give the same
message to troops at Camp Pendleton and other Marine bases when he
returns.

Haditha has been a particularly difficult area for the Marines.
Officers have said they lack enough troops to do an adequate job of developing
intelligence and then confronting
insurgents.

A documentary shown this week on the A&E Network detailed the
frustrations of a company of Marine reservists who had 23 members killed and 36
wounded during a deployment
last year in Haditha.

One Marine sergeant, in an interview after his unit had returned to
Columbus, Ohio, remembered a raid in which he burst into a home and came
close to killing two women and a
teenage boy out of rage for the deaths of fellow Marines.

Sgt. Guy Zierk, interviewed in the documentary, "Combat Diary: The
Marines of Lima Company," said he knew at that point that he had been in
Iraq too long.

-30-

Semper Fidelis,
Mark

[thedrifter]

sent from hubby...fontman

In Haditha, Memories of a Massacre
By Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, May 27, 2006; A01

BAGHDAD, May 26 -- Witnesses to the slaying of 24 Iraqi civilians by
U.S. Marines in the western town of Haditha say the Americans shot men,
women and children at close range
in retaliation for the death of a Marine lance corporal in a roadside
bombing.

Aws Fahmi, a Haditha resident who said he watched and listened from his
home as Marines went from house to house killing members of three
families, recalled hearing his
neighbor across the street, Younis Salim Khafif, plead in English for
his life and the lives of his family members. "I heard Younis speaking
to the Americans, saying: 'I am a friend. I
am good,' " Fahmi said. "But they killed him, and his wife and
daughters."

The 24 Iraqi civilians killed on Nov. 19 included children and the
women who were trying to shield them, witnesses told a Washington Post
special correspondent in Haditha this
week and U.S. investigators said in Washington. The girls killed inside
Khafif's house were ages 14, 10, 5, 3 and 1, according to death
certificates.

Two U.S. military boards are investigating the incident as potentially
the gravest violation of the law of war by U.S. forces in the
three-year-old conflict in Iraq. The U.S. military
ordered the probes after Time magazine presented military officials in
Baghdad this year with the findings of its own investigation, based on
accounts of survivors and on a
videotape shot by an Iraqi journalism student at Haditha's hospital and
inside victims' houses.

An investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service into the
killings and a separate military probe into an alleged coverup are
slated to end in the next few weeks. Marines
have briefed members of the Senate Armed Services Committee and other
officials on the findings; some of the officials briefed say the
evidence is damaging. Charges of
murder, dereliction of duty and making a false statement are likely,
people familiar with the case said Friday.

"Marines overreacted . . . and killed innocent civilians in cold
blood," said one of those briefed, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), a former Marine
who maintains close ties with senior
Marine officers despite his opposition to the war.

Haditha is one of a chain of farm towns on the Euphrates River where
U.S. and Iraqi forces have battled foreign and local insurgents without
resolution for much of the war. The first
account of the killings there was a false or erroneous statement issued
the next day, Nov. 20, by a U.S. Marine spokesman from a Marine base in
Ramadi: "A U.S. Marine and 15
civilians were killed yesterday from the blast of a roadside bomb in
Haditha. Immediately following the bombing, gunmen attacked the convoy
with small arms fire. Iraqi army
soldiers and Marines returned fire, killing eight insurgents and
wounding another.''

The incident was touched off when a roadside bomb struck a Kilo
Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment supply convoy. The explosion
killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas,
20, of El Paso, who was on his second tour of duty in Iraq. Following
in the footsteps of two Marine uncles and a Marine grandfather, Terrazas
had planned to go to college when it
was all done, his family said.

Insurgents planted the bomb on a side road off one of Haditha's main
streets, placing it between two vacant lots to try to avoid killing --
and further alienating -- Haditha's civilians,
residents said. It went off at 7:15 a.m. Terrazas was driving the
Humvee, and he died instantly. Two other Marines in the convoy were wounded.

"Everybody agrees that this was the triggering event. The question is:
What happened afterward?" said Paul Hackett, an attorney for a Marine
officer with a slight connection to the
case.

The descriptions of events provided to The Post by witnesses in Haditha
could not be independently verified, although their accounts of the
number of casualties and their
identities were corroborated by death certificates.

In the first minutes after the shock of the blast, residents said,
silence reigned on the street of walled courtyards, brick homes and tiny
palm groves. Marines appeared stunned, or
purposeful, as they moved around the burning Humvee, witnesses said.

Then one of the Marines took charge and began shouting, said Fahmi, who
was watching from his roof. Fahmi said he saw the Marine direct other
Marines into the house closest to
the blast, about 50 yards away.

It was the home of 76-year-old Abdul Hamid Hassan Ali. Although he had
used a wheelchair since diabetes forced a leg amputation years ago, Ali
was always one of the first on
his block to go out every morning, scattering scraps for his chickens
and hosing the dust of the arid western town from his driveway,
neighbors said.

In the house with Ali and his 66-year-old wife, Khamisa Tuma Ali, were
three of the middle-aged male members of their family, at least one
daughter-in-law and four children --
4-year-old Abdullah, 8-year-old Iman, 5-year-old Abdul Rahman and
2-month-old Asia.

Marines entered shooting, witnesses recalled. Most of the shots -- in
Ali's house and two others -- were fired at such close range that they
went through the bodies of the family
members and plowed into walls or the floor, physicians at Haditha's
hospital said.

A daughter-in-law, identified as Hibbah, escaped with Asia, survivors
and neighbors said. Iman and Abdul Rahman were shot but survived.
Four-year-old Abdullah, Ali and the rest
died.

Ali took nine rounds in the chest and abdomen, leaving his intestines
spilling out of the exit wounds in his back, according to his death
certificate.

The Marines moved to the house next door, Fahmi said.

Inside were 43-year-old Khafif, 41-year-old Aeda Yasin Ahmed, an
8-year-old son, five young daughters and a 1-year-old girl staying with the
family, according to death certificates
and neighbors.

The Marines shot them at close range and hurled grenades into the
kitchen and bathroom, survivors and neighbors said later. Khafif's pleas
could be heard across the
neighborhood. Four of the girls died screaming.

Only 13-year-old Safa Younis lived -- saved, she said, by her mother's
blood spilling onto her, making her look dead when she fell, limp, in a
faint.

Townspeople led a Washington Post reporter this week to the girl they
identified as Safa. Wearing a ponytail and tracksuit, the girl said her
mother died trying to gather the girls.
The girl burst into tears after a few words. The older couple caring
for her apologized and asked the reporter to leave.

Moving to a third house in the row, Marines burst in on four brothers,
Marwan, Qahtan, Chasib and Jamal Ahmed. Neighbors said the Marines
killed them together.

Marine officials said later that one of the brothers had the only gun
found among the three families, although there has been no known
allegation that the weapon was fired.

Meanwhile, a separate group of Marines found at least one other house
full of young men. The Marines led the men in that house outside, some
still in their underwear, and away to
detention.

The final victims of the day happened upon the scene inadvertently,
witnesses said. Four male college students -- Khalid Ayada al-Zawi, Wajdi
Ayada al-Zawi, Mohammed Battal
Mahmoud and Akram Hamid Flayeh -- had left the Technical Institute in
Saqlawiyah for the weekend to stay with one of their families on the
street, said Fahmi, a friend of the young
men.

A Haditha taxi driver, Ahmed Khidher, was bringing them home, Fahmi
said.

According to Fahmi, the young men and their driver turned onto the
street and saw the wrecked Humvee and the Marines. Khidher threw the car
into reverse, trying to back away at
full speed, Fahmi said, and the Marines opened fire from about 30 yards
away, killing all the men inside the taxi.

After the killings, Fahmi said, more Americans arrived at the scene.
They shouted among themselves. The Marines cordoned off the block; then,
and for at least the next day,
Marines filed into the houses, looked around and came out.

At some point on Nov. 19, Marines in an armored convoy arrived at
Haditha's hospital. They placed the bodies of the victims in the garden of
the hospital and left without
explanation, said Mohammed al-Hadithi, one of the hospital officials
who helped carry the bodies inside. By some accounts, some of the corpses
were burnt.

The remains of the 24 lie today in a cemetery called Martyrs'
Graveyard. Stray dogs scrounge in the deserted homes. "Democracy assassinated
the family that was here," graffiti
on one of the houses declared.

The insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq said it sent copies of the
journalism student's videotape to mosques in Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia,
using the killings of the women and
children to recruit fighters.

After Haditha leaders complained, the Marines paid compensation put
variously by townspeople at $1,500 or $2,500 for each of the 15 men, women
and children killed in the first
two houses. They refused to pay for the nine other men killed,
insisting that they were insurgents. Officials familiar with the investigations
said it is now believed that the nine were
innocent victims. By some accounts, a 25th person, the father of the
four brothers killed together, was also killed.

As the official investigations conclude and fresh information continues
to surface in Haditha, several aspects of the incident remain unclear
or are in dispute.

For example, John Sifton of Human Rights Watch, which helped break the
news that spurred the military investigation, said he had been told by
Marine officers that the rampage
lasted three to five hours and involved two squads of Marines.

Although Marines' accounts offered in the early stages of the
investigation described a running gun battle, those versions of the story proved
to be false, officials briefed by the
Marines said.

Also, one member of Congress who was briefed by Marines said in
Washington that the shooting of the men in the taxi occurred before the
shootings in the houses.

Another point of dispute is whether some houses were destroyed by fire
or by airstrikes. Some Iraqis reported that the Marines burned houses
in the area of the attack, but two
people familiar with the case, including Hackett, the lawyer, said
warplanes conducted airstrikes, dropping 500-pound bombs on more than one
house.

That is significant for any possible court-martial proceedings, because
it would indicate that senior commanders, who must approve such strikes
and who would also use aircraft
to assess their effects, were paying attention to events in Haditha
that day.

The Marines of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines have rotated
back home, to California. Last month, the Marine Corps relieved Lt. Col.
Jeffrey Chessani of command of the
3rd Battalion. Two of his company commanders were relieved of their
commands, as well. Authorities said a series of unspecified incidents had
led to a loss of confidence in the
three.

In Haditha, families of those killed keep an ear cocked to a foreign
station, Radio Monte Carlo, waiting for any news of a trial of the
Marines.

"They are waiting for the sentence -- although they are convinced that
the sentence will be like one for someone who killed a dog in the
United States," said Waleed Mohammed,
a lawyer preparing a file for Iraqi courts and the United Nations, if
the U.S. trial disappoints. "Because Iraqis have become like dogs in the
eyes of Americans.''