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October 23rd, 2006 - Attorneys,
Marines Still Awaiting Word on Haditha Case |
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Attorneys, Marines Still Awaiting
Word on Haditha Case Camp Pendleton unit remains under scrutiny in deaths of 24 civilians
last November By Mark Walker North County Times October 23, 2006 North County - Nearly eight
months after they first came under scrutiny, a group of Camp Pendleton
Marines is still awaiting word on whether they will face charges in the
shooting deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha last November. The two dozen Iraqis gunned
down in Haditha on Nov. 19 included several women and children, sparking an
international outcry when the case first came to light. Iraqi witnesses have
contended that Marines from the 1st squad, 3rd platoon of Kilo Company
attached to Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment went on a
rampage after one of their own was killed. As the Haditha case simmers
with no clear idea of how or when it will be resolved, military prosecutors
continue to press the unrelated case of seven Camp Pendleton Marines and a
Navy corpsman charged in the death of a man in the Iraqi village of Hamdania.
Those Marines are from the base's 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. No one has been charged in
the Haditha case, which garnered worldwide attention when the killings were
first profiled in a Time magazine report. Mark Zaid, an attorney for
one of the Marines in the Haditha incident, said Monday that all those
associated with that case "are in the dark" about whether military
prosecutors intend to charge any of the Marines. "Obviously, everybody
is waiting to see what will happen and when we can get this over with,"
Zaid said during a telephone interview from his offices in Washington. His client, Staff Sgt. Frank
Wuterich, maintains he and his fellow Marines did nothing wrong that day.
Wuterich remains at Camp Pendleton, Zaid said, where he is "doing
great." Capt. Kate Wallace, a
military spokeswoman at the Marine Corps' Central Command headquarters in
Tampa, Fla., said Monday that there was no updated information about the
status of the Haditha investigation. Last month, a massive report
on how Marine commanders in Iraq responded to the initial reports of the
civilian deaths in Haditha and their follow-up actions was filed with U.S.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Senior Defense Department
officials have previously said the report finds fault with some of the Marine
commanders' actions but does not find there was any attempt at an
orchestrated cover-up. Nonetheless, the report
prepared under the direction of now-retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Eldon
Bargewell is expected to lead to administrative actions against some of the
officers for failing to fully investigate the Haditha killings when they were
first reported. A corresponding probe
conducted by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service was filed in early
September with Marine Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, who has asked the agency to
"go deeper" into several aspects. As he is in the Hamdania
case involving the kidnapping and killing of 52-year-old Iraqi Hashim Ibrahim
Awad on April 26, Mattis is the "convening authority" who will
ultimately decide whether any of the Marines in the Haditha incident will
face criminal charges. The Haditha case unfolded
when a patrol of Marines in Humvees passing through the city was attacked. The attack began with the
detonation of a roadside bomb that claimed the life of 20-year-old Lance Cpl.
Miguel Terrazas of El Paso, Texas. The Marines there that day have told
investigators that immediately after the bombing, they also came under attack
from insurgents armed with AK-47 assault rifles, shots they said were coming
from one or more nearby homes. The first Iraqis to die when
the squad began returning fire were four men who emerged from a car and began
running. None of those men have been determined by investigators to be
insurgents, according to published reports. The squad radioed word of
the attack to commanders, and eventually stormed through four homes in search
of the insurgents. The shooting that took place
in two of the homes appeared justified, sources close the case have said, but
the assault on the two other homes may have violated the Marine Corps rules
of engagement. Those allow a combat
operation against any source of fire or suspected insurgent stronghold, but
are clear in directing that lethal force not be used against children or
apparent civilians unless absolutely necessary. Five women and six children
were among those killed. Wuterich, who has filed a
libel suit against U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Penn., for the lawmaker's comments
that the squad killed "in cold blood," contends the unit was
abiding by the rules of engagement, did not intentionally target civilians
and made no effort to conceal what had occurred. It is not clear when Defense
Department or Marine Corps authorities will announce their decision in the
Haditha case. A Georgetown military law
professor and former Marine Corps legal officer, Gary Solis, said last week
that the service may want to "clear the decks" in the Hamdania case
before moving ahead in the Haditha incident. External link:
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/10/24/news/top_stories/19_03_0910_23_06.txt |