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April 21st,
2007 - Report On Haditha Condemns Marines News article by the Washington Post |
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Report On Haditha Condemns
Marines Signs of Misconduct Were Ignored, U.S. General Says By Josh White Washington Post April 21, 2007; A01 The Marine Corps chain of
command in Iraq ignored "obvious" signs of "serious
misconduct" in the 2005 slayings of two dozen civilians in Haditha, and
commanders fostered a climate that devalued the life of innocent Iraqis to
the point that their deaths were considered an insignificant part of the war,
according to an Army general's investigation. Maj. Gen. Eldon A.
Bargewell's 104-page report on Haditha is scathing in its criticism of the
Marines' actions, from the enlisted men who were involved in the shootings on
Nov. 19, 2005, to the two-star general who commanded the 2nd Marine Division
in Iraq at the time. Bargewell's previously undisclosed report, obtained by
The Washington Post, found that officers may have willfully ignored reports
of the civilian deaths to protect themselves and their units from blame.
Though Bargewell found no specific coverup, he concluded that there also was
no interest at any level in investigating allegations of a massacre. "All levels of command
tended to view civilian casualties, even in significant numbers, as routine
and as the natural and intended result of insurgent tactics," Bargewell
wrote. He condemned that approach because it could desensitize Marines to the
welfare of noncombatants. "Statements made by the chain of command
during interviews for this investigation, taken as a whole, suggest that
Iraqi civilian lives are not as important as U.S. lives, their deaths are
just the cost of doing business, and that the Marines need to get 'the job
done' no matter what it takes." Bargewell's sharp criticism
of the Marine command appears to have been a contributing factor in
subsequent efforts by top leaders to ensure that U.S. troops exercise
appropriate restraint around civilians. Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, who was
the top field commander in Iraq last year, and Gen. David H. Petraeus, now
the top U.S. commander there, have emphasized the importance of protecting
the civilian population in counterinsurgency operations and have ordered
aggressive investigations of alleged wrongdoing. Though Bargewell completed
his secret report in June 2006, it has not been publicly released because of
ongoing criminal investigations of three Marines on murder allegations and
four Marine officers who allegedly failed to look into the case. Bargewell's
report, now unclassified, focuses on the reporting of the incident and the
training and command climate within the Marine Corps leadership; it does not
address the actual incident in detail. The investigation began in
March 2006 after an initial inquiry concluded that the Marines did not
intentionally kill civilians. Bargewell's team interviewed Marines in Asad in
western Iraq and in the United States in April 2006. His final report was
submitted to Chiarelli on June 15, 2006. A Marine Corps spokesman
declined to comment yesterday. Marine officials have generally not discussed
the incident because it is under investigation. In the Haditha incident,
which has become one of the most notorious alleged atrocities of the Iraq
war, Marines killed two dozen civilians after a huge roadside bomb ripped
through a Humvee in their convoy, killing one Marine instantly and injuring
two others. A Naval Criminal Investigative Service report found that the
Marines then killed five unarmed civilians whom they ordered out of a car -
one Marine alleged that another got down on one knee and shot them one by one
- before storming several houses and killing women and children, some of them
still in their pajamas and lying in bed. The Marines have told
investigators that they believed they were taking small-arms fire from the
houses and that they were following their rules of engagement when they threw
grenades and then shot everyone inside. Bargewell found that, though
the Marines were trained correctly, some "did not follow proper house
and room techniques" by not positively identifying their targets. Lt.
William T. Kallop, the only officer on the scene at the time, ordered the
attack on the houses and told investigators that he did not believe the Marines
did anything wrong. Kallop received immunity this month and will probably
testify at the hearings for the other Marines. The report notes errors and
oversights at all levels of the Marine command in Iraq. Bargewell says that
Marines at the squad level came up with a false story; that Kilo Company
officers and the commander of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, passed
along insufficient information to the regimental commander; and that
regimental officers and officers at the 2nd Marine Division ignored signs of
a problem and believed the incident to be insignificant. He also accuses the
entire chain of failing to recognize the importance of civilian deaths. Of particular concern to
Bargewell was that nearly all Marines looked the other way when confronted with
early reports that many civilians had been shot in fighting on the streets of
Haditha after a roadside bomb killed a member of their unit. His
investigation found that Marines and officers present that day immediately
reported numerous civilian deaths to superiors but that the reports were
"untimely, inaccurate and incomplete" - failures he attributed to
"inattention and negligence, in certain cases willful negligence." Then, no one asked any
further questions, Bargewell wrote, despite gruesome photographs circulating
among junior Marines that showed that women and children had been killed in
their beds. He cited several opportunities to investigate that were not
taken, such as when more than $40,000 in condolence payments went to Iraqis
after the killings. "I found that the duty
to inquire further was so obvious in this case that a reasonable person with
knowledge of these events would have certainly made further inquiries,"
Bargewell wrote. "The most remarkable aspect of the follow-on action
with regard to the civilian casualties from the 19 November 2005 Haditha
incident was the absence of virtually any kind of inquiry at any level of
command into the circumstances surrounding the deaths." No one recommended an
investigation until a Time magazine reporter began asking questions about the
attack in January 2006. Maj. Gen. Richard A. Huck, the division commander,
dismissed the allegations as insurgent propaganda, according to the report.
The battalion commander, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, also refused to
investigate, saying, "My marines are not murderers," according to
two of his top subordinates. Bargewell called this "an unwillingness,
bordering on denial," to examine an incident that could be harmful to
his unit. Chessani's attorneys have
denied that he did anything wrong and have said that he informed his
commanders about the incident. The regimental commander,
Col. Stephen Davis, was also not interested in investigating, according to
the report. "The RCT-2 Commander, however, expressed only mild concern
over the potential negative ramifications of indiscriminate killing based on
his stated view that the Iraqis and insurgents respect strength and power
over righteousness," the report says. None of Chessani's superiors
has been charged with a crime, but in addition to the battalion commander,
two captains and a lieutenant have been charged with failing to investigate
or with impeding the investigation. Bargewell found that Huck's
division staff viewed the allegations of inappropriate killings as part of
insurgent "information operations" and an attempt to make the
Marines look bad. He also noted a proclivity among senior officers to look
past such allegations even if there was a chance they could be accurate.
Bargewell called that approach "myopic and overly simplistic" and
said it produced a tendency to judge credibility based on the source of the
information rather than on the facts. Excerpts from Army Maj. Gen. Eldon A.
Bargewell’s report: “[…]
The response to the Haditha incident “I
found no direct evidence of any orchestrated effort or any effort on the part
of any individual above the squad level to cover up this incident. I did find
that individuals above the squad level were complicit, whether intentionally
or unintentionally, in attempts to hide criminal conduct. Leaders from the
platoon through the 2nd Marine Division level, particularly at the Company
and Battalion level, exhibited a determination to ignore indications of
serious misconduct, perhaps to avoid conducting an inquiry that could prove
adverse to themselves or their Marines. […] “The
most remarkable aspect of the follow-on action with regard to the civilian
casualties from the 19 November 2005 Haditha incident was the absence of virtually
any kind of inquiry at any level of command into the circumstances
surrounding the deaths. […] “It
also suggests an unwillingness, bordering on denial, on the part of the
Battalion Commander to examine an incident that might prove harmful to him
and his Marines. […] “Attitudes
toward civilian life “Statements
made by the chain of command during interviews for this investigation, taken
as a whole, suggest that Iraqi civilian lives are not as important as U.S.
lives, their deaths are just the cost of doing business, and that the Marines
need to get 'the job done' no matter what it takes. These comments had the
potential to desensitize the Marines to concern for the Iraqi populace and
portray them all as the enemy even if they are noncombatants. […] “Most
witnesses also noted that civilian casualties were to be expected because the
insurgents intentionally hid among civilians, used them as shields and/or
intentionally tried to provoke coalition responses that would produce
civilian casualties. Although this proposition may accurately reflect
insurgent tactics, the officers from Company K and 3/1 who were interviewed
raised this point so uniformly in response to questions about the number of
casualties that it almost appeared rehearsed. […] “The
RCT-2 Commander, however, expressed only mild concern over the potential
negative ramifications of indiscriminate killing based on his stated view
that the Iraqis and insurgents respect strength and power over righteousness. “Recommendations “I
recommend that this investigation be used to inform the continuing
development and improvement of ROE [rules of engagement] reset training and
that it be used as a case study for training in staff procedures and
reporting. The lessons are particularly applicable to ROE application in
counterinsurgency operations against an unscrupulous enemy employing hit and
run tactics designed to provoke indiscriminate, disproportionate, or simply
misdirected responses from coalition forces. The lessons for staff procedures
and reporting are basic, but the case study will illustrate how simple
failures can lead to disastrous results. […]” External link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042002308.html Immunity Given
to 7 in Haditha Slayings Prosecutors trying to get more witnesses to testify By Rick Rogers San Diego Union-Tribune April 21, 2007 Camp Pendleton - Prosecutors
have granted immunity to at least seven Camp Pendleton Marines linked to the
killings of 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq, according to newly leaked
documents and sources close to the case. The strategy resembles one
that prosecutors have used effectively in another high-profile murder case
involving servicemen from the base: bolstering their odds of winning by
enticing more witnesses to testify. Last summer, seven Marines
and a sailor were charged with the April 26 abduction and execution-style
death of an Iraqi grandfather in Hamdaniya, Iraq. The defendants initially
banded together and pledged to fight the allegations. But their unity melted once
the Marine Corps started making plea deals, with prosecutors offering lighter
prison sentences to some servicemen in exchange for their testimony against
the remaining defendants. Five of the accused have taken plea agreements. On Tuesday, the Marine Corps
announced that it had dropped all charges, including five counts of murder,
against Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz and given him immunity in exchange for his
testimony. Cruz and three other
enlisted Marines are accused of going on a deadly rampage Nov. 19, 2005, in
Haditha after a roadside bomb claimed one of their own. The defendants have
acknowledged killing the 24 civilians but said they were following the
military's rules for combat engagement. In addition, four officers
are charged with failing to fully investigate the incident. Yesterday, several lawyers
and documents acquired by The Washington Post
confirmed that prosecutors have extended immunity to at least six
other Marines in the Haditha case. Those men, including the only officer
present during the killings, apparently had not been charged with any crime. Immunity may sound like a
good thing, but not everybody wants it. “Some of these guys are
being given immunity so Marine prosecutors can then order them to testify,”
said a military source with knowledge of the case. The source requested
anonymity because Marine commanders haven't released the latest immunity
documents or allowed people involved in the Haditha proceedings to speak
publicly about them. “Their Fifth Amendment right
not to incriminate themselves only applies when facing charges,” the source
said. “(Now) ... they have to testify or face charges.” Failure to testify could
send them to prison for two years. “Marines are a pretty
tightknit group of people. They don't like testifying against each other,”
said John Hutson, president and dean of the Franklin Pierce Law Center in
Concord, N.H., and former judge advocate general of the Navy. However, not all the Haditha
immunity deals are guaranteed to boost the prosecution's chances. The
testimony of Lt. William T. Kallop, the sole officer at the killing scene,
could support defendants' contention that they were following lawful orders. Kallop reached the Haditha
site minutes after the roadside bomb went off, according to military reports.
In testimony given later to investigators, he said the squad leader, Staff
Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, and another Marine heard gunfire coming from a nearby
house. Kallop told the
investigators that he ordered Wuterich and the other men in his platoon to
“take the house.” “I'm convinced that we did
nothing wrong,” Kallop is quoted as saying in documents The Washington
Post obtained from anonymous sources. The Marines also killed
people in two other homes and a nearby vehicle. “During the four years as a
military trial lawyer, I don't recall a defense witness ever being given
immunity,” said Tom Umberg, a former military defense counsel, prosecutor and
judge. Umberg theorized that
Kallop's immunity deal might help the prosecution avoid certain problems if
the defendants file appeals. He also said prosecutors might use some portions
of Kallop's testimony to their advantage. External link: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20070421-9999-1m21haditha.html |