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May 10th,
2007 - Marine: Some Civilian Slayings Were to be Blamed on Iraqi Army 1st news article by
North County Times |
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Marine: Some Civilian Slayings
Were to be Blamed on Iraqi Army By Mark Walker North County Times May 10, 2007 Camp Pendleton - The first
five of 24 Iraqi civilians killed in Haditha by a squad of Camp Pendleton
Marines in 2005 were repeatedly shot by two sergeants who then agreed to
blame the slayings on the Iraqi army, one of the shooters testified Wednesday
afternoon. Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz said
he fired at the five men moments after Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich unleashed a
barrage of bullets at the group being held at gunpoint with their arms raised
in the air. "He made a
mistake," Dela Cruz testified about Wuterich's actions. "He told me
that if anyone asked, they were running away and the Iraqi army shot
them." That shooting took place
shortly after a roadside bomb destroyed a Humvee, killing Lance Cpl. Miguel
"TJ" Terrazas and injuring two other Kilo Company Marines from Camp
Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. The five Iraqis had emerged
from a car that drove up shortly after the bombing and were making no effort
to flee, Dela Cruz said. "They were just
standing, looking around, had hands up," Dela Cruz said. "Then I
saw one of them drop in the middle. I didn't know what was going on." Dela Cruz said he decided to
shoot because he assumed from Wuterich's actions that the men were a threat
and he wanted to make sure they were dead. Nineteen more civilians
inside nearby homes also would die that Nov. 19 morning after the Marines
concluded that insurgents were using them as a base of attack. The appearance by Dela Cruz
came on the second day of a hearing to determine if Capt. Randy Stone should
stand trial on dereliction of duty charges for failing to fully investigate a
suspected violation of the law of armed conflict in the aftermath of the
slayings. Stone was the battalion's legal affairs officer. Wuterich is charged with 13
counts of homicide for the men shot by the car and the deaths of eight people
inside the homes. Wuterich's attempt to cover
up the shooting did not end with him, Dela Cruz testified. Wuterich later
told his entire squad to say it was done by Iraqi forces, Dela Cruz said. Dela Cruz, 24, also
acknowledged urinating on one of the slain men several hours after the shooting
and before the bodies had been removed, an act he said was borne out of rage. "I know it was a bad
thing," Dela Cruz testified. "I shouldn't have done it. But at that
time I was angry because TJ had died and I pissed on one of their
heads." Prosecutors had charged Dela
Cruz with five counts of murder but dropped the charges last month, saying
his testimony outweighed his involvement. Lance Cpls. Stephen Tatum and
Justin Sharratt also face murder charges for their roles in the killings
inside the homes. The high number of civilian
deaths at Haditha was shocking to Kilo Company's first sergeant, Alberto
Espinosa, who testified Wednesday morning that he believed an immediate
investigation was required. Espinosa said he became
increasingly frustrated that no formal review appeared to be taking place. "I just couldn't
believe it, sir," Espinosa said in response to a question from Lt. Col.
Paul Atterbury, one of three prosecutors handling the case against Stone.
"It was just too many casualties." Stone, 34, is one of four
officers charged with dereliction of duty. The former battalion commander,
Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, faces similar charges. Espinosa testified that one
week after the incident, he initiated a conversation with Stone at the
battalion's command center in Haditha because "I wasn't happy with the
answers I was getting. I thought we needed to do an investigation." Stone told him that a probe
was taking place at the battalion level, Espinosa said, later adding that a
sergeant major also said it was being addressed at a higher level. Under questioning from
Stone's attorney Charles Gittins, Espinosa said he was unaware of what
reports were being filed at the battalion level. Gittins also said a
regimental commander had determined that the civilian deaths, which prompted
worldwide condemnation when they came to light several months later, were
"collateral damage" and that no investigation was necessary. The
defense attorney's statement went unchallenged by prosecutors. Outside of court, Gittins
said several officers far above Stone's rank agreed in the days after the
incident that no investigation was necessary. Asked why his client was
charged and those men were not, the attorney suggested Stone is a scapegoat. "They have no stomach
to charge colonels and generals," he said. Another witness who
testified Wednesday, battalion Sgt. Maj. Edward Sax, said he was taken aback
when he saw a March "60 Minutes" television interview of Wuterich
in which the staff sergeant said he was uncertain that the people inside the
homes ever fired at the Marines or were harboring insurgents. Wuterich's
comments made it clear to him, Sax said, that the Marines had crossed a line. "He had no reason to do
it," Sax testified. The case against Stone is
the first to reach court in the Haditha incident. At the conclusion of the
hearing, the Marine Corps officer presiding over the testimony will write a
report recommending whether he believes Stone should stand trial. This morning, Maj. Gen.
Richard Huck, former commander of the 2nd Marine Division who commanded the
Marines in Haditha in 2005, will testify via videoconference from the
Pentagon where he is now working. Hearings for the other
Haditha defendants will take place at Camp Pendleton in the coming weeks. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/05/10/news/top_stories/1_01_435_9_07.txt General: No early
indications that Haditha deaths should be investigated By Mark Walker North County Times May 10, 2007 Camp Pendleton - A Marine
general testified Thursday that he thought it was "truly
unfortunate" that two dozen civilians had been killed in Haditha in
2005, but that there was no early indication that the deaths were not
combat-related or warranted an investigation. Maj. Gen. Richard Huck, the
former commander of the 2nd Marine Division in charge of the Marines in
Haditha when 24 civilians were slain on Nov. 19, 2005, testified that initial
reports he received indicated that the villagers were killed in combat. Huck's testimony was done
via video hookup from the Pentagon where he is now assigned and broadcast
into a conference room at the I Marine Expeditionary Force headquarters at
Camp Pendleton. Huck's appearance, lasting
more than two hours, came on the third day of a hearing for Capt. Randy
Stone, who served as the staff legal officer for the 3rd Battalion, 1st
Marine Regiment in Haditha when the killings occurred. Stone is one of four
officers charged with dereliction for allegedly failing to fully investigate
and report the events that resulted in the two dozen civilian deaths. Huck testified that reports
of the deaths had been sent up the chain of command and up to Gen. George
Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq at the time of the incident. None of those superiors told
Huck there should be further investigation into the deaths, Huck testified.
The first time Huck heard that there were allegations of Marine misconduct in
the incident, Huck said, was when he received questions on Feb. 12 about the
deaths from a Time magazine reporter, despite having visited the unit's
headquarter in Haditha on Nov. 22 and receiving no report that the issue
merited review. He said when he learned of
the questionable nature of the incident, he went to top aid Col. R. Gary
Sokoloski, his then-chief of staff, and said "What am I the last guy in
the outfit to find out about this? I was highly irritated." He said once he learned
details of the event, he directed top aids to "get to the bottom of
this" and by Feb 14 the incident was deemed to be under official
investigation. "I have no suspicion
that a law of armed conflict violation had been committed," Huck said. Two other officers,
including the executive officer of the company involved in the incident,
First Lt. Adam Mathes, also testified they'd been told the deaths occurred in
combat. Thursday's testimony was
part of what is expected to be a several-day long hearing in which witnesses
have begun painting a picture of what they say transpired before and during
the shootings. One of the shooters, a
sergeant, testified Wednesday that the first five of the civilians killed
that day were mowed by two sergeants who then agreed to blame the slayings on
the Iraqi army. The witness, Sgt. Sanick
Dela Cruz, said Wednesday he fired multiple rounds into five Iraqi men
moments after Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich shot the victims as they were being
held at gunpoint with their hands raised in the air. "He made a
mistake," Dela Cruz testified about Wuterich's actions. "He told me
that if anyone asked, they were running away and the Iraqi army shot
them." That shooting took place
shortly after a roadside bomb destroyed a Humvee, killing Lance Cpl. Miguel
"TJ" Terrazas and injuring two other Kilo Company Marines. The five Iraqis had emerged
from a car that drove up shortly after the bombing and were making no effort
to flee, Dela Cruz said. Nineteen more civilians
inside nearby homes also would soon die that Nov. 19 morning in what the
platoon commander testified Tuesday was a "clearing" action. The
storming of the homes occurred when the Marines suspected insurgents were
using them as a base of attack, Lt. William Kallop testified. Wuterich is charged with 13
counts of homicide for the men shot by the car and the deaths of eight people
inside the homes. Dela Cruz was originally
charged with five counts of murder, Prosecutors dropped the charges last
month, saying his testimony outweighed his involvement. Lance Cpls. Stephen
Tatum and Justin Sharratt also face murder charges for their roles in the
killings inside the homes. The high number of civilian
deaths at Haditha were shocking to Kilo Company's 1st sergeant, Alberto
Espinosa, who testified Wednesday that he believed an immediate investigation
was required. Espinosa said he became
increasingly frustrated that no formal review appeared to be taking place. "I just couldn't
believe it, sir," Espinosa said in response to a question from Lt. Col.
Paul Atterbury, one of three prosecutors handling the case against Stone.
"It was just too many casualties." Another witness who
testified Wednesday, battalion Sgt. Maj. Edward Sax, said that it wasn't
until he saw a March "60 Minutes" television interview of Wuterich
in which the staff sergeant said he never knew for certain that the people
inside the homes ever fired at the Marines or were harboring insurgents. "He had no reason to do
it," Sax testified. The case against Stone is
the first to reach court in the Haditha incident. At its conclusion, the
Marine Corps officer presiding over the testimony will write a report
recommending whether he believes Stone should stand trial. Hearings for the other Haditha
defendants take place at Camp Pendleton in the coming weeks. External link: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/05/10/news/top_stories/1_01_410_9_07.txt |