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May 12th,
2007 - Officers Testify Haditha Killings did not Warrant Investigation News article by the Associated
Press |
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Officers Testify
Haditha Killings did not Warrant Investigation By Thomas Watkins Associated Press May 12, 2007 Camp Pendleton, Calif.- A
Marine major who heard complaints about the killings of two families in their
homes in the Iraqi town of Haditha testified Saturday that he did not think
their deaths warranted further investigation, even though he knew women and
children were among the dead. Maj. Dana Hyatt, a civil
affairs officer for the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines at the time of the Nov.
19, 2005 killings of 24 Iraqis, inspected two houses 10 days after the attack
in response to a demand by local leaders for an investigation. Based on what he saw in the
homes, including blood-spattered beds and hair stuck in the ceiling, Hyatt
said he was authorized to distribute more than $40,000 in compensation to
relatives of the dead. "That's the most blood
I have ever seen," Hyatt said. Hyatt also testified he went
to the morgue the night after the killings. Due to a shortage of body bags,
Marines had put some of the corpses in trash bags, he said. Like several witnesses
before him, Hyatt testified that his understanding of Marine rules was that
when civilians died in combat operations, no follow-up investigation was
necessary. The attack occurred after a
roadside bomb struck a Humvee convoy, killing one Marine and injuring two
others. In the aftermath, Marines shot five Iraqis by a car and went house to
house looking for insurgents, using grenades and machine guns to clear
houses. Hyatt said a corporal from
the squad involved in the killings told him that he'd heard someone in the
house loading a machine gun, and that is why they cleared rooms with such
aggression. The Marine Corps asserts that 24 civilians died Nov. 19, but
Hyatt testified that eight of the dead were insurgents, a claim that has not
been verified. "It made sense. It
sounded OK," Hyatt said of the Marine squad's action. Hyatt, who has
been given immunity to testify, was speaking at the preliminary hearing for
Capt. Randy W. Stone, one of four officers charged with dereliction of duty
for failing to investigate the killings. Three enlisted Marines are charged
with unpremeditated murder in the case, the biggest involving civilian deaths
in the Iraq war. During the first five days
of testimony at the hearing, defense attorney Charles Gittins summoned a
string of witnesses, including a two-star general, to the stand. All testified
they saw no reason to investigate the deaths because they believed they
occurred in a lawful "troops in contact" type engagement. Military rules compel troops
to report and probe suspected law of war violations. Gittins argued that if
no crime was suspected to have occurred, and if no one else in Stone's
regiment saw a need to investigate, then Stone should not be singled out. Lt. Col. Kent Keith, a judge
advocate for the 2nd Marine Division, testified that if civilians are caught
in the crossfire of a lawful combat situation, provided they weren't
deliberately targeted, it is not common practice to investigate those deaths. Maj. Gen. Richard A. Huck,
the top general in charge of Marines in Iraq's Al Anbar province when the
killings occurred, said earlier in the hearing that he knew about the deaths
the day they occurred, but considered them simply a "truly
unfortunate" consequence of war. A Marine captain testified
Friday that regimental commanders had a "unique disinterest" in
investigating the killing. Viewed collectively,
testimony from the Marines that they did not see the deaths of women and
children as possibly needing investigation reveals a callous and jaded
response to civilian deaths, said Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps
prosecutor and judge who teaches law of war at Georgetown University Law
Center. "The fact we have
repeatedly heard senior officers say it wasn't a blip on their radar tells us
a lot about the war in Iraq and the unfortunate mind-set that has
developed," Solis said. "That this number of noncombatants can be
killed and not raise an eyebrow speaks volumes about our war." The hearing is part of an
Article 32 investigation, the military's equivalent to a grand jury
proceeding. Maj. Thomas McCann, the investigating officer, will hear evidence
and recommend whether the charges should go to trial. The hearing was scheduled to
continue Monday. External link: http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_5879916 Commanders stay resolute on
killings By Steve Liewer San Diego Union-Tribune May 12, 2007 Camp Pendleton – Official
complaints from Iraqis, a Time magazine report and two military
investigations into the killing of 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq, all failed
to shake Marine commanders' confidence that the deaths were justified, an
officer testified yesterday at Camp Pendleton. “They didn't give me any
indication there was anything else we should look into,” said Capt. Jeffrey
Dinsmore, the intelligence officer for the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment
when the killings occurred Nov. 19, 2005. Dinsmore testified during
the pretrial hearing for Capt. Randy Stone, one of four officers from the
battalion who are charged with dereliction of duty for failing to scrutinize
the Haditha incident. Three enlisted Marines from
the battalion's Kilo Company are accused of going on a rampage after a
roadside bomb blast killed one Marine and wounded several others. They shot
five men who arrived in a car shortly after the bomb explosion and killed 19
other Iraqis in three nearby houses over the next hour. Top officers for the
battalion knew within hours that many of the dead were women and children,
Dinsmore said. But they strongly believed that insurgents used those
civilians as human shields for their attack on the U.S. convoy and then fled
during the Marines' counterattack, he testified. Marine Corps officials never
investigated the Iraqis' deaths because their convoy was attacked first,
Dinsmore said. The military calls that scenario “Troops in Contact,” or TIC. “It's well-established that
this was a TIC, and the civilians were unfortunately collateral damage,”
Dinsmore said. Dinsmore acknowledged that
he and other officers reached that conclusion without interviewing the
Marines involved or evaluating their statements about the incident. Dinsmore didn't change his
mind despite hearing complaints from the mayor of Haditha and reading a
translated copy of a flyer circulated around the town to protest the
killings. “The City Council was being
used as a tool for insurgent propaganda,” he said. Dinsmore still saw no reason
to investigate the Haditha deaths after a Time magazine reporter submitted a
list of questions about the incident in January 2006. He said a Google search
showed him that the journalist, Tim McGirk, had an “anti-military bias.” It was an unwritten rule
that civilian deaths occurring during combat didn't rate an investigation,
said Maj. Carroll Connelley, the deputy staff judge advocate for the
regiment, a command one level higher than Stone's. Connelley said because he
was already busy, he felt relieved to get an e-mail from Stone stating that
the Haditha killings didn't require scrutiny. “It was reconciled as having
been in combat,” Connelley said. “I didn't have any concerns.” Col. Keith Anderson, a
lawyer in the Marine Corps Reserve, testified that he taught a three-day
class on the “Law of War” to Stone and other officers in 2004. He said he
instructed them that any loss of civilian life ought to prompt an
investigation. “If a bad act occurs, the
worst thing you can do is not investigate,” Anderson said. “You don't know
where these allegations are going to come from. When they do, it's better if
you've looked into it.” Stone's pretrial hearing is
scheduled to continue today. Once it is completed, the hearing officer, Maj.
Thomas McCann, will recommend whether the charges against Stone should be
referred to court-martial. External link: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20070512-9999-2m12stone.html |