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June 14th,
2007 - Marine Tells of Pointed Guns News article by the Los Angeles Times |
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At hearing on Haditha slayings, he says he killed 3 Iraqis after 2 of
them aimed AK-47s at him. By Tony Perry Los Angeles Times June 14, 2007 Camp Pendleton - A Marine lance
corporal accused of executing three unarmed Iraqi brothers in Haditha told a
hearing officer Thursday that he killed them after two of them pointed AK-47s
at him while he searched their home for insurgents. "I kept firing until my
magazine was empty because I didn't know if they had body armor or suicide
vests," Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt told the hearing officer at his
Article 32 inquiry, similar to a preliminary hearing. "As I fired at the
other insurgents in the room, I felt as though they were coming toward
me." The statement was unsworn,
and thus Sharratt was not required to answer questions from prosecutors. Sharratt, 22, whose family
lives in suburban Pittsburgh, said he opened fire instantly after seeing the
AK-47s. Sharratt said his machine gun jammed and that he then used a
9-millimeter handgun he had borrowed from a Navy corpsman. "There's an old saying
among Marines," he told hearing officer Lt. Col. Paul Ware. "'I'd
rather be judged by 12 of my peers instead of being carried in a casket by
six of my friends.'" Once the hearing is
completed, Ware will recommend to Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis whether the case
should go to court-martial, be dismissed or be handled administratively. Four
officers and three enlisted Marines have been charged in the November 2005
killings of 24 civilians in Haditha. "We did not execute any
Iraqi males," Sharratt said in a strong, clear voice. "I am a
disciplined Marine. … On Nov. 19, I did exactly as I was trained to do." Prosecutors assert that the
three Iraqi men were unarmed and that Sharratt and Staff Sgt. Frank D.
Wuterich killed them at close range without provocation. Sharratt said he gave the
AK-47s to a Marine the day of the incident. But testimony indicated that
there was no clear record of the weapons being recovered at the house,
although records do show two AK-47s being recovered somewhere in the
neighborhood that day. Prosecutors also assert that
because the Iraqis were slain with a handgun, the killings were
"execution-style," because troops rarely use handguns when
assaulting houses. But a military pathologist said pictures of the dead men
did not suggest that the fatal bullets were fired at close enough range to
show the powder burns consistent with such a mode of killing. Sharratt said he and other
Marines went to "clear" the house after seeing male Iraqis
repeatedly peeking at them over a wall. Marines said they thought the Iraqis
might have been responsible for a roadside bomb that had exploded beneath a
Marine convoy, killing one Marine and wounding two others. At first, the clearing of
houses went smoothly, Sharratt told Ware. Then in one house, he said, he
heard in a back bedroom the distinct sound of AK-47s being prepared to fire. "I knew if there were
insurgents inside that room with weapons, … I had to move fast to establish
fire superiority." He told Ware that he would
act the same today if put in the same situation. "I will always be proud
of my service in Iraq," he said. "And I will always be proud to be
a Marine." Sharratt was on his second
combat tour in Iraq with the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. He received
a combat action ribbon for his role in the battle in Fallouja in late 2004;
the ribbon, at that time, was awarded only to Marines who came under fire and
returned fire. His parents, Theresa and
Darryl Sharratt, have attended the hearing. The session Thursday involved
several hours of testimony from a pathologist about the fatal wounds to the
Iraqis; close-up pictures of the bodies were shown. Theresa Sharratt said the
pictures did not shake her faith in her son's innocence. "Here's the way I look
at it," she told a reporter. "Those men were trying to kill my son.
I'd rather get a phone call [from him saying he's facing criminal charges]
than have two Marines coming to my door telling me my son is dead." External link: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-haditha15jun15,0,4800590.story Marine denies squad executed
24 Iraqi civilians By Thomas Watkins Associated Press June 14, 2007, 4:32PM Camp Pendleton, Calif. - A
Marine facing murder charges in a squad action that killed 24 Iraqi civilians
told a military court today that one of the men he shot was pointing a weapon
at him and that no Iraqis were executed. Lance Cpl. Justin L.
Sharratt gave an unsworn statement during his preliminary hearing on three
counts of unpremeditated murder. Because it was unsworn, he could not be
cross-examined. His account followed
testimony by a former member of the squad who said the Marines were not under
machine-gun fire from insurgents when they carried out the Nov. 19, 2005,
killings in Haditha. The claim runs counter to the key argument of the three
Marines charged with murder - that they believed they were under attack and
responded appropriately. Sharratt acknowledged
shooting several men, including one in the head. He said that man was
pointing an AK-47 at him. "I am disciplined and
always try to act professionally. On Nov. 19 I acted as I had been trained to
do," he said. "We did not execute any
Iraqis," he said in a statement that expressed pride in his service in
Iraq and in the Marine Corps, and he thanked his parents for standing by him. "I'd rather be tried by
a jury of 12 of my peers than carried away in a casket by six," he said. Earlier, there was testimony
from Trent Graviss, who was a lance corporal in the squad at the time. He
recently left active duty and is not charged in the deaths. "To the best of your
knowledge, was there an ambush on your squad?" asked prosecutor Capt.
Christian Hur. "No, sir," replied
Graviss, who testified by telephone from his home in Kentucky. The two dozen Iraqis were
killed in and around several houses soon after a roadside bomb exploded and
killed one Marine. Those charged have maintained the bomb was the start of a
coordinated ambush on the U.S. convoy that was followed up with machine-gun
fire. The three men Sharratt is
accused of murdering died in one of the homes. Defense attorneys showed
photographs of four men who died there. All appeared to have been shot in the
head, but several had blood on their torsos, indicating they could have been
shot there, too. Air Force Lt. Col. Elizabeth
Rouse, a forensics expert, testified that it did not appear the men had been
killed at close range. The photographs were of poor
quality, and in at least one picture it was not clear where the bullet
entered the victim's head, though blood could be seen pooling in his ear. Aside from Sharratt, squad
leader Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich and Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum are also
charged with murder in the killings, the biggest U.S. criminal case of the
Iraq war. A fourth enlisted man, Sgt.
Sanick P. Dela Cruz, was initially charged with murder, but prosecutors
dismissed charges against him. Four officers are charged with dereliction of
duty for failing to investigate the killings. Both Wuterich and Tatum were
in the public viewing area of the courtroom today. During a recess, Wuterich's
military attorney Lt. Col. Colby Vokey said he was not concerned about
Graviss' testimony, as it is inconsistent to what other witnesses have
testified. "All the other
testimony indicates that the Marines were receiving small-arms fire,"
Vokey said. Graviss also described the
moments immediately after the roadside bomb blast, when he heard Wuterich
firing his machine gun. Graviss said he saw a "pink mist in the air
where I assumed the people were, it was like a blood spatter in the
air." Wuterich is accused of killing 18 people, including five men who
were standing by a car. Graviss said he went with
Dela Cruz and an Iraqi soldier to clear a house close to the site of the
explosion and detained two or three Iraqis but did not shoot anyone. External link: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/4890870.html |