|
The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
|
September 1st,
2007 - At Marines’ Hearing, Testament to Violence News article by New York Times |
|
At Marines’ Hearing,
Testament to Violence By Paul von Zielbauer New York Times September 1, 2007 Camp Pendleton, Calif., Aug.
31 - A Marine sergeant offered gruesome testimony on Friday against a former
squad leader charged with killing 17 Iraqi civilians in Haditha nearly two
years ago, suggesting that the defendant, Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, was
predisposed to the violence, carried it out ruthlessly and sought to cover it
up. The prosecution witness,
Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, was ordered to testify with immunity after murder
charges against him for killing five of the men were dismissed in April. On Thursday, prosecutors
dropped one charge against Sergeant Wuterich in the killing of an 18th
victim, a man in the last of four homes that the sergeant and other squad
members searched on Nov. 19, 2005, after a bomb hit the marines’ convoy. At Friday’s hearing, to
determine whether the charges against Sergeant Wuterich should progress to a
court-martial, Sergeant Dela Cruz testified that Sergeant Wuterich shot five
unarmed men as they stood behind a car, some with their hands interlocked
behind their heads in a surrender posture, in the moments after the bomb
exploded. He also said Sergeant
Wuterich fired more rounds into the bodies of all five men as they lay dead
or dying near a car a short distance from the attack. Sergeant Wuterich has said
he shot the five men, but only after they ran away, which he believed
constituted a hostile act that allowed him to use deadly force. Sergeant Dela Cruz told
prosecutors that a week before the Haditha episode, Sergeant Wuterich had
reacted to an earlier roadside bombing by telling him and other marines in
the unit, “If we ever get hit again, we should kill everybody in that area.” Sergeant Dela Cruz said that
after killing the five men in Haditha, Sergeant Wuterich turned to him and
said, “If anyone asks, say they were running away.” It is unclear how much
weight the hearing’s presiding officer will give to the testimony of Sergeant
Dela Cruz, whose credibility has been an issue in hearings for other marines
charged in the Haditha killings. The presiding officer, Lt. Col. Paul J.
Ware, will recommend to a Marine Corps general whether to try Sergeant
Wuterich in a full court-martial. Sergeant Dela Cruz has
admitted to lying to an Army colonel who initially investigated the Haditha
episode, in which Marine riflemen killed 24 Iraqis, including at least 10
women and children, after a roadside bomb killed one of their comrades. In a sworn statement, he
told the colonel that Iraqi Army soldiers traveling with his unit had killed
the five men near the car, and that he had yelled at them to stop, to no
avail. Sergeant Wuterich’s lawyers
took pains to point out that Sergeant Dela Cruz’s immunity deal protected him
from being charged in the Haditha episode, and they have said he lied about
Sergeant Wuterich’s actions to cover up his own criminal behavior in Haditha. Another witness on Friday,
Staff Sgt. Justin Laughner, a member of a Marine intelligence unit that
inspected the scene of the Haditha killings, said Sergeant Wuterich had told
him the men had run from the car when they were shot. Sergeant Laughner also said
squad members had been worried that the car could have been carrying a bomb. Copyright 2007 The New York
Times Company External link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/01/world/middleeast/01haditha.html Witness Describes Iraq
Killing Marine Says Leader Shot Haditha Civilians By Karl Vick Washington Post September 1, 2007 Camp Pendleton, Calif., Aug.
31 - A Marine testifying under immunity Friday said he saw Staff Sgt. Frank
D. Wuterich shoot five unarmed Iraqi men moments after a roadside bomb
exploded in Haditha in November 2005, a week after Wuterich said that if such
an attack occurred, "we should kill everybody in that vicinity." The damaging new testimony
by Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz was diluted by withering defense attacks on his
credibility. At one point in a contentious four-hour review of his earlier,
often contradictory accounts, the quest for truth grew so convoluted, the
witness implored to be disbelieved: "I did lie about that, sir,"
Dela Cruz said. The muddled exchanges
underscored the difficulties the prosecution has faced in the Haditha case,
which broke as accusations of massacre - Marines acknowledge killing 24 Iraqi
civilians - but in military court has produced nothing approaching certainty. Four Marines were charged
with murder in the case. Charges against two have been dismissed, and an
investigating officer, in the role of judge, has recommended dismissal for a
third, citing questions about witness credibility. Wuterich's case is the last
to receive an Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury
hearing. The squad leader faces 13 counts of unpremeditated murder, as well
as charges of urging other Marines to lie about what happened on Nov. 19,
2005, after a roadside bomb killed a fellow Marine and thrust the unit into
its first enemy contact. Dela Cruz testified against
Wuterich and another Marine after his own charges were dismissed in exchange
for immunity from prosecution. He insisted that after giving at least two
false statements to investigators - and contesting portions of others - he
was finally telling the truth. He said Wuterich shot five
Iraqi men who appeared to be unarmed bystanders at the scene just seconds
after the roadside bomb exploded. He added that the squad leader later told
him to falsely assert that the men were running away, behavior that would
have justified firing on them under the Marines' operative rules of
engagement. Dela Cruz also recounted a
conversation that he said occurred a week before the shootings, after word
arrived that a comrade had been wounded in a similar bombing. "For
whatever reason, Staff Sgt. Wuterich said, 'If we ever get hit again, we
should kill everybody in that vicinity ... so to teach them a lesson,'
sir," the witness said. The damaging content of Dela
Cruz's testimony was tempered by his demeanor: He appeared wooden on the
stand and often took long moments to produce answers to apparently simple
questions. At other times, he appeared
contentious. Dela Cruz readily admitted to urinating onto the broken head of
one Iraqi man lying dead in the road. But he disputed another Marine's
allegation that while removing bodies from one of the nearby houses where
more than a dozen Iraqis were killed, he kicked a dead man's head and said,
"I killed that [expletive]." "If I had the guts to
tell I urinated and confessed about it, why would I deny this?" Dela
Cruz said. "Pissing is worse than kicking." "Oh, is it?" Lt.
Col. Colby Vokey, a defense attorney, asked loudly. The witness drew back.
"They're both worse, sir." Dela Cruz also admitted to
abusing prisoners in Iraq, saying he kicked detainees in a way that was
unlikely to leave bruises. And at Haditha, he said, he fired perhaps eight
rounds into the men he said Wuterich killed. In reasoning that clearly
puzzled the investigating officer, Dela Cruz said he joined Wuterich in a
cover story out of fear that those shots would get him jailed. "Was it your
understanding that if you shot a dead body you could be charged with murder?"
asked Lt. Col. Paul Ware, who will recommend whether Wuterich should face
court-martial. "Yes, sir," Dela
Cruz said. "Why?" Ware asked,
then quickly shook his head. "Never mind." Wuterich's attorney
suggested that Dela Cruz was concerned because he had in fact fired on the
men as they stood beside the road, several with their hands in the air.
"Shooting dead bodies is not murder," Vokey said. "Or maybe
you were the first to shoot at them?" "No, sir," Dela
Cruz said. The hearing will resume
Wednesday. External link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/31/AR2007083102043_pf.html |