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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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January 17th,
2007 - Haditha Attorney Accuses Pentagon of Deception |
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Haditha Attorney Accuses
Pentagon of Deception By Kristin Roberts Reuters 17 Jan 2007 15:36:26 GMT Washington, Jan 17 - An
attorney for the leader of a group of U.S. Marines accused of murdering 24
civilians in Haditha, Iraq, said on Wednesday that Pentagon officials
intentionally misled or deceived the public about the case. Mark Zaid, attorney for
Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, said the original 2006 investigation report,
obtained by Reuters, fully cleared his client and other Marines of
wrongdoing. But Defense Department (DoD)
officials speaking anonymously last May about that first report from Col.
Gregory Watt, as the case began to grab international attention, had said the
investigation raised questions about the Marines' actions. "I think the Watt
report is proof of a concerted effort by certain DoD officials to either
mislead or deceive the public on what occurred in Haditha," Zaid said. Zaid said his client and the
other Marines were victims of a U.S. government crackdown aimed at improving
public perception of the American presence in Iraq after the Abu Ghraib
prison abuse scandal and amid a series of cases in which service members were
accused of killing civilians. "Because of the timing
of this case with other clear criminal acts by the U.S. military it has
caused these Marines to be held accountable on a macro level for policies
they had nothing to do with," Zaid said. A Marine Corps spokesman was
not immediately available to comment. Zaid's client and three
other Marines have been charged with murder and four other Marines have been
charged with dereliction of duty in the 2005 killing of unarmed men, women
and children in Haditha. At first, the U.S. military
said civilians were killed by a roadside bomb. Iraqi witnesses, however, said
enraged Marines shot the civilians in their homes in retaliation for an
attack that killed another U.S. serviceman. Watt, the investigating
officer, delivered a report in March 2006 that concluded there was no
indication the Marines intentionally targeted and killed civilians. The
Marines were taking small-arms fire and entered houses in the area as part of
that fight, according to the report. Watt also concluded that the
insurgents could not be distinguished from the civilians and that the amount
of force used by the accused Marines was "proportional and provided
overmatch" to ensure victory. "This overmatch was
appropriate in nature, scope and duration," according to the report. Unnamed defense officials,
however, cast the conclusions differently. In press reports, those officials
said Watt found the Marines were not provoked by small-arms fire. They also
said the report raised questions about whether Marines followed the right
rules for identifying threats. External link: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N17293590.htm |