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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
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June 21st,
2008 - Haditha Victims’ Kin Outraged as Marines go free |
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Haditha Victims’
Kin Outraged as Marines go free By Leila Fadel McClatchy Newspapers June 21, 2008 Haditha, Iraq - Khadija
Hassan still shrouds her body in black, nearly three years after the deaths
of her four sons. They were killed on Nov. 19, 2005, along with 20 other
people in the deadliest documented case of U.S. troops killing civilians
since the Vietnam War. Eight Marines were charged
in the case, but in the intervening years, criminal charges have been
dismissed against six. A seventh Marine was acquitted. The residents of
Haditha, after being told they could depend on U.S. justice, feel betrayed. "We put our hopes in
the law and in the courts and one after another they are found
innocent," said Yousef Aid Ahmed, the lone surviving brother in the
family. "This is an organized crime." No one disputes that Marines
killed 24 men, women and children in this town in four separate shootings
that morning. Relatives said the attack was a massacre of innocent civilians
that followed a roadside bomb that killed one Marine and injured two. Marines
say they came under fire following the bomb. Nonetheless, military
prosecutors filed charges that ranged from murder to covering up a crime.
Three Marines were relieved of their duties then, and U.S. Rep. John Murtha,
a former Marine, famously called the incident "murder" on
television. One by one, the cases fell
apart. American and Iraqi witnesses provided conflicting accounts. The
investigation began months after the incident, and many Iraqis who could have
testified were unable to travel to the United States. Furthermore, several
Marines were granted immunity. Last week, a judge dismissed
charges of dereliction of duty and failure to investigate filed against the
highest ranking officer implicated, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani. The Marine
Corps plans to appeal. The dismissals have deepened
the victims' relatives' grief. Many say they feel deceived after having
collaborated with U.S. investigators who came into their homes, collected
evidence, took testimony, and ultimately failed to hold the Marines accountable. "Right now I feel
hatred that will not fade," said Ahmed. "It grows every day."
Charges against two Marines who allegedly killed his brothers were dropped in
August 2007. All charges of murder in
this case were dropped and at least seven Marines were given immunity to
allow them to testify against Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, the squad leader.
His charges now include voluntary manslaughter of at least nine people. Wuterich has always
maintained that he made the right decision, believing his Marines were under
threat. While other Marines'
accounts have differed from his, Wuterich told the CBS News program 60
Minutes last year that he shot at five unarmed men outside a white car
because he believed they were a threat when they started to move away from
the car. At the first home they raided, where women and children were inside,
he said he told his men to "shoot first and ask questions later",
because he believed the Marines were coming under "sporadic" fire
from the dwelling. Wuterich said that he didn't
consider killing 24 people a massacre and that he did what he did to protect
his Marines from what he perceived to be a threat. "I remember there may
have been women in there, may have been children in there," he told 60
Minutes. "My responsibility as a squad leader is to make sure that none
of the rest of my guys died ... and at that point we were still on the
assault, so no, I don't believe [I should have stopped the attack]." This is how the residents of
Haditha recall that day: U.S. Marines were apparently bent on revenge after a
roadside bomb killed one of their own. They killed four unarmed men and an
unarmed taxi driver. Then they threw grenades and entered two homes. In the
Younes' household, they killed eight people, including two toddlers, a
5-year-old and a mother recovering from an appendectomy. In an adjacent home, they
killed seven people, including a 4-year-old and two women, according to death
certificates and one of the children who survived. Across the street,
residents of two houses shared by a family were pulled out. The men were
separated from the women as the Marines asked them about weapons. Family members said they had
one AK-47 in each house, which Iraqi law allows. The Marines forced the women
and children into one house at gunpoint, then took four brothers to a back
bedroom and executed them, the family said. Yousef Aid Ahmed was not at
home when the killing occurred. He is now the sole breadwinner for his mother
and extended family. His father became ill after
the shootings, and later, the family said, went blind from grief. Ailing, he
lingered in a small bedroom where his sons were killed. One was gunned down
to the left of the bed, a second to the right. The third man's body wound up
inside a closet and the fourth was propped against the wardrobe. Despite a
fresh coat of paint, the ceiling still bears grey spots where the men's blood
spattered. They were all shot in the head. The relatives seldom go into
this room. The Marines told a different
story. Lt. Col. Paul J. Ware, an investigating officer with the Navy Marine
Corps Trial Judiciary gave this account: Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, a Marine
who acknowledged killing three of the brothers, told investigators that the
four brothers were holed up in a back bedroom where the Marines later found
two AK-47s. Ware wrote in the report that the evidence made the Iraqi's story
implausible and their accounts were inconsistent. The report didn't say
whether there was any evidence that the AK-47s were fired. The report also
implied that the family may have made up their story for the $10,000 in
compensation for the deaths of civilians and that their credibility should be
questioned because they were women and a teenager. "Witness accounts are
not credible," the report said about the case of one Marine accused of
killing three of the brothers. "Although $10,000 does not appear to be a
large amount of money...such a sum of money was equal to 4 times the average
annual salary of a typical resident of Haditha. Prior to making these claims,
no payments were made to the Ahmed family." Relatives said they accepted
the money after authorities told them it would help the case. Now they wish
they'd never taken the cash. "Right now I feel
hatred that will not fade," said Yousef Aid Ahmed. "It grows every
day." "I have no brothers and
sisters," Khaled Jamal said. "Now I have no father and my uncles
are gone. Put yourself in my shoes." Once a stellar student, Khaled is
now failing. The sense of betrayal has
made family members reluctant to keep telling the story. At the house where Safa
Younes now lives with her uncle, her uncle refused to allow her to talk about
that day. Safa, now age 14, is the
sole survivor of the Younes family household. She passed out in fear when the
shootings began and awoke under the dead bodies of her family members, she
and her uncle Yaseen recounted to McClatchy in a 2006 interview four months
after the slaying. She heard the moaning of her
brother Mohammed and tried to get him to stand up to go to her uncle's home.
Bleeding profusely, he couldn't move. She cradled him in her arms until he
died. Then, covered in her brother's blood, she ran to her uncle's home, her
uncle and Safa recounted to McClatchy in 2006. This week he refused to
allow Safa to speak of the tragedy again. "It's enough. We spoke
to many journalists and human rights groups," Safa's uncle said.
"It brought us nothing. I lost her whole family; I don't want to lose
her to." Iman Waleed lost everyone in
her family save her little brother. The 12-year-old tells the story quickly
and matter-of-factly now. She's told it at least 20 times to journalists,
investigators and human rights groups. "The Americans came in
and they entered through the kitchen door. My father was in the room reading
the Quran and they shot him," she says in a monotone voice, her green
eyes looking at the floor. Then, she continued, they
threw a bomb and killed her grandfather, and then they killed her grandmother.
Her uncles were next, she said. The first died instantly and the second was
shot more than once. Finally the Marines came to the living room where Iman
cowered with her mother and two young brothers. They shot her mother and her
three-year-old brother that was cradled in her arms. She and her brother
Abdul Rahman, nine at the time, were wounded but survived. Her brother still does not
speak of that day. According to Iman, he's afraid to talk about it. He plays
with his cousin of the same age in the house where they live with an uncle
and pretends that it never happened. For Iman it is the memory of
the family that she lost that is hardest to talk about. Everything is
"normal," now she says. Her life continues. "I miss every one of
them," she said. "I wish I could forget it...I think about it less
now." The legal rationales behind
the dismissal of many charges against the Marines don't matter to the Iraqi
families. They told the world there was a massacre, they said, and still no
one listened. "What should we
do?" Abdul Razak said. "They are all found innocent. What more do
they need?...They shouldn't have been found innocent." She dropped her head. "I'm one of a
million...I am nobody." she said. "Why did they choose us from
everyone? Why did they separate us and kill us.... Why did they come and kill
our young men and leave us alive?" Charges Against Marines Related To The Haditha Investigation Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani Violation of a lawful order
and willful dereliction of duty were both dismissed on June 17, 2008. The
Marine Corps plans to appeal the recent decision. Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz The charges of
unpremeditated murder for five people and making a false official statement
were dismissed April 2, 2007. He was granted immunity after the charges were
dropped. 1st Lt. Andrew A. Grayson Grayson was found not guilty
of all charges after being accused of obstructing justice in the Haditha case
on June 3, 2008. On Dec. 27, 2007 the charge of dereliction for failing to
investigate a suspected violation of the law of war was dismissed Capt. Lucas M. McConnell The charge of unpremeditated
murder in the killings of three brothers and dereliction for failing to
"ensure" a "thorough investigation was initiated," were
dismissed on Sept. 12, 2007. He was granted immunity and ordered to cooperate
with "all parties" looking into the 24 killings in Haditha. Capt. Randy W. Stone Charges that include failing
to ensure an investigation and accurately report a suspected violation of the
law of war were dismissed. Lance Corporal Stephen B. Tatum Charges of Involuntary
manslaughter of two people, unpremeditated murder of two others, negligent
homicide of four people, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment were
dismissed on March 28, 2008. Tatum was given testimonial immunity in the
Haditha case. Staff Sgt. Frank D Wuterich Charges against Wuterich for
unpremeditated murder of 17 people were dismissed on Dec. 27, 2007 and
another was withdrawn on Aug. 29, 2007. Now he is charged with voluntary
manslaughter for killing or ordering the killing of at least nine people. He
is also charged with reckless endangerment, aggravated assault, obstructing
justice and dereliction. The charges were referred to the general
court-martial on Dec. 31, 2007. He has yet to go to trial. Source: Iraq Investigations External link: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/41817.html |