Squad Leader Charged in Iraqi Killings
Squad Leader Charged in Killings of 24 Iraqi Civilians; More Marines Expected to Be Charged
By THOMAS WATKINS
The Associated Press
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - A Marine Corps squad leader was charged Thursday with 13 counts of murder in the killings of 24 civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha last year, his attorney said, and other Marines are expected to be charged.
Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich was charged with 12 counts of murdering individuals, plus one count of murdering six people by ordering Marines under his charge to "shoot first and ask questions later" when they entered a house, according to charging sheets released by defense attorney Neal Puckett.
Puckett said his client is not guilty and acted lawfully.
As many as eight Marines in all may be charged in the case.
Wuterich, of Meriden, Conn., also was charged with soliciting a corporal to make false statements and making a staff sergeant make a false official statement.
The Marines all belonged to Kilo Company of the Camp Pendleton-based 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines Regiment, and have been under investigation since March for the deaths.
The Iraqi civilians were killed in the hours following a roadside bomb that rocked a Marine patrol on the morning of Nov. 19, 2005. The blast killed one Marine and injured two others.
In the aftermath, five Iraqi men were shot as they approached in a taxi and others including women and children died as Marines went house to house in the area, clearing homes with grenades and gunfire.
Defense attorneys have said their clients were doing what they had been trained to do: responding to a perceived threat with legitimate force. The Marines remained in combat for months after the killings.
A criminal probe of the Haditha incident was launched after Time magazine reported in March, citing survivor accounts and human rights groups, that innocent people were killed.
The Marine Corps initially reported that 15 Iraqis died in a roadside bomb blast, and Marines killed eight insurgents in an ensuing fire fight. That account was widely discredited and later reports put the number of dead Iraqis at 24.
The case sparked an international outcry when it was first reported. It is one of several cases of alleged U.S. misconduct to have emerged from the Iraq war and the second time in six months that Pendleton officials have held a press conference to say they are charging their own in allegedly unlawful killings.
A parallel military investigation examined whether officers in the Marines' chain of command tried to cover up the events. Results of that probe have not been made public.
As word that charges in the case were imminent, some Iraqis said Thursday that American troops should face justice in Iraq.
"The trial they are talking about is fake. The American troops should be brought here, in front of an Iraqi court," Naji al-Ani, a 36-year-old laborer, said by telephone from Haditha. "They committed a horrible crime against innocents."
Other residents of Haditha agreed, saying they believed the servicemen were guilty and should face the death penalty.
"Are they terrorists or are they fighting terrorism?" said Jamal al-Obaidi, a 40-year-old teacher. "The trial is not fair because it is taking place in America. Executing them is the minimum penalty."
A spokesman for the Iraqi Defense Ministry said the Iraqi government supports the decision of the U.S. military to prosecute the troops.
Associated Press Writer Saad Abdul Kadir contributed to this report from Baghdad.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/print?id=2743754Knutes Comment- I bet shit like this happens almost daily. They enjoy killings as much as Repubs do their almighty tax cuts.
