US Marines charged with murder in Haditha deaths

13 April 2012

The US military has charged four Marines with murder and four others with related charges in the November 2005 deaths of 24 unarmed civilians in Haditha, Iraq.

The killing of the men, women and children is one of the most serious allegations of misconduct against civilians by U.S. troops in Iraq.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has called the Haditha killings a 'terrible crime.'

In announcing the charges of unpremeditated murder, Marine Col. Stewart Navarre said a press release issued the day after the killings wrongly reported that 15 Iraqi civilians were killed by a roadside bomb and that Marines and Iraqi army soldiers killed eight insurgents in a subsequent firefight.

"We now know with certainty... that none of the civilians were killed by the IED (improvised explosive device) explosion," Navarre said.

Iraqi witnesses say the Marines shot civilians in their homes to retaliate for the death of their comrade, Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, who was ripped in half by the bomb that exploded under a convoy rolling through Haditha, some 60 miles north of Baghdad.

Along with the widely publicized abuses of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison, the killings have damaged US prestige and led to international condemnation.

Marine Corps squad leader Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, 26, who led the squad investigated in connection with the November 19, 2005, shootings, was charged with 13 counts of murder,

The charges cover the deaths of 12 individual victims and another covers the deaths of six people in a single house. The documents did not explain why Wuterich was not charged in all 24 deaths.

Others charged with murder are Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, 24, Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, 22, and Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, 25. The remaining four Marines are charged with with failure to properly report and/or investigate the deaths.

"The reporting of the incident up the chain of command was inaccurate and untimely," Navarre said.

Wuterich's attorney, Neal Puckett, told reporters his client denied any unlawful killings and that his troops acted lawfully.

"We've seen death sneak up on our Marines... without any notice. That puts people on a hair trigger as far as protecting themselves."

"Everything he did that day was to protect his Marines from any further harm after the IED went off," Puckett said.

John Sifton, senior researcher with New York-based Human Rights Watch, welcomed the charges but said accountability for the killings needed to run further up the chain of command.

"If the military really wants to stop future abuses it shouldn't just focus on low-level offenders, it needs to focus on the systemic issues that lead to war crimes," he said.

Once charged, the defendants are entitled to an Article 32 hearing, in which a military judge would decide if there is enough evidence to convene a court-martial. The schedule for the hearing has not been set.

Defense lawyers dispute the Iraqi witnesses' version of events and say the men from Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division were engaged in a furious battle in Haditha after the bomb exploded and the civilians may have been killed during the chaos.

Sharratt's sister, Jaclyn Sharratt, said her brother was "following orders and following the rules of engagement."

Two probes were launched into Haditha, one centering on the shooting and another into whether officers attempted to falsify details of the incident.

Earlier this year, U.S. President George W. Bush vowed any U.S. Marine guilty of shooting Iraqi civilians would be punished, but Navarre said there was no pressure from Congress or higher-ups in the chain of command.

"The Marine Corps takes allegations of wrong doing by Marines very seriously and is committed to thoroughly investigating such allegations.

The Marine Corps also prides itself on holding its members accountable for their actions," Navarre said.

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