8 Marines Charged In Haditha Killings

Squad Leader Is Among 4 Charged With Murder; 4 Others Accused Of Failures In Probing Deaths

(CBS/AP)  Eight Marines were charged Thursday in the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians last year in a bloody, door-to-door sweep in the town of Haditha that came after one of their comrades was killed by a roadside bomb.

It's the biggest criminal case of the Iraq War, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin. A sergeant who faces 13 counts of murder and a lieutenant colonel who is accused of dereliction of duty are among the eight Marines charged.

In all, four of the Marines were charged with unpremeditated murder. The other four were officers who were not there but were accused of failures in investigating and reporting the deaths.

The most serious charges were brought against Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, a 26-year-old squad leader accused of murdering 12 civilians and ordering the murders of six more inside a house cleared by his squad. He was accused of telling his men to "shoot first and ask questions later," according to court papers released by his attorney.

The highest-ranking defendant was Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, 42. He was accused of failing to obey an order or regulation, encompassing dereliction of duty.

At a news conference to announce the charges, military officials would not say what they believe prompted the killings. But investigators have raised the possibility that the men went on a rampage in a fury over the roadside bombing that killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas of El Paso, Texas, and wounded two other Marines.

Defense attorneys have disputed that, saying their clients were doing what they had been trained to do: responding to a perceived threat with legitimate force.

Terrazas' father denounced the charges, saying his son was murdered by insurgents. "What they are doing to our troops ... it's just wrong," Martin Terrazas said in Texas. "I feel for their families. They are in my prayers."

Wuterich and two comrades charged with murder could get life in prison. The military is not seeking the death penalty. The other men face shorter prison sentences.

The Marine Corps initially reported that 15 Iraqis died in a roadside bomb blast and that Marines killed eight insurgents in an ensuing firefight. That account was widely discredited, and later reports put the number of dead Iraqis at 24.

A criminal probe was launched after Time magazine reported in March, citing survivor accounts and human rights groups, that innocent people were killed.

Lt. Gen. James Mattis, commanding general of the Marine Corps Central Command, said Thursday that the Corps' initial news release, which stated that the civilians in Haditha had been killed by an improvised explosive device, was incorrect.

"We now know with certainty that the press release was incorrect, and that none of the civilians were killed by the IED explosion," Mattis said.

As word spread that charges were imminent, some Iraqis said Thursday that American troops should face justice in Iraq.

"They committed a horrible crime against innocents," Naji al-Ani, a 36-year-old laborer, said by telephone from Haditha.

Other residents of Haditha agreed.

"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."

Besides Wuterich, Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz, 24, was accused of the unpremeditated murders of five people and making a false statement. Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, 22, was charged with the unpremeditated murder of three Iraqis. Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, 25, was accused of the unpremeditated murders of two Iraqis, negligent homicide of four Iraqis and assault.

The other officers charged were 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson, 25, Capt. Lucas McConnell, 31, and Capt. Randy Stone, 34, a military attorney.

The men are not being locked up for now because they are unlikely to flee and are not a danger to themselves or others, said Col. Stewart Navarre, a Corps spokesman.

In Meriden, Conn., Wuterich's father, Dave, said his son was out Christmas shopping. The father said family members believe his son's version of events.

"He says they followed the rules of engagement," Dave Wuterich said. "They were taking small arms fire. They did what they had to do."

[peaceforusa]

deathtoallah

They should pray to our God if they are doing any praying to protect our soldiers, not "allah", but I agree with the rest of your post and alot of others in here that this is war and to convict our soldiers is just so wrong. I would like to know when Human Rights Groups started running the country and made the laws of war!

[deathtoallah]

It is a very sad day when the soldiers sent to do a job are convicted of war crimes when the government who sent them to Iraq has done the same thing and are still in charge of our country. Iraq may have been under the rule of a tyrant, but the Iraqui people should have ousted him, not our soldiers. I am ashamed of the USA for taking these actions against our soldiers who are doing what they are told to do. I wish for all Iraqi%u2019s to get down on their hands and knees and pray to "Allah" that these soldiers are protected against our own government for trying to save their a*sses from their tyrant president Sadaam Hussein. This disgusts me.

[tibu987]

If these marines are found guilty they should be charged according to law. What errors may have been made with the U.S. invasion of Iraq, it did not give our armed forces license to kill civilians and children.
It is one of the ways that must differentiate us from the fanatics and terrorists. Soldiers kill soldiers, gangsters kill gangsters.

[mrgrinch105]

I think are justice system and let alone our country is headed straight to hell. We are charging soliders who were just doing their job.
We should not be fighting the Bush's Family Vendetta. Bush dad had a problem with Iraq, so is son got elected in and want to finish what his dad started.

[olgreyghost]

This oughta boost recruitment...

[tank611]

Yeah it's bad when 24 people die. But it pales in comparison to the thousands of innocent MEN,WOMEN AND CHILDREN killed by the Muslim insurgents and militias.

Here's just a few of the attacks between August 2003-January 2006:

Jan. 5, 2006: A suicide blast on a busy pedestrian path near a Shiite Muslim shrine in Karbala kills 63 people.
Nov. 19, 2005: A suicide bomber detonates his car in a crowd of Shiite Muslim mourners north of Baghdad, killing at least 36 people.
Nov. 18, 2005: Near-simultaneous suicide bombings kill 74 worshippers at two Shiite mosques near the Iranian border.
Sept. 29, 2005: Three suicide attackers detonate car bombs in the mostly Shiite town of Balad, north of Baghdad, killing at least 102 people.
March 10, 2005: A suicide bomber blows himself up at a Shiite mosque in the northern city of Mosul, killing at least 47 people.
Feb. 28, 2005: A suicide car bomber targets mostly Shiite police and national guard recruits in Hillah, killing 125 people.
March 2, 2004: Coordinated blasts from suicide bombers, mortars and planted explosives strike Shiite shrines in Karbala and Baghdad, killing at least 181 people. Seventy-one are killed in Baghdad's Kazimiya district and at least 110 are killed in Karbala, according to the U.S. coalition.
Aug. 29, 2003: A car bomb explodes outside a Shiite mosque in Najaf, killing more than 85 people, including Shiite leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim.

When will the people responsible for those war crimes be put on trial?

[jacqueline41-2009]

All in always unfair in our world of love and war no matter who the victim is.

[inresponse1]

Actually, I feel sorry for everybody in this entire matter including the officer charged with the crime. This is a TEXT BOOK consequence of what happens when trained military personnel are applied to "police action" duties. The rules of engagement denature and men and women "trained to kill" under warfare conditions meet head on with civilians who seem innocent but may in fact be "live ordnance," literally. We saw the same thing occur in Vietnam when the soldiers were instructed to "fire if fired upon." This instructions defines "police action," and trained military personnel should not have to put their lives on the line under this type of limited and dangerous circumstance. I am appalled. Get these service people out of Iraq, they don't belong there under this type of circumstance.

[sharncedar]

We shouldn't compare this war with Vietnam. Vietnam was an inept strategy in support of a rational cause. The Iraq war is an inept strategy in support of an openly acknowleged lie or a mistake. The war was started on the basis of Iraq both having weapons of mass destruction and being an imminent threat to use those weapons against America. That premise was a lie or a mistake, probably on both counts.

South Vietnam was in fact invaded by a communist proxy army, and they were indeed pretty bad folks as later events showed. It was neither a lie or a mistake. There was an actual invasion of the south by the north. The strategy, which was to avoid conflict with Russia or China through our typical political cowardice doomed the war to failure.

The analogy with Iraq would be if it turned out there really were no viet cong fighters in Vietnam, that the whole premise of the conflict was a lie or mistake. Imagine that. Imagine the enormity of that. Americans dying for a lie or a mistake.

Guess what, we are.

[mick7744]

I'm reading a lot of sanctimonious rhetoric about 'the killing of innocent civilians' that is obviously being spewed by those with the same combat amount of experience as the swaggering, draft-dodging moron SOB who got us into this war. Since you people don%u2019t seem to have a clue as to what the hell you%u2019re talking about, I suggest you shut up before making yourself look even more foolish than you already do.

I can%u2019t imagine anything more cruel and violent than a terrified young man thrust into an insane situation with ever-changing rules unless it%u2019s one who is thrust into such a situation that is becoming more and more clearly part of an oil deal.

Speaking as one who was shot at (and occasionally hit) to protect Michelin Rubber and Vice President Ky%u2019s opium, I can assure you that the resentment these young men feel extends to those airheads who imagine themselves morally superior to those who faced what they ran away from to pontificate about, calling those who served their country fascists and baby killers. They must have all read a book or something to get all that wisdom.

I don%u2019t know if these Marines are guilty or innocent, but then of course, neither does anyone else at this point. I do know, however, that all the Iraqis in the world wouldn%u2019t make a pimple on a dead Marines ***, and we should leave those people to the fate they deserve.

[baldfrog-2009]

they must have forgot 14 Marines died in one vehicle right out side of Haditha,the same week 6 snipers were killed at the same time last year.i don't know for sure but i believe the 14 in the personnel carrier they were in, was on a road outside Haditha that was blown up so bad it turned the vehicle over on its top.the folks on the road outside the city watched as that happened from the windows of there houses. so f... em.discharge our guys for *** up in the fog of war,of course none of use were there as our friend was killed and our commanders encouraged to them to go get the bad guys.if W and the generals don't know how to get the bad guys how the hell do you expect some privates,corporals and,nco's.please let them ( W,DC,Gates and the generals explain exactly how they are going to weed them out of the general population then they can point out the bad guys and this won't happen again.and we'll save a lot of lives and we can come home.until then lets not ruin the lives of 8 Marines who got caught up in the insanity of war.

These guys are alleged to have murdered civilians - including men, women and children as young as 2. If they are found guilty, they should be strung up. We would expect that if insurgents or civilians were caught and found guilty of similar crimes, that they would be punished appropriately.

Using the excuse that this should be excused because "they were soldiers" is pathetic and disgusting and a disgrace to those soldiers who do the right thing on a daily basis.

If you support our soldiers - then you should support putting these alleged criminals on trial.

[drinuk]

The only people who should be in court over Iraq are Muppets Bush and Blair.

[alphaa10-2009]

Free_Citizen said, "alphaa10, no one is slighting the soldiers..."
---

You may have misread my post-- I have been hopeful for some time the American people will see justice done with Haditha, including procedural justice for the eight Marines charged. That means confronting the whole truth, while safeguarding the rights of the accused.

My post also has many clues which reveal I have no sympathy with the killers of My Lai, and expect justice will be served with the Haditha case.

[alphaa10-2009]

Haditha-- 2
Do you remember the similar Iraq atrocity earlier this year of Mahmoudiya? On December 13, 2006, the US military said that, at worst, it might imprison the GI who is accused of raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl, killing her, burning her body and then killing all her family. Those charged with similar crimes in the US get a quick trip to death row-- or at least, so many Americans prefer to believe.

My point about giving credit to our good soldiers in Iraq is to remind the poster named "powersmaker" the majority of US soldiers DO NOT resort to the berserk behavior with which the eight Marines are accused.

Instead, many of our good soldiers quietly return home with combat stress fatigue and psychiatric disorders. For them, the Bush regime has no sympathy, and tried even to reduce funding in some VA areas, in addition to cutting a planned increase in aid to military families. Clearly, an American public-- informed, concerned and angry about Bush and his kingdom of lies-- is a principal defense network for our soldiers, back in the states.

[Free Citizen]

alphaa10, no one is slighting the soldiers. It is the regime in Washington that has put America in a war with another nation. A nation that has done no wrong to the US. In short, it is an illegal war. American sons have died in that war for what? For whom? No one is denying the bravery of the American soldiers but is this war a righteous war? Every Iraqi faction wants the foreign forces out of their country but Bush and Gates want to put more troops there. When and what will it take for you to realise that the civil war going on there is an internal Iraqi problem. Not yours. Who interfered with America when it had its civil war? Which foreign nation sent troops to quell the fighting between the Unionists and the Confederates? You know, America must learn to mind their own business. No nation will tolerate the meddling of its internal affairs by foreign forces.

[alphaa10-2009]

powersmaker said, "To all those who have already written off the marines as guilty ...

you got nothin until you have experienced what they did / are. Go back to bed..."
---

So, all the Iraq troops who have not been charged with murder have no experience or "real" understanding of war? Your lack of logic reveals it is long past your bedtime...

If you are upset about "writing off Marines", rest assured the military is notorious for ignoring things like My Lai, so the accused are in friendly territory with judges who are not about to "write them off". We hope they honor America and its values and laws with their decision.

It is also time the rest of our good soldiers got credit for representing our country's values and standards, even in war. How many of them do not go on killing rampages, despite daily threat of IEDs taking two or three of them daily?

What makes good Nazis is the willingness to obey, obey, and obey-- and then cover up the mass graves and deny everything, even to their own family-- even to themselves.

[Free Citizen]

I agree with j-whitman, FeelFree1, fascistusa, RandalDS, et al. This is all BS! A horrible crime was committed against Iraqi civilians and the perpetrators of the crime is free to go holiday shopping? What kind of sick nation will do this to another nation. No remorse, no moral obligation at all. The crime was committed on Iraqi soil, they should be handed over to the Iraqi authorities to be tried by Iraqi law. No other authority be it the US military of the American court of law have the right to decide otherwise. Don't believe the Iraqis will be impartial? Well, they should have thought of that before they went on a killing rampage.

[j-whitman]

What does SOB Bush say ?? "Just go shopping",,, We have a President who couldn't care less about our troops or national security.... ***'s only concerned with spinning his failed legacy.

[feelfree1]

According to the best available estimate, published recently in the Lancet medical journal, more than 650,000 Iraqis have died so far, as a result of the illegal U.S.-led war of aggression against Iraq. Many, many, more innocent Iraqis have been humiliated, imprisoned, tortured, raped, and/or sodomized by U.S. agents.

It is little wonder that U.S. troops are so clearly unwanted in Iraq. %u201CGreeted as Liberators%u201D? I think not. This was just another faith-based lie, fabricated by the Bush regime to justify their crimes.

The Iraqi people have every right to defend themselves against the brutal and illegal invasion and destruction of their country, and against the puppet collaborators of the invading forces.

The recent effort to blame the people of Iraq for the Made in America catastrophe, which we have collectively delivered to them, really plumbs new depths of contemptibility in my opinion.

At any rate, I would agree that even the most heinous murder, rape, and torture offenders in our military ranks, even they deserve an apology from the despicable and illegitimate Bush-puppet-Fuhrer regime.