NEW YORK, Aug. 24, 2008
The Killings In Haditha
Marine Tells 60 Minutes He's Sorry Iraqi Civilians Were Killed, But Insists He Made Right Decision
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Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich speaks publicly about the Haditha killings for the first time with 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley. (CBS)
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Five years after the U.S.-led invasion, the war wears on.
He says he couldn't see where the fire was coming from, but a house to the south caught his eye.
"This building was right in the line of sight of this explosion here," Wuterich says.
"You did not see fire coming from the house, correct?" asks Pelley.
"I did not see muzzle flashes coming from the house, correct," Wuterich replies.
If he didn’t hear rounds coming from the house, how did he identify the house as a threat?
"Because that was the only logical place that the fire could come through seeing the environment there."
When Wuterich’s superior, Lt. William Kallop arrived, Kallop gave his okay to assault the house.
At this point it’s important to know that even though Wuterich had never cleared houses in combat, two of his men had, and it had been a bitter experience. It was about a year before in Falluja. The residents had been ordered out of the city and the Marines were told anyone left behind was hostile. Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, one of Wuterich’s men, was in that fatal Falluja house clearing.
In the incident, Marines tossed a grenade past the door and rush in. But the enemy returns fire. One Marine is killed and eight are wounded. Another veteran of Falluja was Lance Corporal Steve Tatum.
Now a year later, Sharratt and Tatum would be charged with murder for what they were about to do in Haditha. Tatum, Wuterich and two others ran from the road at the top, down the ravine to assault the first house -- Wuterich telling the Marines shoot first, ask questions later.
After hearing noises behind a closed door, they kicked in the door and threw in the grenade. "First man enters the room and engages the people in the room," Wuterich remembers.
He says he didn't fire any rounds in the house.
"Frank, help me understand. You're in a residence, how do you crack a door open and roll a grenade into a room?" Pelley asks.
"At that point, you can’t hesitate to make a decision. Hesitation equals being killed, either yourself or your men," he says.
"But when you roll a grenade in a room through the crack in the door, that’s not positive identification, that’s taking a chance on anything that could be behind that door," Pelley says.
"Well that’s what we do. That’s how our training goes," he says.
Next, Wuterich says he glanced into the room and he saw bodies.
"…I remember there may have been women in there, may have been children in there," he says. "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], he tells Pelley.
Wuterich says the back door of the house was open. He hadn’t seen the gunman, but he assumed the gunman fled next door. So the Marines hit the next house.
He says, "We went through that house much the same, prepping the room with grenades, going in there, and eliminating the threat and engaging the targets…There probably wasn’t [a threat], now that I look back on it. But there, in that time, yes, I believed there was a threat."
Produced by Shawn Efran and Solly Granatstein
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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See all 411 CommentsI have to wonder what would have been said about our soldiers in WWI and WWII had to media been so rampantly disrespectful of what our soldiers had to do, to stay alive back in those days. Ever wonder what you would do in a similar situation? Bet it wouldn''t be the reaction you''d hope for.
A very judgemental episode. First time I''ve ever been ashamed of 60 Minutes in the 30+ years I''ve been watching.
If justice demands someone pay for these deaths, and it should, then it demands the Bush administration stand trial for leading us to Iraq with what is now known to be nothing but a pack of lies.
The Marine (Sgt Wuterich) did exactly as I would have done under the same circumstances. I am a Viet Nam veteran ( 9 years enlisted and 15 years as an officer) who told my Marines in Viet Nam if they saw anything that looked suspicous, shoot it. We will check later. There are many Mothers and Wives who will agree with that concept because their son/husband came home alive. I am so tired of all the non-combatents who make moral judgements on our combat men and women. Split second decisions must be made by our front line leaders (mostly enlisted Non-commistioned officers). Under no circunstances can a person who has never been in harms way judge who is to live and who is to die, including local civilians who are hostile toward our troops. Rules of engagement have cost Military lives. I have witnessed women, children and old people that would kill you if given the chance. My job is not to play God- my job is to make sure my Marines and I stay alive.
Semper Fi
William Hemlepp Sr
Major USMC (Ret)
disgusted in MT.
I am 35 years old and have no military experience. But I do understand that it is kill or be killed when you are at war. You do not have time to second guess your decisions. I believe that the US has not been allowed to win a war since WWII. With all the media coverage that sets back and makes judgements after something happens. Anyone can do that. Put them on the line and see if they make the right choice everytime. War is War and people are going to get hurt or killed. War is not a Hollywood movie where only the bad guys get shot.
Nobody in their right mind wants to see innocent people killed and from this young Marine''s body language I am sure he did not want to kill innocent people. But he had been attacked. His comrads had been blown up. The area he was operating in was highly volatile. I don''t know why your reporter was so surprised at this Marine''s reaction. His reaction may well have been wrong. I don''t know what I would have done and I am sure your sanctimonious reporter can be absolutely sure what he would have done.
There is an erie similarity between his invasion of these Iraqi houses and President Bush''s invasion of Iraq. Bush believed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, while Sgt Wuterich believed the Iraqis in the houses had weapons of destruction just as deadly to him and his men as those WMD''s Pres. Bush believed in.
I believe that Pres. Bush''s belief in WMDs was a little more of a stretch than that of Sgt. Wuterich.
How can you hold him to a hirer standard than The Pres.
Pelley is typical of most of the news (entertainers) on the air today. They have never had the responsibilities that the sgt. had on his shoulders that night and have absolutely no understanding of combat. They are armchair commando''s who sit in judgement on our troops with the advantage of knowledge that the sgt. had no way of knowing at the time. For him to speak so condesendingly to combat Marines is disgusting. Of course he is sorry for any innocent victims in this case however hindsite is only available to survivors and those who weren''t there.
Murtha should know better. In my opinion he has moved from ''former'' to ''ex''.
Semper Fi
We are going to as the United States of America justify and blame our Marines for doing their job.
Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich by the way who was 25 years of age had a family, but is now divorced because of his duty to his country.
Scott Pelley questioned Sgt. Wuterich as if he was the enemy as he sat in his 60 minutes chair in his suit. Was Mr. Pelley ever in combat? This is an outrage. I am not an individual who believes in this war, but I am an individual who believes in our servicemen 110%.
I don%u2019t recall Iraq apologizing to anyone in this war or 911.
Hello America, this is ridiculous. One has to believe that when we go to war we need our service men to spend time with the enemy families instead being in combat. It is devastating when anyone is killed. We all suffer for these families.
The majority of Americans, I believe, are compassionate and are devastated about violence and the war but to put one of our servicemen on a network for the whole world to identify and target is a travesty. So now the enemy can say how horrible Americans truly are and they would be justified in another attack on the US.
I do not believe in murder but this surely wasn%u2019t as we sit in our comfortable chair and judge actions thousands of miles away during time of war. I think judgment is in the eye of the beholder.
This was war!
silver-spooned civilian know that he is serving his country, so that Pelly can sit there like the smug, accusational, prima donna he is and conduct this interview. shame on the marines for allowing this
soldier to fight a battle he''s not trained for. i''d like to see that self-righteous son of a *** Pelly bully a soldier with some brass on his shoulder, he''d be crucified! Buck Fush!!!! A real president would have ended this fiasco long ago, now he''s going to pass the buck to the next political sucker.
What a joke!
Have you been through Marine boot camp? We are taught to shoot first as questions later. Once I was in the Marines, the title I am greatly proud of.
These Marines are doing their job, this what we have been trained to do.
To me it seems as we are repeating the story here. We have Border Patrol agents put in jail for doing their job, Mexican Government telling our government what to do, now this with the Marines. Our nation can''t afford to be PC. During WWII nothing like this happend. Where is the back bone of our goverment? Who''s getting paid off What special interest groups are involved?
60 Min. You have vets who are reporters. This doesn''t anger you? It pains me to see other Marines questioned for their duty to country. 60 min, perhaps you need to have your sons and daughters enlist, have them kill people in the name of freedom, and them lets see how you feel when you see your flesh and blood questioned on national T.V.
I SUPPORT THE MARINES 100%
SEMPER FI
Have you been through Marine boot camp? We are taught to shoot first as questions later. Once I was in the Marines, the title I am greatly proud of.
These Marines are doing their job, this what we have been trained to do.
To me it seems as we are repeating the story here. We have Border Patrol agents put in jail for doing their job, Mexican Government telling our government what to do, now this with the Marines. Our nation can''t afford to be PC. During WWII nothing like this happend. Where is the back bone of our goverment? Who''s getting paid off What special interest groups are involved?
60 Min. You have vets who are reporters. This doesn''t anger you? It pains me to see other Marines questioned for their duty to country. 60 min, perhaps you need to have your sons and daughters enlist, have them kill people in the name of freedom, and them lets see how you feel when you see your flesh and blood questioned on national T.V.
I SUPPORT THE MARINES 100%
SEMPER FI
Have you been through Marine boot camp? We are taught to shoot first as questions later. Once I was in the Marines, the title I am greatly proud of.
These Marines are doing their job, this what we have been trained to do.
To me it seems as we are repeating the story here. We have Border Patrol agents put in jail for doing their job, Mexican Government telling our government what to do, now this with the Marines. Our nation can''t afford to be PC. During WWII nothing like this happend. Where is the back bone of our goverment? Who''s getting paid off What special interest groups are involved?
60 Min. You have vets who are reporters. This doesn''t anger you? It pains me to see other Marines questioned for their duty to country. 60 min, perhaps you need to have your sons and daughters enlist, have them kill people in the name of freedom, and them lets see how you feel when you see your flesh and blood questioned on national T.V.
I SUPPORT THE MARINES 100%
SEMPER FI
Shawn Quinlivan
Amen.
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