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U.S. officers rejected Haditha
probe request
Marty Graham
Reuters
Sunday May 13, 2007
U.S. commanders rejected a local council's request for an investigation
days after Marines in Iraq killed 24 civilians in the town of Haditha
in November 2005, according to testimony on Saturday at a military
tribunal.
The councilors' concerns were dismissed because commanders believed
the civilians died in cross-fire when troops responded to an attack
by insurgents that had killed one of their own, said Maj. Dana Hyatt,
who was at what he said was a 45-minute-long meeting between local
officials and Marine officers.
"It wasn't the Marines who instigated this. Having (bombs)
and attacks in the neighborhood was also their (the residents')
responsibility, they had some responsibility," Hyatt said,
in testimony at the hearing into the killings at Camp Pendleton,
a Marine Corps base in Southern California.
Hyatt, who was in charge of condolence payments to families of
the dead and acted as liaison between Marines and the community,
characterized the deaths as "unfortunate."
He said he saw no need for an investigation at the time as he had
been told there had been suicide bombers found with weapons among
eight dead insurgents counted by Marines in Haditha.
Hyatt recalled meeting three vehicles carrying the bodies of the
24 slain civilians, including a child's body, at a local morgue
in the early morning of November 20, 2005.
"I remember seeing a young child's head sticking out of one
of the black garbage bags," Hyatt said. "I was trying
not to stare too much."
Seven Marines have been charged in connection with the 24 deaths.
Prosecutors allege the killings were revenge for the death of a
popular young Marine killed by a roadside bomb.
The defendants say the killings occurred as they cleared an area
after the attack as they had been ordered to do.
Three Marines have been charged with murder. Four officers not
present at the killings have been charged with not investigating
or obstructing the probe.
First Lt. William Kallop earlier this week testified he ordered
troops into two houses to search for insurgents believed to have
triggered the roadside bombs that killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas
and wounded two other Marines.
Kallop said the Marines told him they heard rounds being chambered
in one of the houses and then attacked with grenades and gunfire.
The attacks on the houses left 15 civilians, including women and
children, dead.
At least six witnesses have testified they never saw a reason to
investigate the deaths until Time magazine submitted questions four
months after the killings. Time's report on the killings prompted
a Pentagon investigation.
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