Everything about The Haditha Killings totally explained
The
Haditha killings (also called the
Haditha incident or the
Haditha massacre) refers to the incident where 24 Iraqi men, women and children were killed on
November 19 2005 in
Haditha, a city in the western
Iraq province of
Al Anbar. At least 15 of those killed were
noncombatant civilians and all were killed by a group of
United States Marines. It has been alleged that the killings were retribution for the attack on a convoy of
United States Marines with an
improvised explosive device that killed Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas.
A Marine Corps communique initially reported that 15 civilians were killed by the bomb's blast and eight insurgents were subsequently killed when the Marines returned fire against those attacking the convoy. However, evidence uncovered by the media contradicted the Marines' account. The Time magazine reporter's questions prompted the
U.S. military to open an investigation into the incident. The investigation claimed it found evidence that "supports accusations that U.S. Marines deliberately shot civilians, including unarmed women and children", according to an
anonymous Pentagon official. On
December 21,
2006, eight Marines from
3rd Battalion, 1st Marines were charged in connection with the incident. As of March 28, 2008, charges against five of the eight Marines had been dropped.
In the course of
Article 32 hearings, which have not yet concluded, conflicting testimony has been presented, some of it rebutting the case made by prosecutors and widely cited in the media. The investigating officer has told the prosecution so far, "The account you want me to believe doesn't support unpremeditated murder." He conceded that the central issue was who is to be believed and that he was disinclined to recommend a trial when he thought it was unlikely any Iraqi would agree to come to the U.S. to testify. On 9 August, LtGen
James Mattis dropped the charges against Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, who had been accused of murder, and against Capt. Randy Stone, accused of failing to investigate the incident. On 23 August, the investigating officer recommended charges against Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum be dropped as well but on October 19th, his commanding officer decided the charges should be lowered to involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and aggravated assault.
On October 3, 2007, the
Article 32 hearing investigating officer recommended that Staff Sgt. Wuterich be tried for
negligent homicide in deaths of two women and five children, and that charges of murder be dropped.
The final article 32 proceedings are expected to resume on October 29th against 1st Lt. Andrew A. Grayson, who could be charged with inadequate reporting of the incident.
Events
Background
Since the
2003 invasion of Iraq, U.S. military forces have been stationed in and around Haditha to control the
Haditha Dam, a major
hydroelectric installation. The area had seen several clashes between U.S. forces and insurgent groups since the beginning of the
Iraq war with many fatalities on both sides.
A contemporary
Time magazine poll reported that 85% of Iraq's Sunnis opposed coalition forces, as compared to 65% of Iraqis overall.
The roadside bombing
On
November 19,
2005 Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas was killed in a 7:15AM roadside bombing and two other Marines were wounded.
Killings and immediate aftermath
Deaths & injuries of Iraqis in Haditha
|
| 1. Abdul Hamid Hassan Ali, 76 -- grandfather, father and husband. Died with nine rounds in the chest and abdomen. |
| 3. Rashid Abdul Hamid, 30. |
| 5. Jahid Abdul Hamid Hassan, middle-aged man. |
| 7. Abdullah Walid, 4. |
| Escaped: Daughter-in-law, Hibbah, escaped with 2-month-old Asia |
| 8. Younis Salim Khafif, 43 -- husband of Aeda Yasin Ahmed, father. |
| 10. Muhammad Younis Salim, 8 -- son. |
| 12. Sabaa Younis Salim, 10 -- daughter. |
| 14. Aisha Younis Salim, 3 -- daughter. |
| Survived: Safa Younis Salim, 13. |
| 16. Jamal Ahmed, 41. |
| 18. Qahtan Ahmed, 24. |
| Taxi -- 5 killed: Passengers were students at the Technical Institute in Saqlawiyah |
| 21. Akram Hamid Flayeh. |
| 23. Wajdi Ayada al-Zawi. |
| Source: United for Peace and Justice |
Five Iraqi men, a taxi driver and four teenagers, were ordered out of their car and shot dead in the street principally by Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich. After their deaths, Lt. William T. Kallop, according to his statements to investigators, arrived on the scene. Kallop and others report receiving small-arms fire, which they attributed to a nearby house. Kallop gave the order "to take the house." Nineteen of those killed were in three adjacent houses which U.S. Marines entered, throwing in grenades and shooting with automatic rifles. According to Kallop,
"The Marines cleared it the way they'd been trained to clear it, which is frags first. … It was clear just by the looks of the room that frags went in and then the house was prepped and sprayed like with a machine gun and then they went in. And by the looks of it, they just . . . they went in, cleared the room, everybody was down."
The director of the local hospital in Haditha, Dr Wahid, said that the 24 bodies were brought to the hospital around midnight on November 19th. While the Marines claim that the victims had been killed by shrapnel from the roadside bomb, Dr Wahid said that there were "no organs slashed by shrapnel in any of the bodies". He further claimed that it appeared that "the victims were shot in the head and chest from close range".
Evidence about the killings
Video shot by the founder of the Hammurabi Human Rights Group,
Taher Thabet, which instigated Tim McGirk's original
Time Magazine article, and cellphone photos reportedly taken by one of the Marines the day after the killings have been put forth as evidence that the killings were methodical and without resistance. The term "execution-style" has been used by anonymous U.S. military officials to describe the killings. In particular, the video shot by Thabet shows the bodies of the children and women with gunshot wounds, bullet holes in the interior walls of the house, and bloodstains on the floor.
McGirk's first article on this story had associated this group with the imprimatur of
Human Rights Watch. A correction was issued when this turned out to be untrue.
Legal proceedings
The intentional killing of noncombatants is prohibited by modern
laws of war derived from the
UN Charter, the
Hague Conventions and the
Geneva Conventions, and constitutes a
war crime. The Marines and officers are subject to possible
courts martial under the
Uniform Code of Military Justice, which is U.S. military law.
Investigations
On
February 14 2006, a preliminary investigation was ordered by Lt. Gen.
Peter W. Chiarelli, after video evidence was released, which conflicted with the initial U.S. report. On
March 9, a criminal investigation was launched, led by the
Naval Criminal Investigative Service, to determine if the troops deliberately targeted Iraqi civilians. A third investigation was launched by the
Iraqi government.
On
June 2 2006, news outlets had reported that 24 Iraqis were killed, none as a result of the bomb explosion. The news came in anticipation of the results of the military's investigation, which found that the 24 unarmed Iraqis—including children as young as two years old and women—were killed by 12 members of Kilo Company in the
3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.
The first investigation, under U.S. Army Maj. Gen.
Eldon Bargewell 2006,
The Times published the result of its investigations and interviews with eye witnesses. It noted that the "official investigation has already resulted in the removal of
Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Chessani, the commanding officer, and
Captain Luke McConnell and Captain
James Kimber, two company commanders, from their duties. Bargewell's investigation found that:
"Statements made by the chain of command during interviews for this investigation, taken as a whole, suggest that Iraqi civilian lives are not as important as U.S. lives, their deaths are just the cost of doing business, and that the Marines need to get 'the job done' no matter what it takes. These comments had the potential to desensitize the Marines to concern for the Iraqi populace and portray them all as the enemy even if they're noncombatants.
In addition, the Associated Press reported on June 1, 2006 that the Iraqi government decided to launch its own probe into the alleged killing of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines last year. Adnan al-Kazimi, an adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said the decision was made during a Cabinet meeting and the probe will be carried out by a special committee made up of the Justice and Human Rights ministries along with security officials.
The US Marines investigation has avoided public pronouncements. Nonetheless, in June 2006, the New York Times reported that, "Investigators have also concluded that most of the victims in three houses died from well-aimed rifle shots, not shrapnel or random fire, according to military officials familiar with the initial findings." Many of those killed have wounds from close-range fire, and their death certificates record "well-aimed shots to the head and chest" as the cause of death. Tatum was further charged with
negligent homicide and
assault, while de la Cruz was also charged with making a false statement. Squad leader Frank Wuterich was charged with 12 counts of unpremeditated murder against individuals and one count of the murder of six people "while engaged in an act inherently dangerous to others". The battalion commander,
Jeffrey Chessani, was charged with one count of violating a lawful order and two counts of
dereliction of duty.
First Lieutenant Andrew Grayson was charged with
obstruction of justice, dereliction of duty, and making a false statement, while
Captain Randy Stone and
Captain Lucas McConnell were charged with dereliction of duty. Stone also faced an additional count of violating a lawful order.
Pre-trial hearings
Testimony in an
Article 32 investigation for Capt. Randy W. Stone, equivalent to a civilian
grand jury proceeding, began on May 8, 2007. At the hearing, Marine Lt. William Kallop, the platoon commander who ordered Marines to "clear" four houses, testified that rules of engagement were followed and nothing wrong was done. When asked what mistakes were made, he said none, and went on to describe that a Marine on the scene reported seeing a suspected insurgent near and Kallop believed small arms fire was being directed from the first house attacked by the Marines.
On May 9, Sergeant Sanick Dela Cruz, who received immunity in return for testimony, testified that he watched Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich shoot five Iraqis who were attempting to surrender. Cruz further testified that both he and Wuterich fired into the bodies of the five after they were dead, and that he'd urinated on one of the dead Iraqis.
No weapons were found in the white taxi. A reconnaissance drone didn't arrive on the scene until after the killings yet Capt. Jeffrey Dinsmore, the intelligence officer for the battalion, testified that “it's fairly well established through the (
unmanned aerial vehicle) coverage that there were insurgents in those homes."
The US military has attempted to subpoena material from a 60 Minutes interview with Staff Sergeant Wuterich, specifically material where Wuterich admits to ordering his men to 'shoot first and ask questions later. The interview includes Wuterich insisting he perceived a threat from house 1 but saw no gun fire from that house and that he saw no insurgent enter that house. He suggests he saw the dead family in house 1 and proceeded to assault house 2 based on a guess that the gunman may have entered that house. The Marines knocked on the door of house 2 and when someone came to answer they fired through the door killing what they saw to be an unarmed man. They then assaulted the house and killed the family inside.
The Article 32 investigation recommended Capt. Randy W. Stone's criminal charge be dismissed, but that he face a new lesser charge that would be handled administratively for failing to investigate the incident properly. The charges against Stone were dropped on August 9th.
Lt. Col. Paul Ware, the Inspecting Officer for several of the enlisted Marines, recommended on July 11, 2007 that LCpl. Justin Sharratt be cleared of these charges. Ware stated, "[t]he government version is unsupported by independent evidence... To believe the government version of facts is to disregard clear and convincing evidence to the contrary." The charges against Sharratt were dropped on August 9th. The investigating officer recommended charges be dropped against Tatum.
On
August 9,
2007, all charges against Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt and Capt. Randy Stone were dropped. On October 19th, Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt's commanding officer decided the charges should be lowered to involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and aggravated assault..
On
September 18,
2007, all charges against Captain Lucas McConnell were dropped in exchange for immunity and his cooperation with the investigation.
On
March 28,
2008, all charges against LCpl. Stephen Tatum were dropped.
Reaction
According to
Sidney Blumenthal in a
Salon Magazine article,
"The coverup at Haditha reportedly began instantly. However, an Iraqi journalism student shot a video the day after of the bloodstained and bullet-riddled houses where the massacre had occurred. That video made its way to an Iraqi human rights group and finally to Tim McGuirk, a correspondent from Time magazine. When Time made its first queries, the Marine spokesman, Capt. Jeffrey S. Pool, who had issued the first statement on Haditha as an action against terrorists months earlier, told reporters that they were falling for al-Qaida propaganda. 'I can't believe you're buying any of this,' he wrote in an e-mail. Nonetheless, word reached Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the second-highest-ranking U.S. military officer in Iraq, that there had been no investigation and he ordered one immediately."
According to the
Los Angeles Times, military and congressional sources distinguished between two squads: the original Marine squad involved in the explosion and shootings, and a Marine intelligence squad that took photos shortly after the shootings. According to LA Times sources, although the intelligence squad's photos were inconsistent with the Marine squad's report of a firefight, no investigation occurred until after a March 2006 Time Magazine story alleging a massacre. According to the story, military officials blamed the delay of the investigation on the Marine squad's efforts to cover up the events:
Military officials say they believe the delay in beginning the investigation was a result of the squad's initial efforts to cover up what happened.
However, both military and congressional sources said that the
intelligence team that took photos after the firefight didn't appear to participate in any improper action:
[m]ilitary and congressional sources said there was no indication that the members of the intelligence team did anything improper or delayed reporting their findings.
In the same LA Times story,
Republican Representative John Kline of
Minnesota was quoted as saying:
There is no question that the Marines involved, those doing the shooting, they were busy in lying about it and covering it up — there's no question about it. But I'm confident, as soon as the command learned there might be some truth to this, they started to pursue it vigorously. I don't have any reason now to think there was any foot dragging.
John Dickerson and Dahlia Lithwick of Slate suggested that the Iraqis should be able to put the Marines on trial even though 85% of Iraq's Sunnis opposed coalition forces:
Let's let the Iraqis put the Americans alleged to have committed these crimes on trial. The United States wants to encourage the fledgling Iraqi institution of democracy, right? That's why we wanted Saddam tried in Iraq, and through the Iraqi judicial system--both to build up its legitimacy and to give Iraqis the sense of ownership that comes with having control over the legal process. Why, then, shouldn't we also turn over our own soldiers who were involved in either the Haditha massacre or any of the other possible massacres for trial under the Iraqi justice system?
News website NewsMax observed after the initial reporting:
In an April report that pre-dates the uproar over the Haditha allegations, a Marine press release describes the Iraqi town as "a hotbed of insurgent activity less than a year ago." That would be about the time of the so-called Marine massacre.Plainly, not all the residents of this terrorist hotbed were as innocent as Marine media critics are now claiming.
Comments by Representative Murtha
On May 17, 2006, Democratic Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a retired Marine colonel and critic of the war, stated at a news conference that an internal investigation had confirmed the story.
He was quoted as saying:
There was no firefight, there was no IED (improvised explosive device) that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.
On August 22006, Marine Corps staff sergeant Frank D. Wuterich, who led the accused squad, filed suit for libel and invasion of privacy. The filing states Murtha "tarnished the Marine's reputation by telling news organizations in May that the Marine unit cracked after a roadside bomb killed one of its members and that the troops "killed innocent civilians in cold blood." Murtha also said repeatedly that the incident was "covered up." Wuterich was charged with 13 counts of murder on December 21, 2006.
Comparisons with My Lai Massacre and other incidents
Many news reports have compared the Haditha Killings to the My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War, with some commentators describing it as "Bush's My Lai," or "Iraq's My Lai." Very often, the killings have been described as part of a wider pattern of perceived human rights abuses committed by coalition forces in Iraq. As a Spiegel reporter notes in an interview with Michael Sallah, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his investigation of atrocities committed by the Tiger Force unit in Vietnam, "you would have difficulties finding a single newspaper in Germany, or elsewhere in Europe, that doesn't deal with My Lai, Abu Ghraib, and Haditha in the same commentary." It is suggested that the Haditha killings may, like the My Lai Massacre, result in further reduction of American public support for the conflict. The massacre has also been compared to recent human rights violations in Afghanistan, particularly the Shinwar Massacre.
Comparisons have also been made to the case of Ilario Pantano, who was initially charged with premeditated murder in Iraq but this was dropped after it was determined there was no credible evidence or testimony. Pantano himself has spoken out in defense of the "Haditha Marines," objecting to the "rush to judgement."
The Nation Interviewed a group of marines who had served extensively in Iraq and they'd this to say about Iraqi civilian deaths,
Allegations of investigative failures
Family, friends, defense lawyers and conservative talk radio host Michael Savage have openly criticized the NCIS for its role in this case. They highlight the recent string of immunities granted as a sign of possible NCIS bungling. Others have lambasted the NCIS for being slow to act.
Film
Battle for Haditha, a film that portrays the Haditha massacre, directed by UK film-maker Nick Broomfield and starring Elliot Ruiz as Cpl. Ramirez, a good Marine who loses his composure after watching a friend die. The film, which was released in 2008, also features Jase Willette as Pfc. Cuthbert, the young Marine whose death sets off the chain of events that become the Haditha Massacre. Yasmine Hanani stars as Hiba, a young Iraqi woman stuck in the middle of the chaos, Eric Mehalacopoulos as the no non-sense Sgt. Ross, Falah Flayla as a former Iraqi Army Officer turned insurgent, and Thomas Hennessy as a Navy Corpsman assigned to Kilo company. Haditha assembles a cast that includes former U.S. Marines and Iraqi refugees.
In it, an angry but honorable Iraqi man is driven to revenge and joins an insurgency against an occupying army. Frightened villagers let him plant a bomb targeting a passing military convoy. An exemplary Marine, infuriated by the death of a cherished comrade, opens fire on the villagers, killing innocents.
The film was shot in an unconventional way whereas instead of a detailed script, there was only an outline of each scene and where the story was going. Actors would then improvise much of the dialogue based on Broomfield's instructions. The film has been picked up for international sales by Dreamachine and aired on Channel 4 in the UK on March 17, 2008. Oddly, the film doesn't cover the dropped charges.
Further Information
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