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No Murder Charges
Filed in Haditha Case
Four Marines to Face Lesser Charges After Two-Year Inquiry Into
Iraqi Killings
By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
01/04/08 "Washington Post" -- -- After a two-year
investigation into the killings of up to 24 civilians in Haditha,
Iraq, the Marine Corps has decided that none of the Marines
involved in the incident will be charged with murder. Instead,
two enlisted Marines and two Marine officers will face trial in
coming months for the killings and for failing to investigate
them.
The most serious charges have been leveled against Marine Staff
Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, who is scheduled to be arraigned on
charges of voluntary manslaughter in California next week, the
last step before the case officially moves to trial.
Initially called a massacre by Iraqi residents of Haditha and
later characterized as coldblooded murder by a U.S. congressman,
the case has turned not on an alleged rampage but on a far more
complex analysis of how U.S. troops fight an insurgency in the
midst of a population they seek to protect.
The Marine Corps at first charged eight Marines and officers
with murder or failing to investigate an apparent war crime. The
charges have since been narrowed to four men in the unit, after
three were cleared and a fourth was granted immunity to testify.
Wuterich is charged with nine counts of voluntary manslaughter,
with the charges alleging that he had an intent to kill and that
his actions inside a residential home and on a residential
street in November 2005 amounted to unlawful killing "in the
heat of sudden passion caused by adequate provocation." Charging
documents released this week say he killed at least nine people
without properly obtaining positive identification that they
were the enemy in the midst of an attack. 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson
has been charged with obstructing the investigation.
Wuterich and Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum are the only two
shooters that day to face criminal scrutiny; Lt. Col. Jeffrey R.
Chessani, the battalion commander, faces charges that he was
derelict in his duty for failing to ask for an investigation.
The charges arise from the Nov. 19, 2005, shootings of as many
as 24 innocent civilians who were nearby when a roadside bomb
killed a member of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines.
Wuterich and others in his unit killed a group of men who were
in a white car near the blast and then stormed into two nearby
houses, killing unarmed men, women and children after the
Marines believed they were taking fire from the homes.
Public attention to the Haditha case increased in the spring of
2006 when Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) said after briefings from
military officials that the Marines had killed civilians "in
cold blood." The killings are among the most infamous of the
Iraq war; 69 U.S. troops have been charged in connection with
killing Iraqi civilians, and 22 of them have been convicted of
murder, negligent homicide or voluntary manslaughter.
Military law experts said the manslaughter charges reflect the
military's reluctance to pursue murder charges because they are
hard to win in court -- especially as military juries tend to
give combat troops the benefit of the doubt. Investigating
officers in the cases have recommended lesser charges because
they have found that the Marines determined the houses were
hostile and believed they could kill everyone inside, more
likely a case of recklessness than intent to commit a crime.
"I think it's still going to be hard to get convictions in these
types of cases when you're in a battlefield environment," said
David P. Sheldon, a military law expert in Washington.
Mark Zaid, one of Wuterich's defense attorneys, said the charges
show there was no "massacre" and that the case highlights how
difficult it is for U.S. troops to make tough battlefield
decisions. He said Wuterich and the other Marines were following
their rules of engagement when they shot and killed their
targets in Haditha, with unfortunate -- but not illegal --
consequences.
"Every Marine, period, is trained with the intent to kill," Zaid
said. "What everyone will realize at the end of the day is that
the characterization of the events was nothing like reality,
that the training the troops on the ground received was
primarily responsible for what happened, and that the fog of war
sometimes ends up with terrible results."
Brian Rooney, an attorney for Chessani, said yesterday that
Chessani's trial, scheduled for April, is merely a way for the
Marines to show they prosecuted an officer even after they
administratively punished at least three senior officers who
never ordered an investigation. Military probes blamed Chessani
and several others for failing to take civilian deaths
seriously.
"It's clear now that no massacre occurred, yet this legal
fiction is moving forward," Rooney said.
Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military
Justice, said that while the charges against the Marines are
still "very serious," they are not "the bang that people
expected at the front end." Each charge of voluntary
manslaughter carries a potential maximum sentence of 15 years in
prison.
Staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.
© 2008 The Washington Post Company
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