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Bush promises punishment if massacre { June 1 2006 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060601/news_1n1haditha.htmlhttp://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060601/news_1n1haditha.html
Bush promises punishment if massacre claims are true
Military questioning Marines' initial story about Haditha deaths
FROM STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES
June 1, 2006
President Bush said yesterday that he is troubled by allegations of a massacre in Haditha, Iraq, including newly revealed details of a military investigation that appear to contradict Camp Pendleton Marines' claims that they killed only insurgents.
In Iraq, the prime minister has expressed regret for the deaths, which happened Nov. 19. And a member of the platoon being investigated for the killings has said his fellow Marines may have been “blinded by hate.”
Military officials are looking into whether troops from Kilo Company of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment killed as many as two dozen unarmed Iraqis in Haditha without cause.
Bush's comments were his first public statement concerning the deaths. His remarks came after a meeting with Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“He's a proud Marine, and nobody is more concerned about these allegations than the Marine Corps,” Bush said in Washington, D.C. “I'm mindful that there's a thorough investigation going on. If in fact laws were broken, there will be punishment.”
The killings at Haditha, a city plagued by insurgents since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, occurred after a roadside bomb killed a Kilo Company Marine.
Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a decorated war veteran who has been briefed by military officials, has said Marines fatally shot unarmed civilians in a taxi at the scene, then went into two homes and killed men, women and children in a sweep that lasted five hours.
The battalion has since returned to Camp Pendleton. None of the Marines under investigation is being confined or restricted to the base, Lt. Col. Sean Gibson, a Marine Corps spokesman, said yesterday.
In contrast, several Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment are being held in pre-trial confinement at Camp Pendleton or have base restrictions because they may have unjustifiably killed a civilian April 26 in Hamandiyah, a small village west of Baghdad.
Yesterday, The New York Times reported that the initial probe of the Haditha killings found significant holes in the Marines' accounting of what happened. Those Marines described the dead as insurgents killed in the roadside bomb blast and a subsequent firefight.
But the first investigation into the incident, led by Army Col. Gregory Watt, said all the victims' death certificates showed that they suffered gunshot wounds mostly to the head and chest. The probe concluded that such injuries are inconsistent with those caused by a bomb explosion,the Times said.
“Things didn't add up,” said a senior military official who was briefed on Watt's findings and agreed to discuss them only after being promised anonymity.
Watt's investigation also raised questions about whether the Marines followed rules for identifying threats when they entered houses near the site of the bomb attack.
His inquiry was launched in March, shortly after Time magazine turned over its findings to military officials.
The Pentagon has since ordered a criminal investigation, which could lead to murder charges against some members of the battalion. It's also investigating whether enlisted Marines and their chain of command attempted to cover up the civilians' deaths.
White House press secretary Tony Snow said yesterday that Pentagon officials have assured him “all the details” will be released to the public once the inquiries are completed.
“The president also is allowing the chain of command to do what it's supposed to do in the Department of Defense, which is to complete an investigation,” Snow said.
An attorney for Capt. James Kimber, one of the battalion's three officers who were relieved of their commands this spring, said yesterday that the officers aren't targets of the Haditha investigations.
Kimber became aware of the Nov. 19 deaths only after the battalion returned to Camp Pendleton in March, said his attorney, Paul Hackett.
“He's not under investigation for anything related to what has played out in the press,” Hackett said.
He said Kimber was relieved of command because some of his subordinates used profanity and disparaged Iraqi troops in a British television interview.
Camp Pendleton has identified the other dismissed officers as Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, the battalion's commander, and Capt. Lucas McConnell, the Kilo Company commander.
Hackett said the investigations have targeted about a dozen enlisted Marines. The highest-ranking one is a staff sergeant who led the four-vehicle convoy that was hit by the roadside bomb.
On Tuesday, Lance Cpl. James Crossan of North Bend, Wash., who was wounded in the bomb attack, said some of the Marines might have snapped after seeing one of their own killed.
“I think they were just blinded by hate,” Crossan told KING-TV in Seattle. “They just lost control.”
Also Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made his first public comments concerning the case.
“It is not justifiable that a family is killed because someone is fighting terrorists,” al-Maliki told the BBC. “We have to be more specific and more careful.”
Arab media have largely ignored the allegations of Marines' misconduct in Haditha.
Other regional topics, such as the Palestinian Fatah-Hamas rivalry in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, have overshadowed the Haditha killings, said Dawood al-Shirian, a Saudi commentator and TV talk show host.
“But this issue cannot be hidden for long,” al-Shirian said. “Sooner or later, it will come to the surface.”
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The New York Times, The Associated Press and staff writers Steve Liewer and Rick Rogers contributed to this report.
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