Marines Testify in Haditha Case.
Testimonials for the Article 32 investigation into the November 2005 events in Haditha, Iraq unveiled grave degradations and dereliction of duty. Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz testified that he witnessed Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich kill five Iraqi’s who were bound and detained following an IED encounter by the Marines of Kilo Company. Dela Cruz stated that he sprayed the bodies of the Iraqi’s with automatic gunfire following Wuterich’s initial shooting and urinated on the head of one of the Iraqi’s. Dela Cruz later stated that Wuterich ordered him to lie about the event, telling him to say the Iraqi’s had tried to escape.
First Sgt. Albert Espinosa, who maintained casualty reports for Kilo Company, told the military court that he was not satisfied with the answers he received from his commanding officers regarding the November 19th, 2005 events. Espinosa testified that he was increasingly frustrated by the indifference regarding the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians. He stated he had repeatedly inquired to his commanding officers that an investigation was warranted, but was told “don’t worry about it.”
On November 19th, 2005, a convoy of Marines from Kilo Company was on patrol in Haditha. An IED was detonated under a humvee, killing Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas (“TJ”) and wounding two others. According to Iraqi witnesses, Marines entered a house near the area and fired on its residents, killing seven. Marines then entered a second home and detonated a grenade, killing eight of its residents, including a 2 year old boy. Witness accounts then detail the Marines entering a third home, killing four men inside a small closet. According to the official account from the US Marines, the entire event lasted five hours with at least 23 dead. 15 were classified as non-combatants. The Marines found two AK-47’s in the five hour raid.
Espinosa testified the log books from November 19th were missing. The preliminary hearing regards charges against Marine lawyer, Capt. Randy Stone, for dereliction of duty for failure to investigate the events.
An Article 32 investigation is the military equivalent of the constitutional right to grand jury indictment. Its intent is to provide pre-trail examination of the facts and evidence surrounding the allegations to determine eligibility to refer the case to a general court-martial, the most serious level of courts-martial. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has been conducting a criminal investigation to determine if the Marines of Kilo Company had violated the laws of war. Sgt. Dela Cruz was granted immunity from murder charges in exchange for his testimony.
The US government paid surviving family members $2,500 for each of the 15 non-combatants.
Narrative from Time
May 10th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
What a nightmare. Given that Iraq is a very tight-knit clan society, it’s not much of a surprise that frequent incidents like this have spawned such widespread and violent opposition to our occupation.
May 11th, 2007 at 10:01 am
So, what then, Jeb? I don’t follow you. Are you arguing that there is a tendancy to point fingers at American forces and that this is some form of scapegoating?
July 24th, 2007 at 7:04 am
[…] The groups are claiming that the top military brass are “eating their young” and basing their prosecutions on flimsy evidence. They site the recent dismissal of charges against Lance Corporal Justin Sharatt, who was convicted of murder in Haditha in 2005. The groups are using evangelical rhetoric that appears aligned with some of the reasoning used by President Bush to support continued military operations in Iraq. The group www.marinedefensefund.com has stated that “the insurgency has found a new weapon” by accusing U.S. military personnel of war crimes. In addition, spokesmen for the group Military Combat Defense Fund stated that religious conviction drives their grass roots efforts. None of the groups, however, seek assistance for military personnel who have pleaded guilty. […]