Marine Captain Randy Stone is facing charges of covering up a war crime resulting from the deaths of 26 civilians in Haditha, Iraq. In a preliminary hearing:
[First Lieutenant William Kallop] testified on Tuesday that he ordered Marines to clear two houses in a response that ended up killing many civilians.
[Kallop] testified he was trying to evacuate two wounded and one dead Marine when the rescuers and survivors came under gunfire attack in 2005.
Sgt. Frank Wuterich, one of three Marines now facing murder charges for what local Iraqis have called a revenge killing of 24 people, went into the houses on his orders, Kallop said.
"I pointed to a group of building and said 'Flush them out, try to find the trigger man,"' Kallop testified, speaking in a matter-of-fact tone.
Minutes later, after Wuterich's squad finished, Kallop walked through the two houses, where the majority of the 24 victims died, either from grenades or gunfire.
"I thought 'Hey, what the crap, why aren't there any bad guys, any insurgents here?"' Kallop said. "I thought that was within the rules of engagement because the squad leader was about to kick in a door and walk into a machine gun nest."
Here's the situation (as I understand it): A IED exploded killing one Marine and wounding two. While trying to evacuate the wounded, the group comes under fire from a house. Rather than sit there and be killed, the Marines go into the houses--probably using fire and maneuver and lobbing grenades to clear the way. Unfortunately, the houses were full of civilians who were killed.
What a shock, the bad guys hid among civilians, including women and children.
The war crime here was committed by insurgents. I'm sure the Marines had no idea there were civilians in those houses. Of course Reuters reports this in their usual objective and dispassionate manner:
After a roadside bomb ripped Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas in half, squad members went to several houses in the village, searching for the bombers and leaving a trail of dead Iraqi men, women and children. Marines also shot five men who were riding by in a taxi.
The Marines charged in the killings contend that they were following procedure while prosecutors have accused them of murder in the town 60 miles north of Baghdad.
Three Marines are charged with murder, while four officers -- a lieutenant colonel, two captains and a lieutenant -- have been charged with failing to investigate the incident until Time magazine reported on the deaths.
Or, they took fire from houses packed with civilians, defended themselves, and accidentally killed insurgent hostages. Never believe you're getting the whole story from the MSM, especially Reuters.
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