U.S. Military Admits Iraq Massacre -- Months After Press Reported It

Editor and Publisher | May 26 2006

NEW YORK Months after the killings were uncovered by the press, the U.S. military finally appears ready to admit that a massacre took place in an Iraqi village last November and then was covered up by soldiers or officers.

"A military investigation into the deaths of two dozen Iraqis last November is expected to find that a small number of marines in western Iraq carried out extensive, unprovoked killings of civilians," Congressional, military and Pentagon officials confirm, The New York Times reports Friday. "Two lawyers involved in discussions about individual marines' defenses said they thought the investigation could result in charges of murder, a capital offense.

"That possibility and the emerging details of the killings have raised fears that the incident could be the gravest case involving misconduct by American ground forces in Iraq."

Time magazine first brought the murders to lights in the U.S. in March, after months of charges in the Arab press. Knight Ridder and the Associated Press followed with stories. The main evidence was a video shot by a local journalism student, plus testimony of villagers to human rights workers. It is not known why six months passed since the incident before the military confirmed the episode, sparking more anger against Americans in Iraq.

The military had first said that the victims died from a homemade bomb, and later, in a crossfire.

Rather, the Times reports, evidence "indicates that the civilians were killed during a sustained sweep by a small group of marines that lasted three to five hours and included shootings of five men standing near a taxi at a checkpoint, and killings inside at least two homes that included women and children, officials said.

"That evidence, described by Congressional, Pentagon and military officials briefed on the inquiry, suggested to one Congressional official that the killings were 'methodical in nature.'"

Three Marine officers — the battalion commander and two company commanders in Haditha at the time — have been relieved of duty, although officials have declined to link that action to the probe, the Times noted.

Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), a retired Marine colonel, told the Times that the allegations indicated that "this was not an accident. This was direct fire by marines at civilians." He added, "This was not an immediate response to an attack. This would be an atrocity."

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