CAMP PENDLETON -- A Marine colonel in charge of troops involved in the 2005 slaying of Iraqi civilians in Haditha reacted with anger when confronted two months after the incident with allegations the deaths may have resulted from a violation of the military's rule of engagement.
"My Marines are not murderers," Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani responded when the allegations were brought to him, according to testimony Monday morning from Maj. Samuel Carrasco, the operations officer for the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment when the killings took place on Nov. 19, 2005.
Carrasco's testimony came on the sixth day of a hearing to determine if Capt. Randy Stone, the battalion's legal officer, should stand trial on dereliction of duty charges for failing to initiate an investigation of the killings. Carrasco described Nov. 19 as a day of numerous engagements in and around the city of Haditha, saying it was the busiest combat day throughout the battalion's entire deployment.
The allegations that two dozen civilians who died at the hands of the battalion's Kilo Company on Nov. 19 were killed in violation of the rules of engagement did not emerge until a Time magazine reporter began asking questions in January, Carrasco said.
Immediately after receiving an e-mail listing of the reporter's questions, Carrasco said he took the information to Chessani.
Until then, Carrasco said no one throughout the battalion or from higher headquarters asked any questions that would suggest the killings were anything other than a result of combat action.
The civilians were killed after a roadside bomb destroyed a Humvee, killing a lance corporal and two other Marines. Five men who drove up in a car immediately after the bombing were shot and 19 civilians in three nearby homes died afterword when troops from the battalion's Kilo Company stormed them, suspecting insurgents were inside.
The Marine Corps initially said that 15 civilians died in crossfire and that eight insurgents had been killed.
Despite that first report, when the service charged four officers including Stone and Chessani with dereliction of duty and four enlisted men with murder, it said that 24 civilians were killed and did not identify any of the victims as suspected insurgents.
In the end, the Marine Corps made death benefit payments to survivors of all 24, Stone's attorney Charles Gittins said Monday.
The testimony continues this afternoon and could last through Wednesday.
I hope Tim McGirk has MANY sleepless nights. This is on him and Murtha, who should be run out of town on a rail.
The Marine Corps initially said that 15 civilians died in crossfire.............................................