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U.S. Inquiry Hampered by Iraq Violence, Investigators Say

New York Times, June 13, 2007

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., June 12 — Two naval investigators testified at a military hearing here on Tuesday that their inquiry into allegations that marines killed 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005 was hampered by insurgent bombs and gunfire as well as the absence of basic equipment like tape recorders.

Nayda Mannle, a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, said she had conducted a hurried group interview of six relatives of the men killed three months earlier, rapidly jotting notes of the translation of their overlapping responses as American troops stood outside, ready to fend off any attack by enemy fighters.

Another N.C.I.S. agent, Mark Platt, said he could not complete one interview of Iraqi witnesses in Haditha because the conversation was “cut short by small-arms fire.”

The testimony came in a hearing to weigh evidence against Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt, one of three enlisted men in Company K, Third Battalion, First Marines, who are charged with murder in the killings of Iraqi civilians in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005.

Corporal Sharratt, 22, of Canonsburg, Pa., was charged with unpremeditated murder in the shooting of three of the four men that he and another marine encountered during a search of a home, two hours after a roadside bomb killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas.

The two agents were among government investigators assigned to collect forensic evidence — like shell casings and blood samples — and interview Iraqi relatives of the 24 people killed in Haditha.

Ms. Mannle, the special agent, said her team arrived at the Marine base near Haditha in March 2006. Marines who escorted the team members to the scene told them they would have only about an hour to conduct interviews and collect evidence.

When the convoy approached the home where four men had been killed, Ms. Mannle recalled, she heard women inside scream in fear. Because of time and security concerns, she said, she had interviewed six family members at once, gathering testimony that would form the case against Corporal Sharratt.

James D. Culp, a civilian lawyer defending Corporal Sharratt, suggested that group interviews had been “contradictory to everything you have been taught.” Ms. Mannle said she did not have time to conduct separate interviews or review her notes before the marines said it was time to leave.

She did not record the interview, she said, because she could not find a recorder, but when pressed by Mr. Culp, she said she never sought to buy one from the post exchange.

An N.C.I.S. spokesman, Ed Buice, said in an e-mail message that no federal law enforcement agency regularly taped interviews.

As the marines hustled investigators from the home, a roadside bomb blew up nearby, Ms. Mannle said.

From Day Three...

Chaotic day in Haditha described in military court

North County Times, June 13, 2007

CAMP PENDLETON ----Insurgent attacks taking place throughout the city of Haditha the day 24 civilians died at the hands of a group of Camp Pendleton Marines in 2005 made it a day of chaotic battle, a sergeant testified Wednesday.

Sgt. Frank Wolf said the attacks that occurred on Nov. 19, 2005 reminded him of the battle for the city of Fallujah in the fall of 2004, one of the major battles of the Iraqi war.

Wolf's comments came on the third day of a hearing for Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, one of three enlisted men from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment charged with murder in the civilian deaths.

"It was definitely a hostile environment," Wolf testified. "I would put that day up there with Fallujah -- every guy being sent out was being hit with IEDs or small arms fire."

Wolf was a platoon leader in the battalion who had served with the 22-year-old Sharratt in Fallujah as well as at Haditha. Both participated in numerous house-clearing operations in Fallujah, Wolf said, adding that Sharratt was adept at that task as well as his regular duties.

"As a Marine I think he is one of the better ones out there," Wolf said.

Sharratt is accused of killing three brothers inside the bedroom of one of four homes the Marines stormed the morning of Nov. 19 after a roadside bomb destroyed a Humvee, killing Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas and injuring two others.

His attorneys maintain he was acting in self-defense after being ordered to clear the house of insurgents. The shootings took place when he encountered an Iraqi man inside the bedroom holding an AK-47, according to the attorneys.

Relatives of the slain Iraqi men, however, contend the men were herded into the room and shot in the head in rapid succession. A prosecutor, Capt. Christopher Hur, described those killings in court Wednesday as an "execution."

The hearing is being presided over by Lt. Col. Paul Ware, who when it concludes will write a recommendation stating whether he believes the evidence warrants ordering Sharratt to trial on three counts of unpremeditated murder. That decision ultimately will be made by Lt. Gen. James Mattis as commander of Camp Pendleton's I Marine Expeditionary Force.

Hearings for two other accused shooters will take place later this summer.