Marine charged in Iraq murders wanted leeway to kill, troop says, Associated Press, July 17, 2007
CAMP PENDLETON – A Marine charged with murdering two girls and killing several other Iraqis said after the deaths that he disapproved how the United States was waging war and wished troops had more leeway to shoot, a squadmate testified Tuesday.
Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum poked fun at a squadmate who asked permission before shooting and said he thought the war should be fought the way it was in Biblical scriptures, "where you just go in the city and kill every living thing," said Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz.
With Tatum leaning intently forward behind the defense table, Dela Cruz spoke quietly and was repeatedly told to speak up for the court reporter. He said Tatum made the comments to him while they were on patrol in January 2006.
Tatum was in the second day of preliminary hearings to determine whether he will be tried for murder in the biggest U.S. criminal case involving civilian deaths to come out of the Iraq war. In the aftermath of a roadside bomb that killed one Marine and injured two others on Nov. 19, 2005, Marines killed 24 Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha.
Dela Cruz, who testified with a grant of immunity, said that he recalled Tatum entering an Iraqi home near the bomb site where Marines had found more than $5,000 in U.S. currency and suggested that the money should be sent to the family of their fallen comrade to pay for a funeral.
"I think he was serious," Dela Cruz said. Tatum did not take the money in the end.
Another squad member, Lance Cpl. Humberto Manuel Mendoza, was also expected to testify Tuesday.
Mendoza, who is among seven Marines given immunity in the case, told investigators in March 2006 he shot at least two men because they were in houses declared hostile.
Mendoza has said he and several other Marines, including Tatum, went to a house soon after the blast. There, Mendoza told investigators, he shot a man in a room who was standing by a closet.
"He opened the closet door with his left hand and was reaching inside with his right hand while looking at me. ... I shot him several times," Mendoza in a statement. "I never said anything to him."
Mendoza said he shot another man through a glass door in a different house.
"I was following my training that all individuals in a hostile house are to be shot," Mendoza told investigators.
At the opening of Tatum's hearing Monday, his attorney said Tatum believed he was following procedure by confronting a threat with deadly force.
Besides unpremeditated murder of two girls in one house, Tatum is charged with negligent homicide on suspicion that he unlawfully killed two men, a woman and a young boy. He is also accused of assaulting another boy and a girl. If convicted of murder, he faces up to life in prison.
The squad leader, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, is charged with murdering 18 Iraqis. His preliminary hearing is set for Aug. 22.
After the Article 32 investigation, the military equivalent of a grand jury proceeding, hearing officer Lt. Col. Paul Ware will recommend whether Tatum should face a court-martial. The final decision rests with Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the general overseeing the case.
Witness: Markings may have symbolized murders
North County Times, July 17, 2007
By: TERI FIGUEROA --- staff writer
CAMP PENDLETON ---- A lance corporal accused of killing Iraqi women and children in Haditha may have written 24 markings on a piece of his buddy's gear ---- possibly symbolizing the number of Iraqis killed by Marines responding to a deadly roadside bomb attack.
One of the former co-defendants of Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum testified Tuesday that he saw Tatum's signature underneath 24 markings he said he believed signified the number of Iraqi victims. The gear belonged to Lance Cpl. Miguel "TJ" Terrazas, who died in the bombing, and was to be sent home to Terrazas family.
Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz was testifying against Tatum during an investigative hearing to determine if Tatum should face trial in the deaths of six of the 24 victims on Nov. 19, 2005. Dela Cruz himself faced homicide charges, which were dropped in exchange for his agreement to testify against his squadmates about the killings.
The Haditha incident is the largest civilian killing case to result in criminal charges since the U.S invasion of Iraq in 2003.
On Dec. 21, the Marine Corps charged Dela Cruz, Tatum and two other enlisted men, Lance Cpls. Justin Sharratt and Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, with the deaths. Marines also charged four of their commanding officers with dereliction of duty for allegedly failing to properly investigate and report what happened.
All of the men have said directly or through their attorneys or family members that they are innocent of any wrongdoing.