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This is old, but I couldn't remember whether we had posted it at the time.

From the Hartford Courant, December 22, 2006: Family Rejects Atrocity Charges: Ex-Meriden Man Faces 18 Murder Counts In Deaths Of Iraq Civilians

Word that the Marine Corps would prosecute eight of its own in the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians elicited the same reaction from the families of the accused and the neighbors of the dead: Justice won't be served.

The Meriden, Conn., parents of the Marine facing the most serious charges arising from the patrol that November 2005 day in the town of Haditha rejected the accusations.

"We're kind of devastated right now," Dave Wuterich said. "We stand right behind him. We still think he's innocent."

The charges Thursday came in what could be the highest-profile atrocity case prosecution to arise out of the Iraq war. The Marines killed the civilians during a bloody, door-to-door sweep after one of their comrades was killed by a roadside bomb.

Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, a 26-year-old squad leader, is charged with murdering 12 civilians and ordering the murders of six more inside a house cleared by his squad. Three other enlisted Marines also were charged with unpremeditated murder. Four Marine officers who weren't present were charged with failing to investigate and report the Nov. 19, 2005, slayings.

Residents of Haditha, a town northwest of Baghdad, expressed no faith in the system of U.S. military justice.

"The trial they are talking about is fake," Naji al-Ani, a 36-year-old laborer, said by telephone from Haditha. "The American troops should be brought here, in front of an Iraqi court. They committed a horrible crime against innocents."

In Meriden, Dave Wuterich spoke to reporters in front of the family home, a blue ranch-style house with red shutters and a white door. An American flag was on the front door, and two cars parked in front bore Marine Corps bumper stickers and signs reading, "Defend the defenders. Who's got their backs?"

He said family members believe Frank Wuterich, who grew up in town, is innocent.

"He says they followed the rules of engagement," Dave Wuterich said. "They were taking small arms fire. They did what they had to do."

At a news conference to announce the charges, military officials would not say what they believe prompted the killings. But investigators have raised the possibility that the men went on a rampage in a fury over the roadside bombing that killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas of El Paso, Texas, and wounded two other Marines.

The charge sheets allege that the Marines failed to properly identify their targets and allege that Frank Wuterich told his unit to "shoot first and ask questions later."

Wuterich also allegedly asked another Marine to lie and tell investigators that they shot four of the victims, all men, after the men opened fire on the Marines' convoy and ran away after the bomb exploded. The men didn't fire on the convoy, according to charge sheets.

Iraqis in Haditha have described the incident as a massacre, saying the Marines went from house to house indiscriminately shooting at men, women and children. According to one witness, victims pleaded for their lives and said they were not insurgents moments before they were shot. Another witness, a 13-year-old girl, said the Marines shot and killed eight members of her family, including her 3-year-old brother.

Wuterich has long claimed, through his lawyers, that he was responding to a coordinated attack on his unit and did nothing wrong that day.

He and other Marines have told their lawyers that they received small-arms fire from the houses they attacked. They used standard house-clearing techniques to ensure that the threat against them was eliminated from two houses, they have said. The slayings of the civilians were an unfortunate result of the Marines' attack, they have argued.

"It's going to come down to a very simple question of how do you want Marines to react under fire, what was their training and what did they believe their training to be?" said one of Wuterich's lawyers, Mark S. Zaid, who is based in Washington. "It's our position, though tragic, they operated under the rules of engagement as they knew them, trying to save their own lives, and the end result was something they did not plan."

Neal Puckett, another of Wuterich's lawyers, said the allegations do not contradict Wuterich's version of events. Puckett said there is no evidence the Marines lost control or went on some sort of a rampage. "It's what happens in wartime. You intend to kill the people you're shooting at," Puckett said. "It would imply that they have no proof of a sweep conducted to punish Iraqis."

Wuterich was later recommended for an award for heroism that day, which said his efforts prevented further injury or death to Marines and civilians.

As word spread in Haditha that charges were imminent, some Iraqis said Thursday that the accused Americans should face justice in Iraq.

"Are they terrorists or are they fighting terrorism?" said Jamal al-Obaidi, a 40-year-old teacher. "The trial is not fair because it is taking place in America. Executing them is the minimum penalty."

The eight Marines are not being locked up for now because they are unlikely to flee and are not a danger to themselves or others, said Col. Stewart Navarre, a Corps spokesman.

In Meriden, Dave Wuterich said his son and daughter-in-law are expecting their third child any day.

Dave Wuterich described his son as a professional soldier with a good head on his shoulders who planned to leave the military soon and go to college to study music production. Frank Wuterich enlisted in the Marines in his senior year at Orville H. Platt High School in Meriden in hopes of joining the Marine Corps band as a trumpet player.

"My wife and I and all his friends feel that he is innocent," Dave Wuterich said. "People at home don't know what it's like over there."