Posted on 08/31/2007 5:01:19 PM PDT by RedRover
CAMP PENDLETON -- One week before 24 civilians were slain by members of a Marine platoon in the Iraqi city of Haditha, the squad leader allegedly said his men should kill everyone in the area if they were attacked by a roadside bomb, a government witness alleged Friday.
Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz made the accusation Friday morning during the second day of a hearing that will determine if the squad leader, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, will face trial on 17 murder charges.
Dela Cruz said Wuterich's comment came during a conversation with him and another Marine after they learned a couple of its platoon members had been injured in a bombing one week prior to the Haditha civilian killings on Nov. 19, 2005.
"We found they had got hit and everyone was pretty upset about that," Dela Cruz said while being questioned by the lead prosecutor, Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan. "Sgt. Wuterich made the comment that if we ever get his again, we should kill everybody in that vicinity."
One week later, Wuterich was leading his squad on a resupply mission in Haditha when a roadside bomb destroyed a Humvee, killing a lance corporal and triggering the civilian killings.
Dela Cruz was charged last year with five counts of murder for his role at Haditha. But those charges were dropped earlier this year in exchange for his testimony against his former squad mates.
Immediately after the Nov. 19 bombing, Dela Cruz testified that Wuterich shot and killed five unarmed Iraqi men who emerged from a car that drove up.
"They were just standing around and some of them had their hands up," Dela Cruz said.
He acknowledged shooting those men also, but said he did so after each had fallen, to make sure they were dead.
Dela Cruz also testified that in a later conversation, Wuterich told him that if anyone asked about the men from the car, he should say they were running from the scene when they were shot. Running away would have suggested the men were involved in the bombing and therefore the shooting could have been deemed justifiable.
Wuterich's attorneys will cross-examine Dela Cruz later today and are expected to point out inconsistencies in prior statements he had made to investigators. A physical reconstruction of the scene near the car will be part of the defense case.
On Thursday, a Marine prosecutor said that a lance corporal told authorities investigating the Haditha incident that he and Wuterich were responsible for killing several women and children inside a home the Marines assaulted after the bombing.
The prosecutor, Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan, made the statement as he questioned Lance Cpl. Humberto Mendoza.
"Did you know that on April 3, 2006, Lance Cpl. (Stephen) Tatum gave a statement saying that he and Sgt. Wuterich shot the women and children?" Sullivan asked Mendoza.
Mendoza, who was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony, said he shot two men during the attack, including one Iraqi man who he said Wuterich ordered him to kill as the Iraqi stood in a doorway of the house where the women and children also died.
"Wait until I open the door and shoot," Mendoza quoted Wuterich as saying in reference to the killing of the man.
Wuterich has told investigators he was taking small-arms fire from one of the homes near the explosion and ordered his troops to consider anyone inside as the enemy.
"I told them to shoot first, ask questions later," he told authorities last year.
Wuterich's attorneys argue the Iraqis killed inside their homes died as he and his squad carried out a legitimate combat action in response to being attacked.
The hearing officer presiding over Wuterich's case, Lt. Col. Paul Ware, recommended last week that murder charges against Tatum be dropped, saying he was following the lead of Wuterich and that the evidence against him was insufficient to warrant a trial.
See Saturday's North County Times for a full report on Friday's hearing.
Related thread:
Godspeed SSgt Wuterich. Thanks for your service and for keeping us safe from radicals who will kill us anywhere they get a chance.
Prayers for your quick aquittal and release.
Dela Cruz
I believe I recognize that name./sarc
How many others backed up that claim?
Keep up the good fight redrover!
THAT is what I can't wait to hear. It will be interesting to see if the prosecutors threatened Dela Cruz and followed that with promises of dropped charges if only he would say certain things in exactly the right way. This is the BIG ONE for the prosecutors - - Wuterich is their last chance to hang a Marine's head on their wall like a trophy. They probably settled on that months ago.
Today’s hearing came to an abrupt end this afternoon, after the Dela Cruz cross. There was no explanation from the prosecutors or attorneys.
The hearing will resume Tuesday and may finish on Thursday or Friday.
Why this sudden change in plans? There’s scuttlebutt that this hearing was brought to an unexpected close because charges are being prepared in the Fallujah investigation. It’s uncertain, however, why that would have an impact on this hearing.
Dela Cruz stands alone on this claim, and was completely undone on cross.
Why, for instance, didn't Dela Cruz tell someone at the time that SSgt Wuterich had made such a statement? Dela Cruz couldn't say.
bump
Another stinking travesty. Border Guards Ramos and Compean continue to rot in prison for doing their jobs. I truly hope and pray this young Marine doesn’t have to pay the same price to satisfy political correctness !!!
bfl
Our prayers are with the SSgt and his family.
mrs
Our prayers are with the SSgt and his family. Many thanks to all his supporters.
mrs
TWENTY-FOUR and on a battlefield, and trying to stay alive, and in charge of a group of guys he wanted to get home. He wanted to bring them home to their loved ones.
Imagine that guys were standing around BSing, the way troops do, and they're talking about a couple of their very OWN platoon members being injured. These are guys they eat with, sleep with, pull duty with, party with, dream with, train with, and fight with. Their guys get hurt and a 24 year old says, "I'd want to kill all the SOBs who hurt one of my guys."
As a combat chaplain, I wouldn't give you an ounce of spit for a team member who didn't have those kind of feelings. I'll bet Dela Cruz just stood there nodding. Why didn't he turn him in at the time, if he thought it was such a crime to think that thought?
Why? Because Cruz knew that Wuterich was doing nothing more than venting, and saying nothing more than, "We're gonna stick together. We're gonna pull each other through this. We're gonna fight for each other. We'll shed blood for each other."
I'm sick of this prosecution of our very young.
At 24 that prosecutor was probably in law school chasing skirts and getting drunk on Friday nights. This young American was trying to keep his troops alive.
This weekend we're gonna celebrate the athletic prowess of college guys on football fields who are about 24. Announcers are gonna call them heroic, brave, role models, etc.
And all they've gotta do is chase a freakin' oblong ball down a field of grass.
I’m anxious to read about this cross of DelaCruz, I believe it could have much to do with the outcome for SSgt Wuterich.
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