Eight U.S. Marines Charged In Slayings of 24 Iraqi Civilians
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CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — Eight Marines were charged yesterday in the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians last year during a bloody, door-to-door sweep in the town of Haditha that came after a roadside bomb killed one of their comrades.
In the biggest American criminal case involving civilian deaths to come out of the Iraq war, four of the Marines — all enlisted men — were charged with unpremeditated murder. The other four were officers who were not there during the killings but were accused of failing to investigate and report the deaths.
The most serious charges were brought against Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, a 26-year-old squad leader accused of murdering 12 civilians and ordering the murders of six more inside a house cleared by his squad. He was accused of telling his men to “shoot first and ask questions later,” according to court papers released by his attorney.
The highest-ranking defendant was Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Chessani, 42. He was accused of failing to obey an order or regulation, encompassing dereliction of duty.
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 Corporal Miguel Terrazas of El Paso, Texas, and wounded two other Marines.
Defense attorneys have disputed that, saying their clients were doing what they had been trained to do: responding to a perceived threat with legitimate force.
Terrazas’s father denounced the charges, saying his son was murdered by insurgents. “What they are doing to our troops … it’s just wrong,” Martin Terrazas said in Texas. “I feel for their families. They are in my prayers.”
Sergeant Wuterich and two comrades charged with murder could get life in prison. The military is not seeking the death penalty. The other men face shorter prison sentences.
The Marine Corps initially reported that 15 Iraqis died in a bomb blast and that Marines killed eight insurgents in an ensuing firefight. That account was widely discredited, and later reports put the number of dead Iraqis at 24.
Some Iraqis said yesterday that American troops should face justice in Iraq.
“They committed a horrible crime against innocents,” Naji al-Ani, 36, a laborer, said by telephone from Haditha.