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US Marine 'shot dead Iraqis who had their hands up' & killed 24 escapes murder charge
The US Marine accused of leading the killing of as many as 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians in the worst alleged atrocity by American forces during the war in Iraq will not face murder charges, it emerged today.
Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, 27, will instead face lesser counts of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice, the US Marines confirmed.
A statement issued from Camp Pendleton, California, said: “The charges referred against SSgt Wuterich are voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice."
Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich
Lt Gen Samuel Helland, the commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central, “dismissed the charges of unpremeditated murder, soliciting another to commit an offense and false official statement,” thestatement said.
Eight Marines were originally charged in the case, in which US Marines killed 24 men, women and children after their convoy was hit by a roadside bomb that destroyed a Humvee and killed a popular comrade.
Since then, charges against two officers and two enlisted men have been dismissed. Two have been ordered to court-martial and the Marines announced on Monday the cases against Wuterich and an officer would proceed.
The alleged massacre at Haditha has joined the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib as one of the most damaging incidents of the Iraq war for US forces.
Update :
A US Marine yesterday told a court investigating an alleged massacre in the Iraqi town of Haditha that he watched a superior officer shoot and kill five civilians as they held their hands up in an attempt to surrender.
Sergeant Sanick Dela Cruz, testifying after being given immunity from prosecution, admitted lying about events in Haditha in November 2005, and said that he urinated on the head of one of the 24 Iraqi civilians killed by his unit.
The Haditha killings have prompted the biggest US criminal case involving civilian deaths in Iraq. Seven US Marines face charges, including three who have been charged with murder.
Four have been accused of trying to cover up the incident, including Captain Randy Stone, who was sent to Iraq only weeks before the killings. His lawyer claims that Captain Stone did nothing wrong because Marines throughout the command chain knew about the killings but agreed not to order an investigation because the deaths were deemed to have been lawful.
Sergeant Dela Cruz was charged initially with murder but the prosecution dropped the case after he agreed to testify against members of his former unit.
At a pre-trial hearing in Camp Pendleton, California, he said that he watched how his squad leader, Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, shot five Iraqis who were trying to surrender and then told his men to lie about the killings.
“He [Seargeant Wuterich] told me that if anybody asked, they were running away and the Iraqi Army shot them,” Sergeant Dela Cruz said.
The US Marine accused of leading the killing of as many as 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians in the worst alleged atrocity by American forces during the war in Iraq will not face murder charges, it emerged today.
Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, 27, will instead face lesser counts of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice, the US Marines confirmed.
A statement issued from Camp Pendleton, California, said: “The charges referred against SSgt Wuterich are voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice."
Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich
Lt Gen Samuel Helland, the commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central, “dismissed the charges of unpremeditated murder, soliciting another to commit an offense and false official statement,” thestatement said.
Eight Marines were originally charged in the case, in which US Marines killed 24 men, women and children after their convoy was hit by a roadside bomb that destroyed a Humvee and killed a popular comrade.
Since then, charges against two officers and two enlisted men have been dismissed. Two have been ordered to court-martial and the Marines announced on Monday the cases against Wuterich and an officer would proceed.
The alleged massacre at Haditha has joined the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib as one of the most damaging incidents of the Iraq war for US forces.
Update :
A US Marine yesterday told a court investigating an alleged massacre in the Iraqi town of Haditha that he watched a superior officer shoot and kill five civilians as they held their hands up in an attempt to surrender.
Sergeant Sanick Dela Cruz, testifying after being given immunity from prosecution, admitted lying about events in Haditha in November 2005, and said that he urinated on the head of one of the 24 Iraqi civilians killed by his unit.
The Haditha killings have prompted the biggest US criminal case involving civilian deaths in Iraq. Seven US Marines face charges, including three who have been charged with murder.
Four have been accused of trying to cover up the incident, including Captain Randy Stone, who was sent to Iraq only weeks before the killings. His lawyer claims that Captain Stone did nothing wrong because Marines throughout the command chain knew about the killings but agreed not to order an investigation because the deaths were deemed to have been lawful.
Sergeant Dela Cruz was charged initially with murder but the prosecution dropped the case after he agreed to testify against members of his former unit.
At a pre-trial hearing in Camp Pendleton, California, he said that he watched how his squad leader, Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, shot five Iraqis who were trying to surrender and then told his men to lie about the killings.
“He [Seargeant Wuterich] told me that if anybody asked, they were running away and the Iraqi Army shot them,” Sergeant Dela Cruz said.
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