Haditha massacres: 5 Marines to Be Charged in Haditha Deaths - New York Times

December 6, 2006
At Least 5 Marines Are Expected to Be Charged in Haditha Deaths
By PAUL von ZIELBAUER

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 — At least five marines are expected to be charged, possibly as early as Wednesday, with the killing of 24 Iraqis, many of them unarmed women and children, in the village of Haditha in November 2005, according to a Marine official and a lawyer involved in the case.

The charges are expected to range from negligent homicide to murder, said a senior Pentagon official familiar with the military’s nearly nine-month investigation into the episode. Several marines from the Third Platoon of Company K, Third Battalion, First Marine Regiment, are accused of killing the villagers after a roadside explosion killed one of their comrades.

Charges could also be brought against an additional one or two marines, the Marine official said, including one officer who was in the vicinity of the killings but did not participate in them.

Though it was nearly certain that marines would be charged with crimes for the killings, exactly when the charges would be made official was unclear, military officials and defense lawyers involved in the case said. But they said charges could closely follow a closed-door briefing by Lt. Gen. Richard F. Natonski, the Marine Corps deputy commandant for plans, policies and operations, to the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday morning.

That briefing will relate the findings of a military inquiry into how the Marine Corps managed its investigation of the slayings, which began with an inquiry in March, four months after the killings occurred, the Pentagon official said. Aides to committee members said Marine officials promised a confidential briefing before any charges were announced.

According to the Marine official and the defense lawyer representing one of the marines under investigation, criminal charges will be filed against Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, 26, of Meriden, Conn., the squad’s leader; Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, 25, of Edmund, Okla.; Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, 21, of Carbondale, Penn.; Cpl. Sanick Dela Cruz, 24, of Chicago; and Cpl. Hector Salinas, 22, of Houston.

The five marines are said to have been the ones who killed the 24 Iraqis, including five men in a taxi that approached the marines’ convoy after the explosion that killed a 20-year-old lance corporal and 19 other civilians in several houses nearby. About 10 of the dead were women and children who appeared to have been killed by rifle fire at close range, military officials said.

The marines have said they believed that they were coming under small-arms fire from a house on the south side of the road.

Jack Zimmermann, a lawyer for Lance Corporal Tatum, said his client had responded appropriately to a lethal attack in a dangerous region of Iraq. “There was no crime committed,” Mr. Zimmermann said.

Mark Zaid, a lawyer representing Sergeant Wuterich, said his client acted in accordance with military rules of engagement.

“We emphatically deny that Staff Sergeant Wuterich participated in any unlawful killings that day in Haditha,” Mr. Zaid said. “The collateral civilian deaths were absolutely tragic, but occurred as a result of legally justified actions that routinely occur during time of war.”

Lawyers for the other three enlisted marines declined to comment.

The senior Pentagon official said no other marines would face charges in the case. “The only people who will be charged with an offense will be those individuals who did the shootings,” the official said last week.

But the Marine officer, interviewed on Tuesday, said he expected charges to be brought against one or two additional marines, including one officer.

“I don’t see just five of them being charged,” the official said. “I see six or seven. One of them, I see, is an officer.”

That officer, the Marine official said, was First Lt. William T. Kallop, 25, the only officer at the scene, who arrived sometime after the initial explosion that led to the marines’ sweep of the nearby homes.

A lawyer for Lieutenant Kallop declined to comment Tuesday.

David S. Cloud contributed reporting.

G.I. Says Song About Killing Iraqis a Joke (vdeo & Lyrics)

A Marine corporal who sang in a homemade video about killing members of an Iraqi family said Wednesday that the song was a joke and was not intended to offend anyone.

Cpl. Joshua Belile, 23, said the video was his way of "blowing off steam to a bunch of Marines and soldiers."

"It doesn't take a whole lot of common sense to realize it was a joke," he said.



In "Hadji Girl," a four-minute video circulated on the Internet, Belile tells a cheering audience about a Marine who falls in love with an Iraqi woman and goes home with her. Family members shoot the woman and then confront him with automatic weapons, prompting him to retaliate.

Belile's performance was filmed while he was stationed in Iraq and was posted anonymously on the YouTube Web site, but was later removed. Belile learned of the posting after returning from his deployment in March. He is now assigned to Light/Attack Helicopter Squadron 167 at Marine Corps Air Station New River, adjacent to Camp Lejeune.

"I'm a very nonpolitical person. I know that sounds very strange coming from a Marine," Belile told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "I know about me and my little world. I write music and I sing music. I never intended to hurt anyone's feelings."

Marine Corps officials said Tuesday that Belile had not violated military law. He could face administrative action, which can include informal counseling, they said.

Belile said in a statement Tuesday that he plans to release a professionally recorded version of the song within a few weeks.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which brought Belile's video to the attention of the Pentagon, cautioned against a release, spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said Wednesday.

"It's a free country, but I don't know that it's the wisest choice. I would hope he would seek the advice of levelheaded friends and family and just put this sordid episode to a rest," Hooper said.

Belile has said the video was not related to allegations that Marines killed two dozen unarmed civilians last year in Haditha, Iraq.


Lyrics:

The Marine Can Sing Too.
Lyrics;
We were out in the sands of Iraq
And we were under attack
Well I didn't know where to go

First thing that I could see
Was everybody's favorite Burger King
So I threw open the door and I hit the floor

Then suddenly to my surprise
I looked up and I saw her eyes
I knew it was love at first sight

And she said "Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad"
"Shurpa Shurpa Bach Allah"
Hajji Girl I can't understand what you say

And she said "Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad"
"Shurpa Shurpa Bach Allah"
Hajji Girl I love you anyway

Then she said she wanted me to see
She wanted me to come meet her family
But I couldn't figure out how to say no
CAUSE I DON'T SPEAK ARABIC SO.....

She took me down an old dirt trail
And pulled up to a side shanty
Threw open the door and hit the floor

Cause her brother and her father shouted
"Durka durka Mohammed jihad"
"Shurpa Shurpa Bach Allah"
They pulled out their AK's so I could see

And they said "Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad"
"Shurpa Shurpa Bach Allah"
So I grabbed her little sister and put her in front of me!

As the bullets began to fly
The blood sprayed from between her eyes
And then I laughed maniacally

Then I jumped behind the TV
And I locked and loaded my M16
I blew those mother fuckers to eternity

And I said "Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad"
"Shurpa Shurpa Bach Allah"
Should've known they were fuckin' with a Marine