Investigations Lead to More Scrutiny of Civilian Deaths

The investigations of alleged slayings of Iraqi civilians by Marines are leading to greater scrutiny by officers of all reports filed by enlisted personnel after clashes in which unarmed Iraqis are killed, officials close to the cases said Saturday.

Investigators reviewing a November incident in Haditha in which 24 Iraqi civilians were killed are looking into why Marine officers did not review it more carefully, particularly because photographs taken by Marines contradicted the initial account that the Iraqis were killed by an insurgent bomb blast.

“Imagine the most horrible pictures of dead bodies you’ve ever seen: These were worse,” said one official. “They should have raised questions.”

The photographs show that the Iraqis, including women and children, were killed at close range by small-arms fire, some “execution style,” officials said.

Once Time magazine began investigating the Nov. 19 incident, the Marine Corps launched its own probe, which led to a more comprehensive inquiry by a two-star Army general.

The report from his inquiry, dealing with issues of a possible coverup and “chain of command failure,” is to be delivered within days to Army Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the top operational commander in Iraq, for his review and recommendations.

A separate inquiry by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is looking at the possibility of filing criminal charges, including murder counts, against those suspected of killing the civilians, and dereliction of duty charges against others suspected of actively or passively being part of a coverup. Three or four Marines are thought to have killed the unarmed Iraqis after a comrade was killed by a roadside bomb.

The Marines under investigation are with the 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment, 1st Marine Division, based at Camp Pendleton.

A complicating factor is that during the Haditha incident, frontline Marines from Camp Pendleton were under the supervision of generals and colonels with the 2nd Marine Division from Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Members of a Marine intelligence unit who took photographs of the bodies were reporting to officers with the 2nd Marine Division and not to the officers of the battalion with which they were embedded.

The investigation by Army Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell is expected to cover whether any of the Marine higher-ups knew of the intelligence photos and, if so, what actions they took, including whether they shared them with officers at the battalion, regiment and company levels.

“Information may have been stove-piped,” said one official, using jargon for a bureaucratic structure inhibiting the sharing of information.

Marine Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee went to Iraq a week ago to remind Marines of their training in the Geneva Convention and other laws of war that call for the protection of noncombatants. He also told officers to be more diligent in “getting to the truth” about cases in which Iraqi civilians were killed.

Hagee went last week to Camp Lejeune with the same messages. He is expected to visit Twentynine Palms and Camp Pendleton soon.

Chiarelli’s recommendations are expected to deal with after-action reports and “command responsibility.”

Officials close to the investigations say “greatly increased scrutiny and skepticism” will be expected of enlisted personnel and officers toward all reports on incidents in which Iraqis are killed.

One reason that frontline officers did not question the account that the Iraqis died in a bomb blast may have been that the incident seemed similar to countless attacks in Iraq.

Haditha, along the Euphrates River west of Baghdad, is considered an insurgent stronghold.

Even when elders from Haditha protested to U.S. officers at battalion headquarters that the killings were wanton, no immediate action was taken.

When the battalion returned to Camp Pendleton as scheduled, Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski, commanding general of the 1st Marine Division, relieved the battalion commander and the commander of the company whose troops were involved in the Haditha incident. Natonski said only that he had “lost confidence” in their leadership.

The two commanders are not suspected of a coverup, but are accused of not being rigorous enough in examining the facts presented by subordinates.

The Haditha incident already seems to have had an effect on the level of scrutiny given to civilian deaths.

The Marine Corps launched an investigation within days of an April 26 incident in Hamandiya, in which an Iraqi man was found dead. Troops with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment, 1st Marine Division, were ordered back to Camp Pendleton to await possible criminal charges.

Base officials announced Friday that eight, including a Navy corpsman, are in the brig and four are restricted to base. Criminal charges ranging from murder to dereliction of duty may be filed as early as this week.