Officer defends action that killed 24 Iraqis
A Marine platoon commander who ordered that several houses be cleared in an Iraqi town testified Tuesday that he was shocked to learn women and children were among 24 Iraqi civilians killed in the attacks.
But 1st. Lt. William Kallop defended the assaults as a legitimate combat operation during the first day of testimony in the biggest U.S. criminal case involving civilian deaths in the Iraq war.
Kallop was the first officer at the scene of a roadside bomb blast that killed one Marine and injured two on Nov. 19, 2005.
Arriving minutes after the blast in Haditha, he ordered several houses be cleared. In all, Marines killed 24 Iraqi civilians.
Kallop, who was granted immunity for his testimony, spoke at a preliminary hearing at Camp Pendleton for Capt. Randy W. Stone, a Marine lawyer accused of dereliction of duty for failing to investigate the deaths.
Stone’s civilian attorney, Charles Gittins, called Kallop to the stand hoping that the commander’s testimony would show that Stone did nothing wrong because, based on his understanding of the deaths, Stone thought that the killings were a legitimate outcome of combat.
Stone, 34, of Dunkirk, Md., and three other officers are charged with failing to investigate or report the killing.
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