Word: haditha
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More than a year after the alleged massacre of 24 Iraqi civilians by U.S. troops in the town of Haditha, the Marine Corps will announce formal charges tomorrow. Up to six Marines who were on the ground that day, including Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, are expected to be charged with a range of offenses, which may include negligent homicide. Mark Zaid, one of Wuterich's two civilian defense attorneys, said, "We look foward to having a formal opportunity to publicly clear our client's name as he is absolutely innocent of any forthcoming charges. What Sgt. Wuterich is guilty...
...source tells TIME the highest-level officer to be charged (most likely with dereliction of duty) will be Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, the battalion commander in Haditha, who also was not on the ground that day. Attempts to reach Chessani for comment were not successful. But according to one civilian defense lawyer, the Marines will not be held in pre-trial confinement, which he takes an indication that the charges may not be as severe as some have expected. "They have put other Marines in other cases in the brig before trial, but they are not apparently doing that...
...Natonski is expected to summarize the findings of the two separate investigations into Haditha. One was conducted by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service that looked for criminal wrongdoing and focused on the Marines on the ground at Haditha. The second, conducted by Army Major General Eldon Bargewell, looked at how the commanders responded to the event...
...Regardless of the pain caused the Pentagon by the Haditha probe, it can take some solace from a new study by Colin Kahl of the University of Minnesota. "Despite some dark spots on its record, the U.S. military has done a better job of respecting noncombatant immunity in Iraq than is commonly believed," Kahl, an assistant professor of political science, says in the November-December issue of Foreign Affairs magazine. "I have found not only that U.S. compliance with noncombatant immunity in Iraq is relatively high by historical standards, but also that it has been improving since the beginning...
...That is little comfort to the leadership of the Marine Corps, which is focused on holding Marines accountable for Haditha and preventing any more...