Winning hearts and minds the old fashion way

Marines 'to face charges over the Haditha massacre'By Toby Harnden(Filed: 21/05/2006) American military investigators have concluded that United States Marines may have killed up to 24 innocent Iraqis, including seven women and three children, in an alleged massacre, writes Toby Harnden. Three marine officers whose troops are suspected of involvement in the killings have already been relieved of their commands. They are believed to be likely to face charges when a separate, criminal, investigation is complete. Pentagon officials confirmed that 24 civilians, rather than the previous given figure of 15, died in Haditha, in western Iraq, last November when troops from Kilo Company, of the 3rd Bn, 1st Marine Regiment, apparently ran amok after one of their men was killed. Duncan Hunter, the Republican chairman of the House armed services committee, has said that he will hold public hearings on the incident, which appears to have been covered up initially by those involved. The Bush administration fears that the growing scandal over the shootings could lead to war crimes trials and a wave of international condemnation that will further diminish support for the Iraq war in the run-up to the mid-term congressional elections. The congressman John Murtha, an anti-war Democrat who is a former marine colonel and decorated Vietnam veteran, has claimed that innocent civilians were slaughtered "in cold blood". The American military authorities in Iraq initially reported that one marine and 15 Iraqi civilians, travelling on a bus, were killed by a roadside bomb, and eight insurgents were shot dead in a subsequent gun battle. Mr Murtha said: "I understand the [military] investigation shows that there was no fire fight, there was no explosion that killed the civilians in a bus. ''There was no bus. There was no shrapnel, there was only bullet holes inside the house where the marines had gone in. So it's a very serious incident, unfortunately." Last month, Lt Col Jeffrey Chessani, the battalion commander of 3/1 Marines, Capt James Kimber and Capt Lucas McConnell, both company commanders, were removed from their jobs and reassigned to staff positions. According to a US Marine Corps spokesman, the officers were sacked because of "multiple incidents that occurred throughout their deployment" that resulted in a loss of confidence in their leadership. Senior Democrats have accused the Bush administration of trying to hide the true nature of what happened. "This is a tragedy," said Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat leader in the House of Representatives. "It's important for the administration to release the [military] report." The incident, although on a vastly smaller scale, has prompted comparisons with the My Lai massacre on March 16, 1968, in which several hundred Vietnamese villagers, mainly women and children, were killed by American troops.