[Vision2020] Massacre Fallout

[Tom Hansen]

>From the June 5th, 2006 edition of the Army Times -

The sole purpose in posting this article is to provide a source of
investigative reporting as conducted by the Army Times, and NOT (as some may
imply) to discredit our men and women in uniform of which I was one for 20
years.

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Massacre fallout
Reports of dozens of Iraqi civilian deaths have Marine leaders preparing
Congress for worst

By Gayle S. Putrich and Christian Lowe
Army Times staff writers

It was a week of growing gloom as Marine Commandant Gen. Mike Hagee briefed
congressional leaders behind closed doors on what seems likely to become a
scandal on the scale of Abu Ghraib - or worse. Lawmakers emerged from the
meetings visibly shaken by what they had heard and the pictures they had
seen. They used terms like "coldblooded murder" and "atrocity" and "war
crimes."

The fear is that a small group of revenge-seeking Marines rampaged through
the Iraqi town of Hadithah last November, carrying out a five-hour killing
spree that left dead as many as 24 Iraqi civilians, including women and
children. 

It could be the most gruesome massacre since Vietnam's My Lai killings. A
pair of investigations into the Iraqi deaths are expected to be completed
soon, and most people who have been briefed on the case expect formal
charges against several Marines, perhaps as many as 12. No charges have been
filed to date.

Following the congressional briefings May 24, Hagee began a tour of bases in
Iraq and the U.S. that will last several weeks to "reinforce the ideals,
values and standards for which Marines have been known for 200 years," Corps
officials said.

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee,
said the briefings include "very, very serious allegations, and there have
been facts to substantiate the case to underpin those allegations."

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who was briefed on the investigations into the
incident, said he "would not be surprised" if as many as a dozen Marines
face courts-martial. 

An inquiry in February by Time magazine sparked a preliminary investigation
by military officials in Iraq. That inquiry found enough evidence of
wrongdoing to refer the case to Army Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli,
Multi-National Corps-Iraq commander, who launched a further probe.

The top Marine commander in Iraq, Maj. Gen. Richard Zilmer, also launched
his own criminal investigation, headed by the Naval Criminal Investigative
Service.

According to sources on Capitol Hill, the MNC-I investigation was expected
to be released in late May, while the NCIS inquiry is due to wrap up in
June.

The Corps announced May 24 that an additional NCIS investigation had been
launched into another allegedly unlawful killing of an Iraqi man April 26 in
Hamandiyah. Brig. Gen. John Kelly, legislative assistant to Hagee, said
Marine Corps officials asked the Army to assist NCIS in that investigation.

The possibility of Marines shooting unarmed civilians is a tragic reminder
of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, which could add to the already declining
support in the U.S. for the Iraq mission, said a House Democratic aide
involved in defense issues. 

Also, the report, and how the Marine Corps handles the investigation and any
possible punishment, could inflame adversaries - and there are many in Iraq
- while also causing allies to back away from the U.S., one Senate
Republican aide said.

Delivering the bad news

The leathernecks involved in the Hadithah incident are from the Camp
Pendleton, Calif.-based 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines. They allegedly
retaliated against Iraqi civilians last November after a member of their
unit was killed by a roadside bomb. 

Murtha said the number of dead Iraqi civilians, first reported to be 15, is
actually 24. 

He based that number on a May 24 briefing from Hagee, who also discussed the
situation with leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee. 

Kelly conducted further briefings May 25 for other lawmakers and staff.

The briefings were held in anticipation of the release of the two Hadithah
investigation reports, which are expected to show that among the 24 dead
civilians, five of the alleged victims, all unarmed, were shot in a car with
no warning, Murtha said. 

At least seven of the victims were said to be women, and three, children.

Hagee declined to say when the reports - one on administrative issues and
the other on criminal charges - would be completed.

"Each individual will be looked at as an individual," he said. "Once the
investigations are complete, we will follow the same legal procedures that
we always do."

Warner said after being briefed that the release of the reports was not
imminent. "We don't have a time line," he said May 25, after meeting with
Kelly.

The separate investigation by NCIS into the April incident in Hamandiyah,
west of Baghdad, was launched after Iraqis brought the death to the
attention of military officials during a meeting May 1. Several members of
3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, operating in Fallujah, are suspected of killing
the Iraqi man, but officials declined to say how many Marines were involved.

The 3/5 Marines have been "removed from operations" and returned to the U.S.
pending results of the criminal investigation, the Corps said in a prepared
statement.

Defense attorneys who handle military cases are bracing for what could
quickly become a busy summer season in the courtroom.

"It looks like it's coming," said one San Diego-area civilian defense
attorney who has handled other cases of assault and manslaughter and has
received a "warning order" of sorts about potential new cases.

"It's going to be extraordinarily difficult for them to find enough defense
counsel," one Marine Corps attorney said.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services
Committee, who was also briefed on the reports, said his committee will hold
hearings after lawmakers return from their Memorial Day recess.

Hunter was matter-of-fact about the reports' contents. 

"It is not good," he said. "Let the chips fall where they may."

Hagee's personal visit to key lawmakers reflects Hunter's assessment. Bad
news usually is delivered by legislative liaison officers or operations
officials, very bad news by theater and combatant commanders or their
representatives. 

Only in potentially huge scandals, such as the Navy's 1991 Tailhook
convention, where some aviators manhandled women; the 1983 bombing of the
Marine Corps barracks in Beirut; and the 2003 sex scandal at the Air Force
Academy, has a service chief felt it necessary to break the news to members
of Congress personally.

In this case, Hagee's involvement stems from several factors, said House and
Senate aides. Those factors include the potential international outcry and
fallout from allies, as well as the demoralizing nature of an incident that
raises the ghosts of the My Lai massacre.

Getting the real story.

Murtha, an outspoken war critic and retired Marine colonel, has maintained
for several weeks that the reality of the Hadithah incident was far more
violent than original reports suggested.

"They originally said a lot of things," he said. "I don't know how they
tried to cover that up."

The Marine Corps said Nov. 20 that a convoy from 3/1 hit a roadside bomb
Nov. 19 that killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, 20, of El Paso, Texas. 

Marine officials said after the incident that 15 Iraqi civilians were killed
in the blast and eight insurgents were killed in a firefight after the
explosion.

But the 10-week investigation by Time magazine resulted in a March 27 report
that included claims by an Iraqi civil rights group that the Marines barged
into houses near the bomb strike in retaliation, throwing grenades and
shooting civilians who were cowering in fear. 

A videotape taken by a purported Iraqi journalism student after the incident
and broadcast by the Arab television network al-Jazeera showed pockmarked
walls and bloody bodies lining the floor, with some victims still in
nightclothes. 

Three officers from 3/1, including battalion commander Lt. Col. Jeffrey
Chessani, were relieved April 7 for "lack of confidence in their leadership
abilities stemming from their performance during a recent deployment to
Iraq."

The two other Marines who were relieved, Capts. James Kimber and Luke
McConnell, were company commanders in the battalion. 

McConnell led Kilo Company, to which the Marines allegedly involved in the
Hadithah killings were assigned.

Officials have not explicitly connected the firings to the Hadithah
investigation.

Marine officials declined expanded comment until the investigations are
complete.

"As soon as the facts are known and decisions on future actions are made, we
will make that information available to the public to the fullest extent
allowable," said Col. David Lapan, a spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Most truths are so naked that people feel sorry for them and cover them up,
at least a little bit."

- Edward R. Murrow