Haditha Investigation Results To Be Public

The White House says that the results of the Haditha investigation will be made public once the investigation is completed. Of course that hasn't stopped everyone and their favorite congressman from chiming in on what happened and making definitive statements on the guilt or innocence of Marines allegedly involved. Not to mention all the leaks about the investigation thus far.

We get definitive statements from the likes of Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), despite the fact that the investigation has not been completed.

We get nothing but hearsay from others who were not present at the alleged incidents, but are nonetheless given a platform on which to pontificate about the incident.

We get a rush to judgment on Marines who may or may not have committed criminal acts, and the media races to put together stories on the matter from sources who are leaking aspects of the investigation.

What we aren't getting is a thorough and comprehensive overview of the alleged incident and that will come only when the investigation is complete.

Much is being made of the fact that President Bush did not know about the Haditha incident until reporters asked him about it. Considering that there is a chain of command and that the military was still investigating the matter, it is understandable that it didn't reach his desk, though one could also make the argument that such a sensitive matter (the alleged murder of civilians by US Armed Forces) should have been flagged for attention at the highest levels.

According to the attorney for one of three Marine Corps officers relieved of command from a Marine battalion are not targets of investigations into whether their troops killed the civilians or tried to cover it up.

Capt. James Kimber learned about the deaths only after the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment returned from Iraq in March, his attorney Paul Hackett said.

Meanwhile, Lance Cpl. James Crossan of North Bend, Wash., who was injured in the roadside bomb attack in Haditha, told a Seattle television station that some of the Marines might have snapped after seeing one of their own killed in action.

"So, I think they were just blinded by hate ... and they just lost control," Crossan told KING-TV, which aired the interview Tuesday.

The targets of the investigations are about a dozen enlisted Marines, according to Hackett, a Marine reservist and Iraqi war veteran who represents Kimber.

Hackett, who last year narrowly lost a special election for a U.S. House seat in Ohio, said the highest ranking among those under investigation is a staff sergeant who led the four-vehicle convoy that was hit by the bomb.

Kimber, who was nominated for a Bronze Star for valor in Haditha, was relieved of command last month because his subordinates in the battalion's Lima Company used profanity and criticized the performance of Iraqi security services during an interview with Britain's Sky News TV, Hackett said.

"My purpose is to separate his name from the alleged war crimes that took place," Hackett told The Associated Press by telephone. "He's not under investigation for anything related to what has played out in the press."

The Pentagon has named two others who were relieved of command: Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, the commander of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, and Capt. Lucas McConnell, who commanded Kilo Company, which was implicated in the killings.

The article does not mention that Hackett is an anti-war activist in the John Kerry mold, which isn't all that surprising.

Crossan's statements are irrelevant considering that he did not witness the alleged acts, and would be considered hearsay. They are, however, a juicy soundbite for media consumption. His statements, like those of the CNN reporter who noted the way Marines carefully directed fire to avoid civilian casualties, may go to motive and frame of mind of those involved, but since neither was present when the alleged events occured, their utility in a case against the Marines is limited.

Ed Morrissey notes that the investigation into the Haditha incident started far earlier than the early reporting would lead one to believe. Far from this being a coverup, military investigators were already examining discrepancies in the statements and after action reports in February and early March.

A military investigator uncovered evidence in February and March that contradicted repeated claims by marines that Iraqi civilians killed in Haditha last November were victims of a roadside bomb, according to a senior military official in Iraq.
Among the pieces of evidence that conflicted with the marines' story were death certificates that showed all the Iraqi victims had gunshot wounds, mostly to the head and chest, the official said. ...

When Colonel Watt described the findings to Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the senior ground commander in Iraq, on March 9, they raised enough questions about the marines' veracity that General Chiarelli referred the matter to the senior Marine commander in Iraq, who ordered a criminal investigation that officials say could result in murder charges being brought against members of the unit.

Note that the murder charges are the worst case scenario and that all these actions were as the result of military investigators looking at the incident and determining that further investigation was warranted. Far from a coverup, this shows that the military was quite serious in ferreting out gross misconduct and was pressing for an investigation. Ed notes:

The Pentagon now has policies in place which allow the military to pay compensation in those instances, allowing the issue to rest rather than fester. The Marines paid $38,000 to the families of those killed at Haditha, despite an initial finding that the victims participated in an attack on US forces, which eliminated their eligibility for compensation. Colonel Watt's investigation uncovered the payment by Major Dana Hyatt, who says he was ordered to make the payment by his superiors. In this case, the advice "follow the money" may apply.

Again, without all the facts, evidence, and testimony sorted out, people are going to draw their own conclusions that may be totally out of line with what the facts say happened.

UPDATE:
Newsmax is reporting that a lawyer involved in the case stated that there is evidence to back up claims that the Marines did come under small arms fire.

"There's a ton of information that isn't out there yet," the lawyer said Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity to the Washington Post.

He said contemporaneous radio messages reviewed by military investigators will show that Marines accused of unprovoked retaliation after the blast had, in fact, come under small-arms fire.

Rep. Murtha has insisted that initial reports that the Marines were fired on were part of the military's attempts to cover up the wanton execution of 24 innocent Iraqis.

Again, unnamed lawyers, leaked information, and people with axes to grind. If this is accurate, it would seem to support the Marine contention that they were engaging hostile forces when the alleged incident occurred and that the people who were killed may have been caught in the crossfire.

UPDATE:
Villainous Company looks at the media coverage of the Haditha incident. Uncle Jimbo notes the rules of engagement and that the Marines are still innocent until proven guilty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

The Superfun Powerhour Blog and Mary Katherine Ham at Hugh Hewitt have a good roundup of reaction.

UPDATE:
AJ Strata notes that we shouldn't rush to judge - either exonerating the Marines or already strapping them into the electric chair. We don't have all the information.

The one thing I want to say at this early juncture is this: don’t play demi-god like Murtha did. We don’t know the facts. We need to investigate this and do what is right. If, and this is a big if right now, something horrible was done by these US Marines then it was not in our name or with our blessing. And it doesn’t negate all the good and sacrifice done in Iraq by 100’s of thousands of others. This is a serious issue because a lot of apparently innocent people where killed. We will bring justice to this. And we should not let it taint anyone but those who lost control. This is the tough job we took on. We may have to face the fact some of us did a horrible thing. That doesn’t make us horrible. Unless of course we too throw away are system of justice and our principles and start rampantly speculating and rumor mongering.

MacRanger wants to know what happened in Haditha, but is wary of getting his news from the media, which has repeatedly distorted its reporting in pursuit of a political agenda.

Others blogging: Flopping Aces, and Confederate Yankee (who has choice words for Murtha)

Technorati: haditha, iraq, war+crimes, murder, jag, marines, investigation.