Initial Haditha Investigation Report Completed

The initial Haditha investigation report has been completed and submitted.

Bargewell has just one piece of the investigation — whether the Marines followed proper procedures in reporting about the incident to commanders, or whether anyone engaged in a cover-up. His investigation also may consider whether any criminal charges should be brought in connection with deliberate attempts to lie about the incident.

A second probe is also under way by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service into what exactly happened that day, and whether criminal — or even murder — charges should be brought against those involved.

Officials have been expecting Bargewell's report. Members of Congress have said they want to hold hearings into the matter and said they would like to hear first from Bargewell.

Martin-Hing added that Chiarelli will make no public statements on the report that could interfere with the ongoing criminal investigation.

Expect leaks of portions of the report to come out in the coming weeks and months despite the hope that there will be no public statements made. Holding Congressional hearings on the matter will only increase the possibility that potentially damaging leaks will occur. The New York Times calls the situation thus far one that is clouded in contradictions and yet proceeds to declare that the situation is grim and that one of the Marines may be cooperating with investigators.

Investigators and townspeople have said that marines overreacted to a fatal roadside bombing and shot the civilians, only one of whom was armed, in cold blood.

Marines and their lawyers, who are only now beginning to speak out after months of harsh portrayals of their actions, contend that they believed they were under a concerted attack, and entitled under their rules of engagement to use lethal force against those who they believed were responsible for a roadside bomb that killed a marine.

The 24 Iraqis killed included 5 men in a taxi and 19 other civilians in several houses, where, marines have contended, their use of grenades and blind fire was permitted under their combat guidelines when they believed their lives were threatened.

However, investigators have found evidence that the men in the taxi were not fleeing the bombing scene, as the marines have told military officials. Investigators have also concluded that most of the victims in three houses died from well-aimed rifle shots, not shrapnel or random fire, according to military officials familiar with the initial findings.

The houses where the killings took place show no evidence of the violent room-clearing assault described by the marines and their lawyers, the officials said.

The bodies have not yet been exhumed for autopsies, and defense lawyers can be expected to challenge the narrow use of photographic evidence on these points. But according to two people briefed on the investigation, one member of the Marine squad at Haditha, himself closely tied to some of the deaths, is now cooperating with investigators.

The taxi shootings appear to be the most troubling for investigators. And key pieces of forensic evidence may be compromised because we're relying on a situation that occurred months ago. Autopsies have not been conducted because the families refuse to allow the exhumations because of religious objections. Lawyers for one of the Marines implicated in the Haditha incident have serious questions about one of the people making claims who happens to run a human rights group and produced a tape of the incident months after the incident occurred about what happened. Sweetness and Light has the details. The man in question, 43-year-old Thaer Thabit al-Hadithi, was originally described by Time magazine as a journalism student but is in fact the founder of Hammurabi human rights group and one of only two employees. One of the two members of the group happened to have relatives detained by coalition forces because they were considered insurgents. But here's the kicker:

Abdul Rahman al-Mashhadani, director of Hammurabi Human Rights and Democracy Monitoring, declined to answer questions from Reuters about the organization.

"We don’t answer such questions that we consider as intelligence and information gathering," he said. "They (Reuters) should have monitored the media so that they can get a good image of us."

Curious. They claim to be a human rights group, but refuse to answer questions about their own actions and what they've done? Very curious.


Meanwhile, the seven Marines and one Navy corpsman who have been detained by the military at Camp Pendelton over another alleged incident in Iraq have had their security situation improved. To this point, they had been detained in solitary confinement with leg shackles at all times. In other words, they were being more harshly treated than many of the worst enemy combatants held at GitMo. After an outcry over their situation this past week, their situation has improved:

Military officials on Friday said they have decided to remove shackles put on seven confined Marines and one sailor whenever they’re outside their individual cells at the Camp Pendleton brig, a Marine Corps spokesman said.

The eight men, confined at the brig since May 24, were being held with “maximum” restraints based on their battalion commander’s decision following an initial investigation into the shooting. As of Friday, they were shifted into what’s called “medium-in” restraint in pre-trial custody, which does not require shackles to be worn, although they remain escorted anytime they are outside their cell, according to 2nd Lt. Lawton King, a base spokesman.


Under “medium-in,” they won’t have any personal restraint while inside the brig, but once outside – such as to go to a court hearing – each “is restrained with handcuffs attached to a leather belt … and their respective escorts carry along leg cuffs in the event they are needed,” King said.

The decision to lower the restraint level came after a June 15 review by the brig commander, he said.

The seven Marines and Navy corpsman, all members of the Pendleton-based 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines currently deployed in Iraq, were first confined to quarters in Iraq on May 12 after allegations rose over the April 26 death of an Iraqi man in the village of Hamdaniya.

UPDATE:
Others noting the confinement issue at Camp Pendelton: Michelle Malkin, Blue Crab Boulevard, Coalition of the Swilling, memeorandum

Gateway Pundit notes that the initial investigation has been completed and also relates a claim that some of those killed may have been shot by AK-47s, which is a common weapon used by insurgents and terrorists - not US armed forces. If confirmed, that would significantly change the story.


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