Marine Says Squad Leader Killed Civilians
Taking the stand in the murder case of three enlisted Marines, Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz testified Wednesday that he witnessed his squad leader shoot and kill five civilians in Haditha, Iraq, on Nov. 19, 2005 -- the day 24 Iraqi civilians were killed by U.S. troops.Taking the stand in the murder case of three enlisted Marines, Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz testified Wednesday that he witnessed his squad leader shoot and kill five civilians in Haditha, Iraq, on Nov. 19, 2005 — the day 24 Iraqi civilians were killed by U.S. troops.
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Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz said that in the moments after a roadside bomb hit a Humvee in his convoy Nov. 19, 2005, killing a comrade, he saw five men standing by a white car with their hands interlocked behind their heads. The squad leader, Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, then fired about six to eight rounds at the men, Dela Cruz testified.
“They were just standing, looking around, had hands up,” Dela Cruz said. “Then I saw one of them drop in the middle. I didn’t know what was going on, sir. Looked to my left, saw Staff Sgt. Wuterich shooting.”
Dela Cruz spoke at a preliminary hearing for Capt. Randy W. Stone, a Marine lawyer from Dunkirk, Md. Stone is accused along with three other officers of dereliction of duty for failing to investigate the deaths.
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The Iraq War may be "over," but the unfinished business from years of American occupation still lingers. And a particularly grim chapter from that time, reaching all the way back to 2005, was revisited Monday in the trial of Sgt. Frank Wuterich, who entered a guilty plea on dereliction of duty in association with the killing of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians in Haditha.
A year after 24 Iraqi civilians were killed in the town of Haditha, eight U.S. Marines have been charged in the crime -- four with second-degree murder and four others with covering up the slaughter.
The Marines implicated in the killings of 24 Iraqis in Haditha may have attempted to conceal evidence, according to a secret report. Based on an investigation of the incident, the report suggests that the Marines may have tampered with their unit logbook and withheld incriminating footage captured by an aerial drone.
A military investigator reportedly has evidence that the Iraqi civilians killed in Haditha last November were the victims of bullet wounds, not a roadside bomb, as the Marines implicated in the crime had claimed.
Earlier: Rep. Murtha alleges military coverup on massacre.
The new Iraqi ambassador to America, fresh after meeting Bush in Washington for the first time, told CNN that U Marines killed his cousin in cold blood in Haditha five months before the November massacre there (h/t: The Dan Report)
This is huge: The ambassador of a newly minted "friendly" country went on national TV to accuse the U of murdering a relative Diplomatically speaking, it's a violent smack across Bush's face .
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