US Marines on trial for Iraq atrocity

Battalion commander and Lance-Corporal are first to face charges over deaths of 24 men, women and children

A US battalion commander has been sent for trial over the deaths of 24 Iraqis, including women and children, in Haditha nearly two years ago, making him the highest-ranking American serviceman to face court martial over actions in combat since the Vietnam War.

Lieutenant-Colonel Jeffrey Chessani faces charges of dereliction of duty and violation of a lawful order for allegedly failing accurately to report and investigate what happened after a roadside bomb killed a US marine on 19 November 2005. One of his men, Lance-Corporal Stephen Tatum, was also ordered to face a court martial on charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and aggravated assault.

The two men are the first to be sent for court martial after one of the worst atrocities to be uncovered in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. The US marines initially claimed that nine militants and 15 civilians, including seven women and three children, were killed in the explosion or the firefight that followed, only for video footage and photographs to emerge that cast doubt on the story. Several of the details were first revealed by The Independent on Sunday.

But since further investigation uncovered the truth of the incident – that the only shooting that day was done by marines, who went on the rampage after Lance-Corporal Miguel Terrazas was killed by the bomb, and that all the Iraqi victims were unarmed civilians – a second battle began, this time in the military courts. Despite initial speculation that some marines might face the death penalty, charges have been progressively whittled down because of what military prosecutors say is lack of evidence.

Of four marines initially accused in the case, charges have been dropped against Lance Corporal Justin Sharratt and Sergeant Sanick Dela Cruz. Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, leader of a four-man squad which is suspected of having carried out most of the killings, has been charged with the unpremeditated murder of 17 men, women and children. But officers have recommended that this should be reduced to manslaughter. Four officers were accused of dereliction and failing to investigate the killings, but the charges have been dropped against two. First Lieutenant Andrew Grayson faces a pre-trial hearing next week.

The suspicion exists that the only unusual feature of what happened in Haditha was the existence of evidence to disprove the marines' account. An Iraqi human rights group obtained a video, shot by a journalism student, which showed that no civilians could have been killed by a bomb. It showed that although the houses where they died were bullet-riddled indoors, there were no exterior marks, casting doubt on the marines' claims of a firefight.

Time magazine then took up the story, prompting further investigation by the military, although it was still claimed at first that the civilian deaths were "collateral damage" rather than deliberate. Local accounts, however, told of women and children being shot down in their houses, and of one man being left to bleed to death as marines ignored his pleas for help. Five of the alleged militants were students in a taxi which approached the scene of the bombing. The marines claimed they had been shot while attempting to escape, but local people said the young men had been ordered to lie face down before being killed execution-style.

Lt Col Chessani was the commanding officer of the unit involved, the Third Battalion, First Marine Regiment. At his preliminary hearing, several witnesses said local Iraqis had complained to the officer in the days after the killings, and that he promised to look into what had happened. He said he never ordered a formal investigation because he believed the deaths resulted from lawful combat.

In his report the presiding officer, Colonel Christopher Conlin, heavily criticised Lt Col Chessani. "To not have made every attempt to be on scene as this action developed, or to not have at least reviewed this action in detail ... is in itself negligent," Col Conlin wrote. "The fact that one fireteam was solely responsible for 24 deaths ... should have solicited more than passing interest from the senior leadership."