IAN BRUCE, Defence Correspondent May 29 2006
Although 12 marines are under investigation, ballistic tests have narrowed the rounds which killed the civilians down to "two or three weapons", a Pentagon source said. He added some victims appeared to have been killed "execution style" by shots to the back of the head at close range.
The political fallout from the alleged massacre of 24 Iraqi civilians by US Marines in November will be worse than the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, a retired US officer warned yesterday.
General David Brahms, a Middle East veteran, said: "There's going to be a firestorm. Nobody was killed at Abu Ghraib and look at the impact exposure of captives being mistreated had. This will be far, far worse and cause us problems across the entire region."
George W Bush described the Abu Ghraib revelations on Thursday as "the biggest mistake that's happened so far" in a US-led occupation which is haemorrhaging voter support.
The military investigation into Haditha is concentrating on a four-man team from the battalion which swept through the town after one of its soldiers was killed by a remote-controlled roadside bomb.
The US Naval Criminal Investigative Service is expected to conclude its inquiry this week, although leaks have indicated the evidence points overwhelmingly to a rampage by marines seeking revenge for the death of a comrade. Photographs showing bullet wounds to the upper torsos, heads and backs of the victims, who include at least 10 women and children, have also circulated.
Although 12 marines are under investigation, ballistic tests have narrowed the rounds which killed the civilians down to "two or three weapons", a Pentagon source said. He added some victims appeared to have been killed "execution style" by shots to the back of the head at close range.
The men, from Kilo Company, 1st regiment, 1st Marine Division, could face charges ranging from dereliction of duty to murder. All carry jail sentences and automatic dishonourable discharges.
A battalion commander and two company commanders have been reassigned pending investigation for failure to exercise command responsibilities. A separate inquiry is under way into how high up the chain of command the attempted cover-up went.
An initial military report claimed 15 civilians had been killed by shrapnel from the bomb which caused the death of a marine and that eight others had been insurgents shot during the follow-up operation.
Nineteen of the dead Iraqis were found in three houses. Five others were apparently dragged from a taxi. All were unarmed. Three families were wiped out, with the youngest victim a four-year-old boy and the eldest a 76-year-old amputee.
If the marines are convicted, it will be the most shocking atrocity committed by American troops since the My Lai massacre of 500 Vietnamese villagers in 1968.
Marc Garlasco, of Human Rights Watch, said: 'What happened at Haditha appears to be outright murder. It has the potential to blow up in the US military's face. It will go down as Iraq's My Lai."
Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, the UK's chief of the defence staff, said reports of the unprovoked killing of two dozen unarmed civilians would be "appalling" if accurate.
"Our people are in Iraq and other parts of the world doing difficult and dangerous things in unpleasant circumstances on behalf of their country and they need the support of the people in their country. This sort of accusation, and it is for the moment just an accusation, does make that harder to achieve," he added.
In Iraq yesterday, at least two people were killed and 17 wounded when two roadside bombs exploded in Baghdad. Another bomb killed two policemen in Diyala province.
In an early setback for the government's drive to rein in violence, leaders failed to meet their own deadline for naming interior and defence ministers.
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