Officer says did not mention Haditha deaths in homes
CAMP PENDLETON, California (Reuters) - A military intelligence officer testified on Friday he did not mention that 15 civilians, including women and children, died in two houses in his report on the U.S. killings in Haditha, Iraq, in 2005.
Capt. Jeffrey Dinsmore spoke on the fourth day of testimony in pretrial hearing at Camp Pendleton for Capt. Randy Stone, 34, a legal adviser for the company that killed the 24 Iraqis at Haditha. Stone is one of four men charged with dereliction of duty and obstructing the investigation.
Dinsmore testified that it did not matter whether his report mentioned where or how civilians died on November 19, 2005.
"I said women and children were killed in that particular engagement," he said. "It isn't a requirement of combat reporting" to report exactly where they died.
Dinsmore said the detail that many of the killings occurred in homes rather than out in the open was not included for the sake of brevity in a briefing provided to higher commanders.
The 15 civilians were among 24 civilians killed that morning. Two children also were wounded.
Three other Marines are charged with murder in what Iraqis have called a rampage of revenge in Haditha after a beloved member of the platoon was killed in a blast. The accused Marines say they were conducting a lawful operation that had terrible accidental results.
'COMMON KNOWLEDGE'
The death of civilians in two houses "was common knowledge" to battalion members, Dinsmore told prosecutors, and the understanding was that they died caught in the midst of gunfire in the squad's pursuit of insurgent fighters.
Several unit members have testified that insurgents often used local civilians as human shields in carrying out attacks on U.S. military or Iraqi security forces.
Yet a press release issued by Marine public affairs after the November 2005 incident blamed the deaths on the explosion of the improvised explosive device that morning.
The hearings this week, the first court proceedings in the Haditha cases, have revealed new details about the killings that have further tarnished the U.S. image worldwide.
On Wednesday, one Marine, Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, admitted in court that he urinated on one of the dead Iraqi civilians, saying he was angered by the death of platoon member.
He also said the squadron leader had shot five men whose hands were tied up near a car.
The general who oversaw the U.S. Marines in Haditha said on Thursday he knew his troops had killed a large number of Iraqi civilians there in November 2005 but that he only learned months later of accusations the Marines may have committed murder.
Stone could face a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a dishonorable discharge. This week's hearings are part of an Article 32 hearing in which a military court reviews whether the evidence warrants bringing the case to trial.
