Marine saw Haditha deaths as grim but not willful By Marty Graham
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Wed May 30, 6:07 PM ET
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif (Reuters) - A U.S. Marine assigned to move the
bodies of civilians who died in Haditha told a military court by videotape
on Wednesday that he assumed the dead Iraqis at the grim scene were
mistakenly killed rather than massacred.
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Lt. Max Frank was the first witness in the military tribunal investigating
charges against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, one of eight U.S. Marines
charged in connection with the November 19, 2005, deaths of 24 Iraqi
civilians.
In videotaped testimony, Frank described the scene inside three houses
where 18 of the civilians died, calling the scenes "gross" and
"disturbing." But he said it didn't leave him feeling that the Marines
should investigate.
"From my perspective at the time, I assumed (the Marines) were taking fire
and they made a mistake," Frank said. "It was unfortunate what happened
but I didn't have any reason to believe they did it on purpose."
Frank, who was sent to the scene hours after the killings to move the
bodies, said two women and six children were found in the bedroom at the
end of a hallway, all but one on the bed. All the children were under age
15, he said.
Chessani is charged with one count of violating an order and two counts of
dereliction of duty for failing to investigate the killings.
He is one of eight Marines charged in the killings; four Marines were
charged with actually killing the civilians -- though one has since been
granted immunity to testify; and four officers were charged for not
investigating or giving false reports of the killing.
Defense lawyers say the deaths were an unfortunate but legal result of an
attack on a convoy of Marines. Insurgents detonated a bomb that destroyed
the fourth vehicle in the convoy, killing Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas and
injuring two other Marines.
A lieutenant ordered a team, led by Sgt. Frank Wuterich, to clear four
houses that seemed to be the source of gunfire on the decimated convoy,
according to previous testimony.
When Wuterich's team finished, 19 people were dead in or near the houses
and another five men were killed near the car they were riding in.
"It was unfortunate. We're sorry about this but this is what happens when
terrorists attack us and hide in houses," Frank recalled his superiors
saying. "It's an unfortunate thing that happens when you let terrorists
use your house to attack our troops."
Frank did complain about one aspect of the killing -- moving the bodies,
which left him covered with blood after he ran out of body bags.
"I thought it was something our Marines shouldn't be asked to do," Frank
testified. "It was gruesome."
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