Report on Haditha notes poor follow-up
WASHINGTON – A report on the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines has found that senior military leaders in Iraq failed to follow up on “red flags” that should have indicated problems and potential inaccuracies with the initial reports of the incident, according to the report’s summary.
The report questions why senior military leaders in western Iraq failed to investigate further what happened in Haditha when they learned civilians there had been killed in November 2005.
A portion of the executive summary of the report, by Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell, was read to the Los Angeles Times by a Department of Defense official who requested anonymity because the report has not been released publicly.
“Virtually no inquiry at any level of command was conducted into the circumstances surrounding the deaths,” Bargewell wrote, according to the excerpt provided to the Times. “There were, however, a number of red flags and opportunities to do so.”
Military officials have said a squad of Marines systematically killed 24 civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha after a roadside bomb killed a member of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.
After the incident, the Marines involved reported that the civilians were killed by a roadside bomb or in the crossfire of a battle between the Americans and insurgents. In a public report, the Marines attributed the deaths to a roadside bomb.
Bargewell was assigned to investigate the actions of the Marines’ leadership, in part to determine whether officers covered up the investigation. A separate investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is expected to determine if criminal wrongdoing occurred. Commanders at Camp Pendleton, Calif., will decide whether charges should be filed against the Marines involved.
The Bargewell report has not been released and is still being reviewed by Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, a top U.S. commander in Iraq. But military officials have said that although it suggests there was no deliberate cover-up by the senior Marine officers, there were many improprieties.
For instance, the executive summary of Bargewell’s inquiry argues that problems with the reports submitted by the Marines of Kilo Company should have been apparent to leaders of the Marine command in the area, called Multinational Force-West, or MNF West.
“No follow-up actions regarding the civilian casualties were deemed necessary by the senior leadership of MNF West,” the report reads. “Initial reports of K Company and its subordinate units were untimely, inaccurate and incomplete. They were conflicted, poorly vetted and forgotten once transmitted.”
The summary suggested that Marine officers missed several opportunities to probe more deeply into the incident. One of those involved the 2nd Marine Division comptroller, who would have been responsible for making compensatory payments to the families of the civilians who were killed. The comptroller told the Staff Judge Advocate’s office that he believed the incident “might require further reporting.”
But the office of the Staff Judge Advocate didn’t act on the comptroller’s request.
“The 2nd Marine Division SJA did not forward any reports of the incidents to the higher headquarters,” the report said.
Top Marine Corps officials have also concluded that the $38,500 in compensatory payments made to the relatives of those killed in Haditha should have caused the 2nd Marine Division to examine the incident more closely. Marine Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee went to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, to emphasize his disappointment with the top level of the 2nd Marine Division, headquartered there, for not examining the “after-action” reports more thoroughly.