WAPO has an article detailing the Marines' side of the Haditha incident.

A sergeant who led a squad of Marines during the incident in Haditha, Iraq, that left as many as 24 civilians dead said his unit did not intentionally target any civilians, followed military rules of engagement and never tried to cover up the shootings, his attorney said.

Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, 26, told his attorney that several civilians were killed Nov. 19 when his squad went after insurgents who were firing at them from inside a house. The Marine said there was no vengeful massacre, but he described a house-to-house hunt that went tragically awry in the middle of a chaotic battlefield.

"It will forever be his position that everything they did that day was following their rules of engagement and to protect the lives of Marines," said Neal A. Puckett, who represents Wuterich in the ongoing investigations into the incident. "He's really upset that people believe that he and his Marines are even capable of intentionally killing innocent civilians."

Wuterich's detailed version of what happened in the Haditha neighborhood is the first public account from a Marine who was on the ground when the shootings occurred. As the leader of 1st Squad, 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, Wuterich was in the convoy of Humvees that was hit by a roadside bomb. He entered the house from which the Marines believed enemy fire was originating and made the initial radio reports to his company headquarters about what was going on, Puckett said.

The reports that Marines wantonly shot unarmed civilians in Haditha, including women and children, allege one of the most shocking, and potentially damaging, incidents of the Iraq war. A criminal investigation looking into possible charges of murder against half a dozen Marines is underway. A separate probe is examining whether Marines tried to cover up the shootings, and whether commanders were negligent in failing to investigate the deaths.

Three Marine officers have been relieved of command. In the absence of a public response from Marine Corps officials -- who are declining to comment to preserve the integrity of the investigation -- reports of what happened in the western Iraqi town have been leaking out piecemeal from the Haditha neighborhood and in Washington.

Wuterich's version contradicts that of the Iraqis, who described a massacre of men, women and children after a bomb killed a Marine. Haditha residents have said that innocent civilians were executed, that some begged for their lives before being shot and that children were killed indiscriminately.

As usual, there is a ton of discussion in the blogsphere.

Hugh Hewitt, Roger L. Simon, The Strata-Sphere, The Politburo Diktat, ShrinkWrapped, Atlas Shrugs, Stop The ACLU, Blue Crab Boulevard, All Things Beautiful, The Political Pit Bull, A Blog For All, BrothersJudd Blog, Iowa Voice, Red Hot Cuppa Politics, PrairiePundit, The Heretik, Booman Tribune, The Jawa Report v3.0 Beta, Daimnation!, SpiritBuilders and Small Town Veteran

The usual finger pointing applies in many cases, and the usual side taking. Read the whole WAPO article. For me it raises some interesting questions about the Rules of Engadgement,

"When I was in Iraq," Morgenstein said, "the Anbar-wide ROEs [rules of engagement] did not say we had the authority to knock down any door, throw in a hand grenade and kill everyone." Still, he said, if someone in a house in Haditha was shooting at them, the Marines' response may have been within procedure. "If they felt they took fire from that house, then that may be authorized."

A Marine who served near Haditha in November said it was not unusual for Marines to respond to attacks "running and gunning" and that it was standard practice to spray rooms with gunfire when threatened. "It may be a bad tactic, but it works," he said. "It keeps you alive."

but does not "prove," anything. As I said from the begining, I am going to wait until the investigation is over to pass any judgement....

Let me point out that I am not going to pass judgement on any of this. I am not, nor have I... walked the back alleys of a war zone, so I can't pass judgement on how soldiers react to danger situations. I can only say that this situation provides us with an opportunity to really understand how the war is being conducted and what the RULES are. As this investigation winds down, the truth will be revealed one way or the other. When that happens, we can all make an assessment of how we think the war is being conducted in our name. Until then... I will pass on the political volleyball. I have said it from the begining, I hope that our Marines are innocent. If this was a case of an accident, perhaps it is time to take a hard look at the rules of engadgement, with an eye towards not only protecting our troops but minimizing the chance that such an accident could happen again.

Others with a point of view:

Hot Air
Goldstein
Rick Moran

The Strata-Sphere, Confederate Yankee, Blue Star Chronicles and The Real Ugly American.com

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Posted by: Misneach at June 11, 2006 08:43 PM

Posted by: pepe at August 19, 2006 11:50 PM