Marine captain testifies in Haditha civilian deaths

[babylonsister]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20070511-1300-bn11haditha.html

Marine captain testifies in Haditha civilian deaths


By Steve Liewer
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

1:00 p.m. May 11, 2007

CAMP PENDLETON – Official complaints from Iraqis, a Time magazine report and two military investigations into the killing of 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq, all failed to shake Marine commanders' confidence that the deaths were justified, an officer testified Friday morning at Camp Pendleton.

“They didn't give me any indication there was anything else we should look into,” said Capt. Jeffrey Dinsmore, the intelligence officer for the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment when the killings occurred Nov. 19, 2005.

Dinsmore testified at the pretrial hearing for Capt. Randy Stone, one of four officers from the battalion who are charged with dereliction of duty for failing to scrutinize the Haditha incident.

Three enlisted Marines from the battalion's Kilo Company are accused of going on a rampage after a roadside bomb blast killed one Marine and wounded several others.

One of the defendants, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, fatally shot five men who arrived in a car shortly after the bomb explosion. Prosecutors said he killed those men without cause, while Wuterich said he shot at them because they refused orders to stop running.

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