Did US Marines commit a massacre?

CAMP PENDLETON, California (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy medic admitted on Friday helping kidnap an Iraqi grandfather and said his patrol leader's anger at the release of a suspected "terrorist" from Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison prompted the abduction and murder.

Petty Officer Melson Bacos, 21, and the seven Marines he accompanied on an April patrol were charged with kidnapping Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, from his home, killing him and placing an AK-47 assault rifle, spent bullets and a shovel next to his body to suggest he was trying to plant a roadside bomb.

"I wanted to be part of the team. I wanted to be loyal," Bacos said solemnly of his involvement. "Now I feel as though my honor is gone and I have let down others who have looked up to me. I apologize to our country.

"I also ask forgiveness from the Iraqi family we have done this to."

The killing in the town of Hamdania was one in a series of incidents in which the conduct of American troops in Iraq have damaged the country's image worldwide.

Shedding new light on the death, Bacos told military judge Col. Steven Folsom that squad leader Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III had devised the plan to kill a different Iraqi who was "a known high-value individual whom he had detained who was later released from Abu Ghraib."

"He was just mad that they kept letting him go when he was a known terrorist, sir," Bacos said. "He was detained and released three times, sir."

Yet the squad did not find their intended target, Saleh Gowad, and instead seized Awad next door, Bacos said.

All Things Considered, October 6, 2006 · At Camp Pendleton in California, a Navy corpsman agrees to testify in general courts-martial against seven U.S. Marines who are accused of murdering an Iraqi man. Petty Officer Melson Bacos has accepted a plea agreement; he will no longer face murder charges.

Bacos, 21, admitted to being present at the killing of an Iraqi civilian last April near the village of Hamdania.

Military authorities allege that Marines on patrol with Bacos pulled Hashim Ibrahim Awad from his home and shot him to death before staging his remains to make it appear he was an insurgent trying to plant a bomb.

Bacos confirmed that version of events Friday, saying that the Marines were incensed that a man who they were convinced was an insurgent had been let out of jail. All the men agreed that if their target was not at home, they would attack someone at random.

Awad was a neighbor of the man, who wasn't home when they sought him out.

Bacos said that he urged the men to let Awad go, but they refused. Instead, he said, they put Awad in a hole and shot him numerous times. A rifle and a shovel were placed near Awad, to make the case that he was caught planting road-side explosives.

Haditha charges expected to be announced today...

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/21/haditha.marines.ap/

The shootings occurred after a roadside bomb killed one Marine from a squad on patrol. In the aftermath of the blast, five Iraqi men were shot as they approached the scene in a taxi and others -- including women and children -- died as Marines opened fire on a cluster of houses in the area.

I haven't really been following this issue - has it come out that the marines did not enter the homes?

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., Dec 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. military charged a Marine squad leader with 13 counts of murder in the killings last year of unarmed civilians in Haditha, Iraq, one of the man's defense lawyers said on Thursday.

The charges handed down against Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, but do not include premeditated murder, said attorney Mark Zaid.

Neal Puckett, another of Wuterich's attorneys, said the sergeant faces 12 counts of unpremeditated murder against individuals and one count of the murder of six people "while engaged in an act inherently dangerous to others."

Update: Marine squad leader charged with 13 counts of murder; no charge of premeditated murder:



http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N21200494.htm

Update 2: More charges follow:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/21/iraq.haditha/


What does that last one mean? I'm guessing it's related to the killing of the people inside the house, but it's not clear to me what eactly the charge is.