Reports of alleged massacre raise concerns in Iraq, U.S.

President Bush and U.S. military leaders acknowledged Wednesday that an alleged rampage in November by U.S. Marines that may have involved the killing of two dozen civilians – including small children – has had a negative impact on the U.S. war effort in Iraq.

The Pentagon detailed the deployment of 1,500 additional troops to Anbar, Iraq’s largest and perhaps most restive province. It includes the town of Haditha, where Marines on patrol allegedly killed 24 Iraqis Nov. 19 after one of their Marine colleagues was killed and two more were injured by a roadside explosive.

Though Time magazine reported on the shootings in March, the White House and Pentagon have only recently acknowledged the incident, after a series of congressional briefings by Pentagon officers.

“I am troubled by the initial news stories,” Bush said Wednesday. “… If in fact laws were broken there will be punishment. … I know this.”

Pentagon leaders have confirmed that two investigations are under way: one to determine what happened at Haditha, the other to examine whether Marine Corps officers took part in a coverup.

Marines from 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, and soldiers of the Iraqi Security Forces patrol the streets of Haditha, Iraq, in this picture provided by the U.S. Army from Oct. 4, 2005. Marines from the Kilo Company are under investigation in the killings of up to two dozen civilians in Haditha in November, allegations that threaten to undermine the military's efforts in Iraq.

At the same time, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is also investigating the April shooting death of an Iraqi citizen by Marines in Hamandiyah near Baghdad.

The incident at Haditha involved soldiers from Kilo Company of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment based at Camp Pendleton, Calif. The unit has returned to Camp Pendleton from Iraq.

The alleged massacre occurred Nov. 19 as a four-Humvee convoy of Marines moved through Haditha, a town on the Euphrates River, just after 7 a.m.

The Marine Corps initially described the shootings as the result of a gunbattle that followed the detonation of a roadside explosive that killed one of the Kilo unit’s Marines. But military investigators, responding to the Time findings and video taken by an Iraqi student, are examining whether the Marines in the Humvees went on a rampage of revenge, killing Iraqi citizens in homes and in a taxi near where their colleague died.

White House spokesman Tony Snow pledged Tuesday that details of the military investigations would be publicly released when completed, probably in the next few weeks.

While Bush did not directly address the impact the Haditha incident could have on his Iraq strategy, unrest in Anbar province remains a primary concern for U.S. commanders.

Army Gen. Carter Ham said at the Pentagon on Wednesday that the Haditha shootings have affected the U.S. mission.

“Just simply the allegation that the U.S. military personnel may have acted improperly, it does have an effect,” Ham said. “That’s why this investigation is so important – to find out what are the facts.”

Ham said the additional troops would help secure the city of Ramadi, which has become a center of insurgent strife. But he said that the bulk of the security effort will be left to Iraqi forces.

Although it is difficult to gauge the impact of an incident like Haditha among Iraqis, its citizens had already expressed mistrust of U.S. forces.

“One problem that already exists in Iraq is that many Iraqis believe that the United States attacks civilians, that it’s careless about its targeting and that it doesn’t mind collateral damage,” said Anthony Cordesman, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Other developments Wednesday

As of Wednesday, May 31, 2006, at least 2,473 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
¢ Iraq’s new prime minister declared a state of emergency Wednesday in the southern city of Basra, vowing to crack down with an “iron fist” on rival gangs battling each other for power.
Violence has been escalating in Shiite-dominated Basra, with a wave of kidnappings and the slayings of nearly 140 people – mostly Sunnis but also Shiites and police – in May alone, police said.
¢ A CBS News correspondent critically wounded by a car bomb in Iraq that killed two colleagues was heavily sedated and breathing through a ventilator Wednesday at a U.S. military hospital in Germany, a spokeswoman said.
Still, Kimberly Dozier reacted to the arrival of her family and boyfriend, according to CBS and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Marie Shaw.
Dozier, 39. an American, was flown to the hospital in southern Germany on Tuesday after sustaining critical injuries on Memorial Day when a car bomb exploded, killing two colleagues, a U.S. soldier and an Iraqi translator.
¢ The chief judge in Saddam Hussein’s trial threw the ousted Iraqi leader’s intelligence chief out of court Wednesday after the defense accused the prosecution of trying to buy testimony from a witness.
When chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman warned a witness he could be prosecuted if he were lying about a bribe, Barzan Ibrahim – Saddam’s half-brother and one of seven co-defendants – stood and chided the judge, telling him he should “be patient.”
“Every session you have a lecture,” Abdel-Rahman snapped, shouting at Ibrahim to sit down.
When Ibrahim argued back, Abdel-Rahman shouted, “Get him out of the court!” Three guards escorted Ibrahim away.