By Paul von Zielbauer in Camp Pendleton
THE only Marine Corps officer who was in Haditha, Iraq, when US troops killed 19 civilians in their homes in 2005 testified at a military hearing on Tuesday that he was "shocked" to find only unarmed people, including women and children, among the dead.
But he said the marines had not violated any law of war.
The officer, 1st Lieutenant William T Kallop, said that soon after the killings he inspected one of the homes with a Marine corporal, Hector Salinas, and found women, children and older men who had been killed when marines threw a grenade into the room.
"What the hell happened, why aren't there any insurgents here?" Lieutenant Kallop testified that he asked aloud. "I looked at Corporal Salinas, and he looked just as shocked as I did."
Lieutenant Kallop, a platoon leader, was the first witness called by lawyers for Captain Randy W Stone, one of four Marine officers charged with dereliction of duty for failing to properly investigate the deaths of two dozen civilians in Haditha on November 19, 2005.
The hearing is to determine whether there is sufficient evidence against Captain Stone to refer the charges to a general court-martial.
A Marine prosecutor spent most of the day cross-examining Lieutenant Kallop about the actions of Staff Sergeant Frank D Wuterich, the Marine squad leader whom Lieutenant Kallop had ordered to "clear" an Iraqi home in Haditha after a roadside bomb had killed a Marine lance corporal earlier that morning.
Staff Sergeant Wuterich is charged with multiple counts of murder in connection with the killing of the civilians.
"Did he tell you that he had left two wounded children in that house?" the prosecutor, Lieutenant-Colonel Sean Sullivan, asked Lieutenant Kallop, referring to Staff Sergeant Wuterich. "Did he tell you that he had killed a child? Did he tell you that there was a woman at the bottom of the stairs that they had killed?"
Lieutenant Kallop, who is not charged in the case and testified after being given immunity from prosecution, replied to each question with a firm "No, sir."
"Did he say anything," Lieutenant-Colonel Sullivan later asked, "about the five children in the back bedroom being killed on the bed in the second house?"
Lieutenant Kallop again answered no.
In addition to Captain Stone, the other Marine officers charged in the case are Captain Lucas M McConnell, the company commander; 1st Lieutenant Andrew A Grayson, a Marine intelligence officer who inspected the scene of the killings; and Lieutenant-Col. Jeffrey R Chessani, the battalion commander who sent an electronic slide show presentation of the killings to his superiors.
None of the four officers was present during the explosion of the roadside bomb and the civilian killings by marines.
Lieutenant Kallop testified that he believed his men had acted appropriately. He said Staff Sergeant Wuterich had told him that they had killed people in one house after hearing the distinct metallic sound of an AK-47 being prepared to fire.
The New York Times