US Marine falsified report on killings of Iraqi civilians
Iraq-USA, Politics, 5/31/2006

Asked about the incident of US Marines killing of Iraqi unarmed civilians, US Deputy Director for Regional Operations, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Brig. Gen. Carter Ham said "two investigations under way."

The general was asked about a report that the death certificate of the Iraqi victims of Haditha say that these people were killed by bullets to their heads and not because of an explosion as reported previously.

The general said "The allegations are out there, and those are widely known.  The facts are not yet known, and it's important for us to know what those facts are."

He added "Allegations such as this, regardless of how they are born out by the facts, can have an effect on the ability of U.S. forces to continue to operate.  So it is one we take quite seriously," because "We do rely very heavily -- and more importantly, the Iraqi security forces rely heavily -- on the support from the Iraqi people. And anything that tends to diminish that obviously is not helpful to what we're trying to do."

A New York Times reported today said that a military investigator uncovered evidence in February and March "that conflicted with the marines' story were death certificates that showed all the Iraqi victims had gunshot wounds, mostly to the head and chest, the official said."

Previous Stories:
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  US says it cooperates with Turkey against Kurdish PKK   (5/25/2006)

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