Marines mulled bombing Haditha home: officer

[stu]

By Dan Whitcomb

Fri Sep 22, 3:37 PM ET

 

 

 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. Marines were so locked in battle with Iraqi insurgents on the day 24 civilians were killed in Haditha that a U.S. Marine officer considered bombing a house where the insurgents took refuge, he told investigators.

Maj. Sam Carrasco, who was overseeing troop movements in the area when two dozen men, women and children were shot in Haditha, said he believed at the time the civilians died in cross-fire between Marines and insurgents.

 

Carrasco was not at the scene of what Iraqi witnesses say was a massacre by U.S. troops, but was questioned by military investigators over his report of the November 2005 killings.

 

Reuters obtained a transcript of an interview Carrasco gave two investigators in March. Reached on Thursday, Carrasco declined to comment, citing the investigation.

 

"We saw insurgents go into a house, and we did not drop bombs on that house because we did not have (positive identification)," Carrasco told investigators. "They had engaged a previous unit and had run into a house with weapons."

 

"We vectored the (Marine) squad and they got shot up. I watched the whole thing happen as they got shot up ... And now I'm kicking myself in the [bleeped!] because we didn't drop the bomb and we didn't lead with appropriate force because we didn't have positive identification."

 

Iraqi witnesses say Marines shot civilians in their homes to retaliate for the death of a comrade, Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, in a roadside bomb. Investigators are weighing charges.

 

There were multiple firefights around the city that day and Carrasco was questioned over why his report was not more thorough.

 

'THIS HAS BEEN A BAD DAY'

 

Carrasco told investigators that he was not aware of serious fighting in Haditha until more than 90 minutes after the bomb went off that morning and because of the ensuing chaos learned of the civilian deaths only hours later.

 

"I have got units all over the battle space," he said. "I have got a company on the east side of the river, we got a company on the south side of the river; both are reporting explosions.

 

"The enemy situation at the time was one where we were expecting a coordinated complex attack throughout the triad city. This is what we were afraid of. This is what is developing."

 

Carrasco said after he learned of the civilian casualties he reported them to a superior. There were U.S. troops and insurgent troops and Iraqi troops, he said, "And there was civilians caught in the middle."'

 

"I said, 'I do not know if they were killed by the (bomb) blast, how many got killed by the (bomb) blast. I do not know how many were killed in the cross-fire, but it is fair to assume that this has been a bad day if there is dead civilians in the battle space."'

 

Carrasco told investigators he had never considered the possibility that war crimes could have taken place in Haditha until a Time magazine article months later.

 

"At that point, at the end of November ... I just, Roger that, next operation," he said. "Let's talk about the memorial service for Terrazas. Let's try to keep our boys alive. Let's try to do our jobs to the best of our ability and focus on the next operation."

 

(Additional reporting by Adam Tanner)