Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich"Eight Marines were charged Thursday in the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians last year during a bloody, door-to-door sweep in the town of Haditha that came after one of their comrades was killed by a roadside bomb.
In the biggest U.S. criminal case involving civilian deaths to come out of the Iraq war, four of the Marines _ all enlisted men _ were charged with unpremeditated murder.
The other four were officers who were not there during the killings but were accused of failures in investigating and reporting the deaths.
The most serious charges were brought against Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, a 26-year-old squad leader accused of murdering 12 civilians and ordering the murders of six more inside a house cleared by his squad. He was accused of telling his men to "shoot first and ask questions later," according to court papers released by his attorney".
"The 24 Iraqi civilians killed on Nov. 19 included children and the women who were trying to shield them, witnesses told a Washington Post special correspondent in Haditha this week and U.S. investigators said in Washington. The girls killed inside Khafif's house were ages 14, 10, 5, 3 and 1, according to death certificates".
"Accused" of killing 12 out of the 24 all by himself...some at ages 1, 3 and 5.....how's that lawsuit coming along, Frank?
