Marine unit leader told troops to lie about deaths

Camp Pendleton, California: A Marine squad leader who led an attack that led to the death of 24 Iraqi civilians shot five men as they stood with their hands raised and told comrades to lie about it, a Marine sergeant testified.

Sergeant Sanick P. Dela Cruz testified that, in the moments after a roadside bomb hit a Humvee in his convoy on November 19, 2005, killing a comrade, he saw squad leader Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich firing six to eight rounds on five men standing by a white car.

'Saw one of them drop'

"They were just standing, looking around, had hands up," Dela Cruz said. "Then I saw one of them drop in the middle. I didn't know what was going on, sir. Looked to my left, saw Staff Sergeant Wuterich shooting."

Dela Cruz spoke on Wednesday at a preliminary hearing for Captain Randy Stone, a Marine lawyer accused, along with three officers, of dereliction of duty.

Stone's civilian attorney contends Stone, 34, reported the incident up the chain of command and was told not to investigate further. Dela Cruz said he "sprayed" the bodies with automatic gunfire after which Wuterich shot the men again, and told him several times to say the men were "running away" when they were shot by the "Iraqi army" if asked about the killings in Haditha, 195 km west of Baghdad.

A team led by Wuterich then cleared two houses with grenades and gunfire looking for insurgents but ended up killing civilians, including women, children and the elderly.