Los Angeles: The US Marine sergeant accused of leading a massacre of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha pleaded guilty on Monday to dereliction of duty, ending the final prosecution stemming from a 2005 incident that brought international condemnation of US troops.
Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, 31, entered his plea at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base north of San Diego as part of a deal with military prosecutors in which more serious charges of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault were dismissed.
Friend blown apart
Prosecutors said he lost control after seeing the body of his friend blown apart by the bomb and led his men on a rampage in which they stormed two nearby homes, blasting their way in with gunfire and grenades. Among the dead were women, children and elderly, including a man in a wheelchair.
As part of his guilty plea, Wuterich accepted responsibility for providing negligent verbal instructions to the Marines under his command when he told them to “shoot first and ask questions later,” resulting in the death of innocent civilians.
He faces a maximum sentence of three months of confinement, forfeiture of two-thirds of his pay for three months and a reduction in rank when he is sentenced on Tuesday, a Camp Pendleton spokesman said.
“By pleading guilty to this charge, Staff Sergeant Wuterich has accepted responsibility for his actions,” base spokesman Lieutentant Colonel Joseph Kloppel said.
Discharge
Any discharge process Wuterich may face will be separate from the plea and sentencing, Kloppel added.
Wuterich, 31, was accused of being the ringleader in a series of Nov. 19, 2005, shooting and grenade attacks that left two dozen civilians dead in Haditha, a city west of Baghdad that was a hotbed of insurgent activity.
The killings were portrayed by Iraqi witnesses as a massacre of unarmed civilians.
Local witnesses said angry Marines had killed unarmed men, women and children after a popular comrade, Lance Corporal Miguel “TJ” Terrazas, was killed by a roadside bomb.
Six of the eight Marines originally accused in the case had their charges dismissed by military judges, and a seventh was cleared of criminal wrongdoing.
