Headquaters Marine Corps found out about Haditha after investigation was underway

Rowan Scarborough:

U.S. Marine Corps headquarters in Washington did not learn of the killing of Iraqi civilians by Marines in Haditha until early March, a timeline that appears to exonerate the highest ranks of the Marine Corps from any cover-up or failure to act.
The U.S. military command in Baghdad learned of the civilian killings in February and began two investigations: one criminal and one administrative.
The administrative probe by Army Brig. Gen. Eldon Bargewell is focusing on whether any information was covered up along the Marine Corps chain of command. This is because the 2nd Marine Division issued a press release Nov. 20 saying Iraqi civilians had been killed in Haditha the previous day by an improvised explosive device (IED) and in a firefight with insurgents.
Officials now acknowledge that the statement was inaccurate. Evidence shows the civilians were killed deliberately by Marines' gunfire during sweeps after an IED killed one of their battlemates.
One key question is: Did senior Marine Corps officers hear of the accusations and fail to act between the time of the Nov. 19 incident and February, when a Time magazine reporter brought the charges to the attention of the Baghdad command?
A timeline that the Marines provided yesterday to The Washington Times would appear to exonerate Gen. Michael W. Hagee, the Marine Corps commandant, and his staff.
Col. David Lapan, a Marine Corps headquarters spokesman, said the commandant and his staff were apprised in early March by Marine commanders in Iraq. He said Gen. Hagee subsequently received briefings on the criminal probe and then dedicated a tour of Iraq to telling Marines the importance of ethical conduct and the rules of war.
Gen. Hagee yesterday returned from that tour, which began Friday. Col. Lapan said Gen. Bargewell has not interviewed Gen. Hagee.
Col. Lapan, who was in Iraq at the time of the incident as spokesman for the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, said the press release was issued by the division in Ramadi, not by MEF headquarters at Camp Fallujah, where he worked. He said such press statements typically are based on combat reports filed by those who conducted and led the missions.

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Actually the source of the press release is probably a good starting point on finding how the incident was covered up. That source has probably already been questioned on how he got his information.