Enemy activity disrupted Haditha investigation

NY Times:

Two naval investigators testified at a military hearing here on Tuesday that their inquiry into allegations that marines killed 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005 was hampered by insurgent bombs and gunfire as well as the absence of basic equipment like tape recorders.

Nayda Mannle, a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, said she had conducted a hurried group interview of six relatives of the men killed three months earlier, rapidly jotting notes of the translation of their overlapping responses as American troops stood outside, ready to fend off any attack by enemy fighters.

Another N.C.I.S. agent, Mark Platt, said he could not complete one interview of Iraqi witnesses in Haditha because the conversation was “cut short by small-arms fire.”

The testimony came in a hearing to weigh evidence against Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt, one of three enlisted men in Company K, Third Battalion, First Marines, who are charged with murder in the killings of Iraqi civilians in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005.

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James D. Culp, a civilian lawyer defending Corporal Sharratt, suggested that group interviews had been “contradictory to everything you have been taught.” Ms. Mannle said she did not have time to conduct separate interviews or review her notes before the marines said it was time to leave.

She did not record the interview, she said, because she could not find a recorder, but when pressed by Mr. Culp, she said she never sought to buy one from the post exchange.

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As the marines hustled investigators from the home, a roadside bomb blew up nearby, Ms. Mannle said.

I don't think this helps the case against the accused. In fact it supports their contention about enemy activity that led to the action against the people killed in Haditha.

While the defense lawyer was drawing out evidence critical of the investigation, he got something more important. Enemy activity similar to that which led to the killings of civilians still dominated the battle space in Haditha at the time of the investigation. There is no indication that the investigators touched on the enemy's camouflaging themselves as civilians and using human shields. Did they ask whether the enemy was wearing identifying uniforms? Did counsel for the defense ask that question of the investigators?

Democracy Project has much more on testimony at the Haditha hearings.

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The North County Times, near Camp Pendleton, adds vital information from the hearing that the New York Times didn’t find fit to print.

A lance corporal charged with murder in the shooting deaths of three Iraqi brothers in 2005 passed a polygraph examination in which he said the first man he shot was holding an AK-47 assault rifle, according to testimony heard in a base courtroom Tuesday.

The test, administered in Iraq in April 2006, showed there was no apparent deception in an account provided by Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent Nayda Mannle testified.

Also:

Sharratt's attorneys strived Tuesday to show inconsistencies in the government's investigation, focusing many of their questions on why agents did not pursue full background reports on the men who died inside the fourth home, particularly one man who worked on the Jordanian border and may have had several Jordanian passports in his possession.

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There is much more. It is worth checking out. If these guys get the case dismissed you are more likely to know why if you read this post. Hat tip Larwyn.