Marine ordered Iraqi women and kids shot, squad member testifies (Haditha) [View All]

Source: Associated Press

Marine ordered Iraqi women and kids shot, squad member testifies

Published: July 17, 2007

CAMP PENDLETON, California: A Marine charged with murdering
two girls and killing several other Iraqis gave orders to shoot
into a roomful of children and young women, a squad member
testified.

Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum then went into the room himself,
followed by loud noise that could have been M-16 gunfire or a
grenade, said Lance Cpl. Humberto Manuel Mendoza.

"I told him there's just womens and kids in the room," Mendoza
said Tuesday. "He replied, 'Well, shoot them.'"

Mendoza was with Tatum and two other Marines when they
went to clear houses in Haditha, Iraq, on Nov. 19, 2005,
in the aftermath of a roadside bomb that killed one Marine
and wounded two others. Marines killed 24 civilians, resulting
in the biggest U.S. criminal case involving civilian deaths to
come out of the Iraq war.

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Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/18/america/NA-GEN-US-Marines-Haditha.php