Initial Response to Marine Raid Draws Scrutiny

By DAVID S. CLOUD and ERIC SCHMITT
Published: June 3, 2006

WASHINGTON, June 2 — Marine commanders in Iraq learned within two days of the killings in Haditha last November that Iraqi civilians had died from gunfire, not a roadside bomb as initially reported, but the officers involved saw no reason to investigate further, according to a senior Marine officer.

The commanders have told investigators they had not viewed as unusual, in a combat environment, the discrepancies that emerged almost immediately in accounts about how the two dozen Iraqis died, and that they had no information at the time suggesting that any civilians had been killed deliberately.

But the handling of the matter by the senior Marine commanders in Haditha, and whether officers and enlisted personnel tried to cover up what happened or missed signs suggesting that the civilian killings were not accidental, has become a major element of the investigation by an Army general into the entire episode.
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"It's impossible to believe they didn't know," said, referring to midlevel and senior officers. "You'd have to know this thing stunk." He was granted anonymity, along with others who described the investigation, because he was not authorized to publicly discuss it.


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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/03/world/middleeast/03haditha.html?hp&ex=1149307200&en=8b960e3026938b0e&ei=5094&partner=homepage

(category, that is, but I ran out of space)

That may not be enough to convict them of anything, but it stinks.