Singapore – The top U.S. military officer on Sunday pledged a thorough investigation into the alleged massacre of Iraqi citizens in Hadithah by Marines, saying it is important to avoid a rush to judgment.
Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged that the allegations involving the deaths of about two dozen Iraqis have raised concerns among Iraqi officials and in the U.S.
“But you don’t want to have the emotions of the day weigh into the process,” Pace told The Associated Press in an interview. “We need to stick with our judicial process. We want to be sure that it moves forward without any influence.”
Pace said it is not clear what happened in November when as many as two dozen Iraqis were killed during a U.S. attack.
U.S. military investigators have evidence that points toward unprovoked murders by the Marines, a senior U.S. defense official said last week.
Iraq said last week it was undertaking its own investigation.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki sharply criticizing the conduct of U.S. troops in Iraq and said what occurred in Hadithah “appears to be a horrible crime.”
Over the weekend, Pace joined U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at a conference of defense leaders in Southeast Asia. In some countries in the region with sizable Muslim populations, the war in Iraq has soured attitudes toward the U.S.
The killings in Hadithah have contributed to that, leading the U.S. military on Thursday to order that the 150,000 coalition troops in Iraq, including 130,000 Americans, get special training in ethics and “the values that separate us from our enemies.”
U.S. troops should benefit from the additional training, particularly as they run through various battle scenarios, Pace said.
“Emotions on the battlefield are intense,” Pace said. “It’s good to stop and check your moral compass.”
Hadithah, about 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, has been plagued by insurgents. On Nov. 19, a bomb rocked a military convoy, killing a Marine. Residents said Marines then went into nearby houses and shot members of two families, including a 3-year-old girl. At first, the U.S. military described what happened as an ambush on a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol, with a roadside bombing and subsequent firefight killing 15 civilians, eight insurgents and a Marine. The statement said the 15 civilians were killed by the blast, a claim the residents strongly denied.
