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Marines will be charged with murder

A sailor will also be charged, according to a defense lawyer, in an Iraqi death unrelated to a more famous case in Haditha.

By TIMES WIRES
Published June 2, 2006

SAN DIEGO - Military prosecutors plan to file murder, kidnapping and conspiracy charges against seven Marines and a Navy corpsman in the shooting death of an Iraqi man in April, a defense lawyer said Thursday.

The eight men are being held at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base north of San Diego, said Jeremiah Sullivan III, who represents one of the men.

The Iraqi man was killed west of Baghdad on April 26, but few additional details have been released. It was unrelated to the shootings of as many as two dozen civilians in Haditha, Iraq, in November.

The men being held at Camp Pendleton served in Iraq with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, and are members of the battalion's Kilo Company. The highest-ranking among them is a staff sergeant.

Sullivan said he learned from Marine Corps attorneys that the charges have been drafted and official charging documents could be given to the men as early as today.

Since an investigation was announced May 24, the Marine Corps and Pentagon spokesmen have refused to comment on any aspect of the case.

Abu Ghraib dog handler found guilty of assault

FORT MEADE, Md. - A military jury on Thursday convicted an Army dog handler of using his animal to torment a prisoner at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Sgt. Santos A. Cardona is the 11th soldier convicted of crimes stemming from the abuse of inmates at the prison in late 2003 and early 2004. Cardona, 32, of Fullerton, Calif., was convicted of dereliction of duty and aggravated assault for allowing his dog to bark within inches of a prisoner's face.

But the panel of four officers and three enlisted soldiers acquitted him of some of the most serious charges, including unlawfully having his dog bite an inmate and conspiring to frighten prisoners into soiling themselves.

Cardona, a 12½-year veteran, faces 3½ years in prison. The jury began deliberating Cardona's sentence Thursday evening.

Iraq will also investigate multiple deaths in Haditha

BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced Thursday that Iraq would conduct its own investigations into what he suggested were multiple cases of killings of civilians by U.S.-led forces, saying his government may demand greater restraints on foreign troops as a condition of their staying in Iraq.

The U.S. military is conducting at least two investigations into the killings of civilians, including women and children, in Haditha on Nov. 19.

Maliki formally condemned not just the Haditha killings but what he called "the practice" of occupying forces' disregard for civilians in Iraq.

"The list might be long, because this has become a phenomenon among many of the multinational forces that they do not respect the civilian," Maliki said. "They run them over and leave them, or they kill anyone suspicious."

Maliki, while speaking sternly to the Iraqi public on the killings, stopped well short of saying the issue might lead to the foreign troops being asked to leave or even singling out the Americans as culprits.

Reparations: Families of 15 of the dead civilians in Haditha have received $38,000 in military-ordered reparations, Maj. Dana G. Hyatt, the Marine who delivered the money, confirmed Thursday.

Ethics training: The U.S. military ordered coalition troops in Iraq on Thursday to undergo special training in ethics and "the values that separate us from our enemies." The training, which will include slideshows, will occur within 30 days.

Marine speaks: A Marine captain who was relieved of command after the Haditha shooting denied any role in the deaths and complained that he had become a "political casualty." Capt. James Kimber, 33, of Fountain Hills, Ariz., was one of three officers reassigned to new duties last month for what the Marines said was "a lack of confidence in their leadership abilities." None of the three officers has been charged with wrongdoing. Kimber said he first learned about the November shootings in February, adding that local Iraqi leaders never mentioned it. A Camp Pendleton spokesman did not immediately return a message left seeking comment.

President Bush: It took nearly a month for President Bush to be told of the Haditha investigation, the White House said Thursday. Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, commander of Multinational Corps Iraq, ordered an investigation into the incident on Feb. 14, but Bush was not informed about it until March 11, White House press secretary Tony Snow said Thursday. Bush pledged Thursday that the Pentagon will "get to the bottom of this" and that the results of the inquiry will be made public.

Also in Iraq ...

Violence: A mortar barrage and a bombing in Baghdad on Thursday killed at least 15 Iraqis and wounded at least 87.

Government: Maliki announced Thursday he would fill vacancies at the crucial defense and interior ministries over the weekend.

Wounded journalist: CBS correspondent Kimberly Dozier, seriously injured Monday by a car bomb in Iraq, was able to start communicating with her family and doctors Thursday at a U.S. military hospital in Germany. She remained in critical condition, the network said.

Information from the Associated Press and Washington Post was used in this report.

[Last modified June 2, 2006, 06:23:12]