Paul von Zielbauer, New York Times / May 9, 2007

Officer Says Civilian Toll in Haditha Was a Shock

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., May 8 — The only Marine Corps officer who was in Haditha, Iraq, when American troops killed 19 civilians in their homes in 2005 testified at a military hearing on Tuesday that he was “shocked” to find only unarmed people, including women and children, among the dead. But he said the marines had not violated any law of war.

The officer, First Lt. William T. Kallop, said that soon after the killings, he inspected one of the homes with a Marine corporal, Hector Salinas, and found women, children and older men who had been killed when marines threw a grenade into the room.

“What the hell happened, why aren’t there any insurgents here?” Lieutenant Kallop testified that he asked aloud. “I looked at Corporal Salinas, and he looked just as shocked as I did.”

Lieutenant Kallop, a platoon leader, was the first witness called by lawyers for Capt. Randy W. Stone, one of four Marine officers charged with dereliction of duty for failing to properly investigate the deaths of two dozen civilians in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005. The hearing, in a Marine Corps courtroom here, is meant to determine whether there is sufficient evidence against Captain Stone to refer the charges to a general court-martial.

As Captain Stone and his three lawyers sat quietly at the defense table, a Marine prosecutor spent most of the day cross-examining Lieutenant Kallop about the actions of Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, the Marine squad leader whom Lieutenant Kallop had ordered to “clear” an Iraqi home in Haditha after a roadside bomb had killed a Marine lance corporal earlier that morning. Sergeant Wuterich is charged with multiple counts of murder in connection with the killing of the civilians that day.

“Did he tell you that he had left two wounded children in that house?” the prosecutor, Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan, asked Lieutenant Kallop, referring to Sergeant Wuterich. “Did he tell you that he had killed a child? Did he tell you that there was a woman at the bottom of the stairs that they had killed?”

Lieutenant Kallop, who is not charged in the case and testified after being given immunity from prosecution, replied to each question with a firm “No, sir.”

“Did he say anything,” Colonel Sullivan later asked, “about the five children in the back bedroom being killed on the bed” in the second house?

Lieutenant Kallop again answered no.

A hearing for Sergeant Wuterich, who was not present, is more than a month away.

In addition to Captain Stone, the other Marine officers charged in the case are Capt. Lucas M. McConnell, the company commander; First Lt. Andrew A. Grayson, a Marine intelligence officer who inspected the scene of killings; and Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani, the battalion commander, who sent an electronic slide show presentation of the killings to his superiors.

None of the four officers was present during the explosion of the roadside bomb and the subsequent civilian killings by marines.

Despite the number of civilians killed by marines that morning in Haditha — five men who ran from a car, and then another 19 people in their homes after Lieutenant Kallop arrived — he testified Tuesday that he believed his men had acted appropriately and according to their training.

He said Sergeant Wuterich had told him that they had killed people in one house after approaching a door to it and hearing the distinct metallic sound of an AK-47 being prepared to fire.

“I thought that was within the rules of engagement because the squad leader thought that he was about to kick in the door and walk into a machine gun,” Lieutenant Kallop said. “Corporal Salinas told me the same thing.”

Later he added, “I had no doubt in my mind that they were telling the truth.”

Moreover, Lieutenant Kallop, who arrived in the town after the roadside bomb had killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, said his platoon had been told that Haditha was “an insurgent-controlled-and-occupied city.”