US Marine gets off lightly over Iraqi massacre
Source: Agencies |
January 26, 2012, Thursday
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A US Marine accused of leading a 2005 massacre of 24 civilians in the Iraqi city of Haditha was spared jail time when he was sentenced on Tuesday for his role in killings that brought international condemnation on United States troops.
The harshest penalty Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, 31, now faces for his guilty plea on Monday to a single count of dereliction of duty is a demotion to the rank of private, the lowest rank in the service, as recommended by a military judge.
More serious charges of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault were dismissed as part of a plea deal that cut short Wuterich's court-martial and was decried by a victim's relative as a disgrace.
The outcome appeared certain to stoke outrage among Iraqis, adding to anger over other abuses by US soldiers or contractors, including the 2004 Abu Ghraib prison scandal, during the more than eight years troops spent in Iraq since the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Even before it became clear that Wuterich would be spared jail time, the head of the Iraqi parliament's human rights committee, Saleem al-Jubouri, said terms of the deal were "a violation of Iraqis' dignity" and vowed to convene his panel to discuss the matter.
Wuterich, who could have faced a maximum penalty of three months in jail after pleading guilty, showed no emotion as a military judge pronounced his sentence at Camp Pendleton in California.
But in a pre-sentencing statement he read in court earlier in the day, Wuterich expressed remorse for the slayings and said he realized that his name would always be associated with "being a cold-blooded baby-killer, an out-of-control monster."
Wuterich was accused of being the ringleader in a series of shootings and grenade attacks on November 19, 2005, that left two dozen civilians dead in Haditha, a city west of Baghdad that was then an insurgent hotspot.
The killings were portrayed by Iraqi witnesses and military prosecutors as a massacre of unarmed civilians - men, women and children - carried out by Marines in anger after a member of their unit was killed by a roadside bomb.
Wuterich, in his statement on Tuesday, directed an apology to family members of those killed in Iraq, but said civilians were not singled out for attack.
"Words cannot express my sorrow for the loss of your loved ones," he said. "The truth is, I don't believe anyone in my squad ... behaved in any way that was dishonorable or contrary to the highest ideals that we all live by as Marines."
The harshest penalty Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, 31, now faces for his guilty plea on Monday to a single count of dereliction of duty is a demotion to the rank of private, the lowest rank in the service, as recommended by a military judge.
More serious charges of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault were dismissed as part of a plea deal that cut short Wuterich's court-martial and was decried by a victim's relative as a disgrace.
The outcome appeared certain to stoke outrage among Iraqis, adding to anger over other abuses by US soldiers or contractors, including the 2004 Abu Ghraib prison scandal, during the more than eight years troops spent in Iraq since the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Even before it became clear that Wuterich would be spared jail time, the head of the Iraqi parliament's human rights committee, Saleem al-Jubouri, said terms of the deal were "a violation of Iraqis' dignity" and vowed to convene his panel to discuss the matter.
Wuterich, who could have faced a maximum penalty of three months in jail after pleading guilty, showed no emotion as a military judge pronounced his sentence at Camp Pendleton in California.
But in a pre-sentencing statement he read in court earlier in the day, Wuterich expressed remorse for the slayings and said he realized that his name would always be associated with "being a cold-blooded baby-killer, an out-of-control monster."
Wuterich was accused of being the ringleader in a series of shootings and grenade attacks on November 19, 2005, that left two dozen civilians dead in Haditha, a city west of Baghdad that was then an insurgent hotspot.
The killings were portrayed by Iraqi witnesses and military prosecutors as a massacre of unarmed civilians - men, women and children - carried out by Marines in anger after a member of their unit was killed by a roadside bomb.
Wuterich, in his statement on Tuesday, directed an apology to family members of those killed in Iraq, but said civilians were not singled out for attack.
"Words cannot express my sorrow for the loss of your loved ones," he said. "The truth is, I don't believe anyone in my squad ... behaved in any way that was dishonorable or contrary to the highest ideals that we all live by as Marines."
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