Saturday, September 01, 2007
Marine gunned down unarmed men, witness says - N.Y. Times
A Marine sergeant offered gruesome testimony on Friday against a former squad leader charged with killing 17 Iraqi civilians in Haditha nearly two years ago, suggesting that the defendant, Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, was predisposed to violence, carried it out ruthlessly and sought to cover it up.
...
Dela Cruz testified that Wuterich shot five unarmed men as they stood behind a car, some with their hands interlocked behind their heads in a surrender posture, in the moments after the bomb exploded.
He also said Wuterich fired more rounds into the bodies of all five men as they lay dead or dying near the car, a short distance from the attack.
Wuterich has said he shot the five men, but only after they ran away, which he believed constituted a hostile act that allowed him to use deadly force.
Dela Cruz told prosecutors that a week before the Haditha episode, Wuterich had reacted to an earlier roadside bombing by telling him and other Marines in the unit, "If we ever get hit again, we should kill everybody in that area." ...
A Marine sergeant offered gruesome testimony on Friday against a former squad leader charged with killing 17 Iraqi civilians in Haditha nearly two years ago, suggesting that the defendant, Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, was predisposed to violence, carried it out ruthlessly and sought to cover it up.
...
Dela Cruz testified that Wuterich shot five unarmed men as they stood behind a car, some with their hands interlocked behind their heads in a surrender posture, in the moments after the bomb exploded.
He also said Wuterich fired more rounds into the bodies of all five men as they lay dead or dying near the car, a short distance from the attack.
Wuterich has said he shot the five men, but only after they ran away, which he believed constituted a hostile act that allowed him to use deadly force.
Dela Cruz told prosecutors that a week before the Haditha episode, Wuterich had reacted to an earlier roadside bombing by telling him and other Marines in the unit, "If we ever get hit again, we should kill everybody in that area." ...
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