Seven marines and one sailor face Iraqi murder charge

The US Marine Corps today planned to charge seven Marines and one sailor with murder in connection with the April death of an Iraqi civilian, a defence official said.

At Camp Pendleton, California, where the eight accused service members have been held in a military prison since late May, officials announced that a news conference would be held later today concerning the alleged killing of the Iraqi in the village of Hamdania. The announcement did not mention murder or other charges.

The official who disclosed the Marine plans asked not to be identified publicly.

The allegation is that Marines pulled an unarmed Iraqi man from his home on April 26 and shot him dead without provocation. Seven Marines and one Navy corpsman from the Pendleton-based 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment were taken out of Iraq and put in the prison pending the filing of any charges against them.

The case is separate from the alleged killing by other Marines of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha last November. A pair of investigations related to that case are still under way and no criminal charges have been filed.

Once the murder charges are announced against the seven Marines and one Navy corpsman in the Hamdania case, the accused will be assigned military lawyers at no cost to the servicemen, although they have the choice of hiring their own civilian attorneys.

Also to follow will be decisions by Lt. Gen. John Sattler, the senior commander at Pendleton, on whether and how to proceed with preliminary hearings known in the military justice system as Article 32 proceedings. That in turn could lead to cours-martial for some or all eight.

On May 24 the Marines announced that Major General Richard Zilmer, the commander of all Marine forces in Iraq, had asked for a criminal investigation after a preliminary probe found sufficient information to warrant further investigation.

Together, the Hamdania and Haditha cases have generated an enormous amount of unfavourable publicity for the Marine Corps as well as concern at the highest levels of the Corps about the conduct of some in Iraq.

General Michael Hagee, the commandant of the Marine Corps, said on June 7 that he was gravely concerned about the two cases, and he made a personal visit to Iraq to reinforce the importance of adhering to Marine ethical standards.

“As commandant I am gravely concerned about the serious allegations concerning actions of some Marines at Haditha and Hamdania,” Hagee told a Pentagon news conference June 7.

“I can assure you that the Marine Corps takes them seriously.”

“As commandant I am the one accountable for organisation, training and equipping of Marines,” he added. “I am responsible and I take these responsibilities quite seriously.”