Living Up to Their Rep

Their case undermined by sympathetic testimony that portrayed the last Hadditha massacre marine as just following his training, prosecutors allowed Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich to plead to a lesser charge of dereliction of duty. All other charges, including voluntary manslaughter were dropped {"And Then There Were None"}. The plea agreement is the last sad chapter in a Marine white wash of the killing 24 Iraqi civilians in which Wuterich allegedly told his squad to 'shoot first and ask questions later' after a fellow marine was killed by an IED. Ten women and children were killed as the enraged marines went house to house spraying the residences with automatic weapon fire and grenades. Seven other marines were charged with various crimes related to the incident; six were cases were dismissed, one marine was acquitted. An official 2007 investigation of the Hadditha massacre by US Army Major General Eldon Bargewell concluded there was "serious misconduct" at all levels of the chain of command.