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Marine says rules followed at Haditha A sergeant who led a squad of U.S. Marines accused of killing 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha told his lawyer the unit did not intentionally target civilians, followed rules of engagement and did not try to cover up the incident, The Washington Post reported on Sunday. The newspaper said Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, 26, told his lawyer several civilians were killed in the November incident, when the squad went after insurgents firing on them from a house. But Wuterich said there was no vengeful massacre and described a house-to-house hunt that went awry in a chaotic battlefield, his lawyer said. "It will forever be his position that everything they did that day was following their rules of engagement and to protect the lives of Marines," said Neal Puckett, who represents Wuterich in the ongoing investigation of the incident. "He's really upset that people believe that he and his Marines are even capable of intentionally killing innocent civilians," he said. The Post said Wuterich's account was the first public version of what happened in Haditha from a Marine who was on the ground when the shooting occurred. A criminal investigation is under way into whether some Marines deliberately killed civilians. Separate investigations are looking into whether there was a cover up and whether commanders were negligent in probing the deaths. As leader of 1st Squad, 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, Wuterich was in a platoon of Humvees hit by a roadside bomb. He entered a house where Marines thought fire was originating and made the initial radio reports to company headquarters on the incident, Puckett said. Wuterich told his lawyer the shootings were the result of a sweep for enemies in a firefight, the Post reported. He was a member of a four-man team of Marines who entered the house, kicked in the door to a room and tossed a fragmentation grenade inside. One Marine fired clearing shots into the room, killing several people, Wuterich told his lawyer. They found men, women and children, most likely civilians, inside, but believed the insurgents had escaped to another house. They went to that house and used a grenade and gunfire to clear another room, killing more people, the Post account said. Wuterich called for a stop and went back to the platoon leader to reassess the situation. Puckett said his client knew a number of civilians had been killed and never tried to obscure the fact, immediately reporting 12 to 15 civilians had been killed. ---------------------------------------------------
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