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Sources: Lawmakers told to brace for Haditha fallout Jamie McIntyre / CNN | May 30 2006 Some members of Congress have been told to brace for the fallout from potential charges of murder and cover-up stemming from an inquiry into an alleged massacre of Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines, sources say. Military investigators strongly suspect that what happened in the western Iraqi city of Haditha last November was a rampage by a small number of Marines who snapped after one of their own was killed by a roadside bomb, the sources told CNN. Pentagon sources told CNN that at least 24 Iraqis were killed. Sources told CNN on Monday that the investigation is substantially complete, and that charges -- including murder charges -- could be filed sometime in June. And, sources said, investigators have concluded there was a cover-up -- but won't say if it is limited to the handful of Marines who did the killings. The formal findings of investigations into the matter are several weeks away, said Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Pace cautioned against a rush to judgment. "There are two ongoing investigations," he told CNN. "One has to do with what happened. The other investigation goes to why didn't we know about it sooner than we knew about it." Pace said the investigations may not be complete for "a couple of weeks," adding, "We should not prejudge the outcome." IED first blamed for deaths "They were incredibly hostile," said Time's Aparisim Ghosh. "They accused us of buying into enemy propaganda, and they stuck to their original story, which is that these people were all killed by the IED [improvised explosive device]." But that story has fallen apart in the wake of an investigation that sources said is likely to result in murder charges against some Marines and dereliction of duty counts against others. Sources said between four and eight Marines from Kilo company of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, were directly involved -- but some Marines from other units knew what happened because they helped document the aftermath. Lance Cpl. Ryan Briones told the Los Angeles Times that he took pictures of at least 15 bodies and is still haunted by the memory of picking up a young girl who was shot in the head. (Full story) "I held her out like this," he said, demonstrating with his arms extended, "but her head was bobbing up and down and the insides fell on my legs." Briones' mother, Susie Briones, told CNN her son is now suffering from post-traumatic stress. "It was horrific," she said. "It was a terrible scene. The biggest thing that comes to his mind is the children. "Since he was part of the cleanup crew, he had to carry that little girl's body, and her head was blown off," she said. "Her brains splattered on his boots. And that is what affected Brian the most." Killings began after Marine slain The Marines originally reported that 15 civilians also died in that blast. But according to the Pentagon sources' account, the Marines immediately suspected four Iraqi teenagers in a taxi and shot them, along with the driver, when the Marines said they failed to lie on the ground as ordered. The hunt for the bombers then moved to a nearby house, where seven people -- including two women and children -- were killed. Then eight people, including six women, were shot next door, while women in a third house were not harmed, the sources said. In a fourth house, four men were killed. Rep. John Murtha, appearing Sunday on ABC's "This Week," alleged a cover-up and said the fallout could be "worse than Abu Ghraib." "We don't know how far it goes," said Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat and a retired Marine colonel. "Who ordered the cover-up?" "Who said we're not going to publicize this thing?" Murtha continued. "We're not even going to investigate it? Until March, there was no serious investigation." Pace told CNN that "as soon as we found out their were allegations" -- which he said was about February 10 -- "the investigations began." Also on ABC, Sen. John Warner, the Virginia Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, announced that his committee would hold hearings on the matter. Separate accusations surfaced earlier this
month that Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment killed
a civilian near Hamandiya, west of Baghdad, on April 26. ---------------------------------------------------
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