US EditionTwo US marines implicated in killing family in notorious Iraq war shooting, expert tells BBC
BBC investigation finds new audio and forensic evidence implicating two US marines in the 2005 Haditha killings where 24 Iraqi civilians died with no convictions.
- Now, 20 years on, the BBC Eye investigation uncovered newly discovered audio and a forensic review of Marine Corps crime‑scene photos implicating two US marines in the killing of Safa Younes's family in Haditha, Iraq.
- As part of the wider Haditha massacre, US marines said they were responding to gunfire after a roadside bomb went off, prompting the longest US war‑crimes investigation of the Iraq war, which concluded with no convictions.
- Stephen Tatum's statements shifted over time, with defence lawyers saying his three later statements were obtained under duress, while a pre‑trial recording shows Humberto Mendoza confirming Safa's father was unarmed.
- Squad leader Frank Wuterich alone faced trial and accepted a plea to negligent dereliction, while military prosecutors dropped charges against other charged marines and granted immunity to witnesses.
- For survivors, the new material raises fresh accountability questions, as evidence casts doubt on the American investigation and public questions about accountability for US armed forces grow.
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9 Articles
BBC: Investigation Implicates 2 U.S. Marines in the Killing of Iraqi Civilians in Haditha
A BBC investigation has uncovered new evidence that implicates two U.S. Marines in the killing of Iraqi civilians in Haditha two decades ago. The BBC reports statements and testimony given in the aftermath of the Haditha massacre raise doubts about the investigation into what happened November 19, 2005, when U.S. forces slaughtered 24 Iraqis, posing significant questions over how U.S. armed forces are held to account. Just one U.S. soldier was c…
“Look! We are all sad. Not only because many have lost their jobs or have been forced into exile, but because the most valuable thing we have, they die before our eyes.” Sitting with their legs crossed by a dry channel of Chibayish, a small desolate city on the shores of the Mesopotamian marshes, Haidar, 42 years old, despairs. With his lost eyes, this former fisherman says he has stopped counting the relatives and neighbors who left as the wate…
Former command legal adviser for the Iraq War denounces critics of the ECHR
The former command legal advisor for the Iraq War in 2003, Lt Col (ret’d) Nicholas Mercer, was one of the first military lawyers to have to advise on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) during an armed conflict. Here he responds to the suggestion that British forces overseas should be exempted from the ECHR . I take issue which much of the misinformation that is being put around about the ECHR’s impact on the UK’s ability conduct over…
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