When did Bush know?

Discrepancy seen as administration says he didn't learn of massacre probe for nearly a month

BY CRAIG GORDON
Newsday Washington Bureau

June 2, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The White House said yesterday it took nearly a month for President George W. Bush to learn the military was investigating whether Marines gunned down civilians in Haditha - an incident Iraq's leader called "a horrible crime" as he launched his own probe.

That explanation appeared at odds with a White House statement earlier this week that Bush was told of the inquiry "soon after" it was launched in February. Bush never discussed Haditha in public until he was asked about it by reporters Wednesday.

Yet what happened there last November now looms as a serious threat to Bush's hopes of reviving public support for the war at home, as well as being a growing impediment to smooth relations with the newly formed Iraqi government.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, U.S. commanders announced that all 132,000 American troops and other coalition forces would receive a special course on proper battlefield conduct - a 30-day program to reinforce "the values that separate us from our enemies," said Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the No. 2 U.S. general in Iraq. >>>cont

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