Sergeant: Calls for Haditha probe ignored

May 10, 2007

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) -- A Marine sergeant testified yesterday that he repeatedly told higher-ups that the November 2005 killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha warranted an investigation, but he was told not to worry about it. "Knowing what happened on November 19, I knew something had to be done with an investigation," said 1st Sgt. Albert Espinosa, who maintained casualty reports for Kilo Company at the time of the killings. Sgt. Espinosa testified on the second day of a preliminary hearing for Capt. Randy W. Stone, a Marine lawyer from Dunkirk, Md. Capt. Stone is accused along with three officers of dereliction of duty for failing to investigate the deaths, which followed the death of a Marine in a roadside bombing. Sgt. Espinosa said that in the days after the killings, he told Capt. Stone and the company's commander, Capt. Lucas McConnell, that an investigation should be started. "They said don't worry about it, battalion will handle it," he said. "It wasn't the answer I was looking for." Sgt. Espinosa also testified that log books from Nov. 19 were incomplete or missing. The hearing is part of an Article 32 investigation, the military's equivalent of a grand jury proceeding. Maj. Thomas McCann, the investigating officer, will hear evidence and recommend whether the charges should go to trial in the biggest U.S. criminal case involving civilian deaths in the Iraq war.
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