Staff Sergeant Wuterich faces Article 32
By Major Bill Donahue, USMC -RET | Thursday, August 30th, 2007
Hadithah squad leader heads to court today
By Thomas Watkins – The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Aug 29, 2007 17:51:46 EDT
(Emphasis added)
LOS ANGELES — By his own account, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich told his junior Marines to shoot first and ask questions later as they assaulted several houses in Hadithah, Iraq, killing the occupants with grenades and gunfire.
Posted : Wednesday Aug 29, 2007 17:51:46 EDT
(Emphasis added)
LOS ANGELES — By his own account, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich told his junior Marines to shoot first and ask questions later as they assaulted several houses in Hadithah, Iraq, killing the occupants with grenades and gunfire.
Now, nearly two years later, a hearing officer at Camp Pendleton will begin taking evidence Thursday to determine whether the squad leader should stand trial on murder charges from the Nov. 19, 2005, attack that left 24 Iraqis dead.
Wuterich, 27, of Meriden, Conn., is charged with unpremeditated murder in 18 of the killings. Among the dead were women and children, who died as they scrambled for cover on and around a bed. It was Wuterich’s first combat engagement.
The hearing officer, Lt. Col. Paul Ware, must decide if Wuterich strayed from military rules of engagement in place at the time.
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