Military Officers: Haditha Defendant Admitted Ordering Marines to 'Shoot First, Ask Questions Later'

An Army lieutenant colonel — who took part in investigating the November 2005 Haditha Iraq killing of 24 Iraqi citizens — told jurors that Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich freely admitted he was responsible for his squad’s actions and gave the Marines an order to “shoot first, ask questions later.”

Wuterich is charged with nine counts of voluntary manslaughter, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and three counts of dereliction of duty. His squad killed the Iraqis after a roadside bombing killed one Marine.

Wuterich’s February 2006 admission that he did not positively identify the citizens as threats before killing them resounded deeply with Lt. Col. David Mendelson.

"It certainly is very telling — certainly very troubling for me … it certainly brought some clarity to the day and the events and essentially how there could be so many deaths that had taken place," he said. "It was surprising."

The officer advised Col. Gregory Watt, who led the military investigation and also gave similar testimony Monday after .

The admission was also unexpected for 1^st Lt. Clyde Legaux, a naval communications officer, who assisted in the inquiry.

"It definitely raised an eyebrow,” he said. “It was pretty surprising that he said it.”

Wuterich approved and signed a written statement that showed the admission, Legaux said.

Defense attorney Haytham Faraj said the written statement reflects what the squad did, but didn’t mention Wuterich’s exact actions.

“Nobody stopped and said ‘I don’t want to know what your squad did. I want to know what you did,’” he said.

Mendelson added that he did not believe Wuterich was trying to hide anything.

View a timeline of the case by the North County Times.

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