Top Enlisted Told Marines Haditha Would Be a 'Docile' Fight

The top enlisted member of the battalion involved in the 2005 incident in which a squad of infantry Marines killed 24 Iraqi citizens in Haditha testified Tuesday in the military trial of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich.

The Marine faces charges, including nine counts of voluntary manslaughter in connection with the incident.

Retired Sgt. Maj. Edward Sax — who oversaw the enlisted personnel of 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines — told a military jury of his efforts to show Marines in his unit that Haditha was not as dangerous as Fallujah and, unlike the previous battle, civilians occupied their homes.

“It’s a whole different fight we’re going into,” he recalled telling his first sergeants before the unit entered Haditha. Those senior noncommissioned officers led Marines of the unit who ranged from those seeing combat for the first time to veterans of the heavy fighting in Fallujah the year before. “It’s going to be a somewhat docile fight,” he said.

Sax added that Haditha was considered dangerous because insurgents had taken control of parts of it.

Wuterich had never seen combat before Nov. 19, 2005 when his convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in Haditha. One Marine died as a result and the sergeant’s squad immediately shot and killed five men who were nearby. They then went on a house-to-house sweep that left 19 civilians dead.

Wuterich claims he believed the the bomb’s trigger man was hiding in the first house they cleared and possibly shooting from it, then fleeing to the other houses. In their opening statements, prosecutors said Wuterich “lost control” of himself and killed civilians without positively identifying a threat before shooting, as their rules of engagement mandated.

Prosecutor Maj. Nicholas Gannon asked the sergeant major how he would clear a house.

“If you’re receiving fire from a home, you clear with hand grenades and fire,” he said. “If you’re not receiving fire, it changes the scenario … I’m going to clear it a little different than if we’re receiving fire.” 

He said deadly force isn’t necessary if the occupants of the home aren’t seen as hostile.

Gannon then asked the sergeant major if he cleared a home with grenades and fire and saw in the first few rooms that there was not a deadly threat, would he change to a less lethal posture in clearing the rest of the house.

The sergeant major said the process is too quick and noisy for that. “You’re not going to stop at each room to reassess,” he said.

Additional witnesses for the prosecution are scheduled to testify Wednesday. Prosecutors expect to finish presenting witnesses by early next week.

Follow Camp Pendleton Patch on Twitter and Facebook. Add your photos to the Neighborhood Gallery.