By Associated Press

From Mail Online | Original Article

It was the massacre which left 24 unarmed Iraqis dead and cast fresh shame on the American military, already reeling from Abu-Ghraib.

But a military judge yesterday ruled that the final U.S. soldier to face charges over the notorious assault on Haditha will not be jailed.

Instead, Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, who led the attack, faces no more than three months in confinement after admitting the least serious of three charges – negligent dereliction of duty.

He had initially been implicated in 19 of the deaths. Among the victims were seven children and a 76-year-old man in a wheelchair.

To see video, click here and scroll to bottom of page.

Three months confinement: Staff Sgt Frank Wuterich arrives at Camp Pendleton. He has escaped a jail sentence for the Haditha massacre

Denial: Wuterich claimed he was not a baby killer in a statement read to the military judge

The ruling by military judge Lietenant Colonel David Jones came after a surprise statement by Wuterich in which he claimed he was not a ‘cold blooded baby killer’ and had never fired his weapon at any women or children.

He also apologised to relatives of the Haditha victims.

'Words cannot express my sorrow for the loss of your loved one,’ he said, in his first statement to the court since the case began last month.

'I know there is nothing I can say to ease your pain. I wish to assure you that on that day, it was never my intention [to] harm you or your families. I know that you are the real victims.’

He said he went to Iraq to do his duty, serve his country and do the best job he could.

'When my Marines and I cleared those houses that day, I responded to what I perceived as a threat and my intention was to eliminate that threat in order to keep the rest of my Marines alive,' he said.

'So when I told my team to shoot first and ask questions later, the intent wasn't that they would shoot civilians, it was that they would not hesitate in the face of the enemy.’

Death toll: The bodies of some of the 24 killed in the Haditha massacre in Iraq

Wuterich added that his guilty plea should not suggest that he believed his men behaved badly or that they acted in any way that was dishonourable to their country.

The judge’s ruling, which took place in a court at Camp Pendleton, California, will now got the Marine Corps Forces Central Command for approval.

But the decision has already sparked shock in Haditha, the Euphrates river town which was left devastated after the events of November 19, 2005.

A survivor of the killings, Awis Fahmi Hussein, showed his scars from being hit by a bullet in the back.

Mr Hussein said: 'I was expecting that the American judiciary would sentence this person to life in prison and that he would appear and confess in front of the whole world that he committed this crime, so that America could show itself as democratic and fair'.

The Haditha assault – which has been compared to the My Lai massacre in Vietnam - began on the morning of November 15, 2005, after a roadside bomb killed one of the men in Wuterich’s squad.

Prosecutors argued that the father-of-three lost control when he saw the body of his friend blown apart and led his men on a rampage in which they stormed two nearby homes, blasting their way in with gunfire and grenades. 

In the resulting carnage, 24 people were killed in 45 minutes.

Young victims: Hind, a girl who survived the Haditha massacre (left) and Omer Chasib who lost his father in the attack in November 2005

Shot dead: Rasheed Abdul Hamid Hassan Ali (left) was killed in the raid. His wife Hibba Abdulah survived

One of Wuterich’s men told the trial that he had joined his squad leader in a dark back bedroom of one of the homes where he saw small silhouettes.

The bodies of women and children were later found among the dead.

Wuterich, by his own admission, told his men to ‘shoot first and ask questions later.’

The order effectively over-ruled standard rules of engagement which required troops to positively identify their targets before raiding homes.

'I think we all understood what we were doing so I probably just should have said nothing,' Wuterich told the judge.

The American military first attempted to downplay the killings and a full inquiry was only launched after an investigation by a Time reporter.

Father of three: Frank Wuterich with his wife Marisol two of their children

Wuterich was the last of eight marines initially accused of murder or failure to investigate the Haditha killings to face trial.

Six others had their charges either dropped or dismissed and one was acquitted.

The staff sergeant eventually came before a court last month, six years after the deaths.

He still faced nine counts of manslaughter which could have sent him to prison for 152 years.

But only weeks after the long-awaited trial started, prosecutors offered Wuterich the plea deal that stopped the proceedings.

He can now only be confined for a maximum of three months.

Legal experts said the case was fraught with errors made by investigators and the prosecution that let it drag on for years.

The prosecution was also hampered by squad mates who acknowledged they had lied to investigators initially and later testified in exchange for having their cases dropped, bringing into question their credibility.

In addition, Wuterich was seen as taking the fall for senior leaders and more seasoned combat veterans, analysts said.

Brian Rooney, an attorney for another former defendant, said cases like Haditha are difficult to prosecute because a military jury is unlikely to question decisions made in combat unless wrongdoing is clear-cut and egregious, like rape.

Mr Rooney, who represented Lt Col Jeffrey Chessani, the highest-ranking Marine charged in the case. said: 'If it's a grey area, fog-of-war, you can't put yourself in a Marine's situation where he's legitimately trying to do the best he can'.

He added: 'When you're in a town like Haditha or Fallujah, you've got bad guys trying to kill you and trying to do it in very surreptitious ways.'

Carnage: The aftermath of the shooting in Haditha. A total of 24 people were killed, including women and children

Blast: The aftermath of the roadside bomb which triggered the Haditha massacre

The Haditha attack is considered among the war's defining moments, further tainting America's reputation when it was already tarnished after the release of photos of prisoner abuse by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison.

It still fuels anger in Iraq today.

Khalid Salman Rasif, a member of the Provincial Council in Haditha, said: 'We wonder about such a sentence issued against the defendant.

‘We called upon U.S. to be fair in passing sentences. Regrettably, we are disappointed about the issuance of such sentences'.

Mr Rasif added that he would contact the lawyer for victims' families for an explanation.

Kamil al-Dulaimi, a Sunni politician from the Anbar provincial capital of Ramadi, called the plea agreement proof that 'Americans still deal with Iraqis without any respect.'

‘It's just another barbaric act of Americans against Iraqis,' Mr al-Dulaimi told AP. 'They spill the blood of Iraqis and get this worthless sentence for the savage crime against innocent civilians.'