POLITICS ~ UP CLOSE & PERSONAL!!!

WASHINGTON (March 20) -- A bloody videotape shot by a local Iraqi journalism student has prompted the Pentagon to launch a criminal investigation into an incident that left at least 15 Iraqi civilians dead in the city of Haditha.

Watch Video: Grim Footage From Haditha

Jump Below: Quotes on the Killings

More Coverage:
· TIME's Exclusive Report | Iraqis Tell of Killing

The details of what happened four months ago in Haditha are just now coming to light with the release of the videotape by an Iraqi organization called Hammurabi Human Rights.

The tape shows the bloodied and bullet-marked homes that had been allegedly stormed by the Marines, and includes comments by local residents.

"This is my father," a boy says on the tape. "He didn't do anything wrong. Why did they kill him?"

'These Are Children'

The video shows the bodies of some of the dead, including one of three children killed.

"These are children," one man on the tape says. "Are you telling me these are terrorists?"

It all started Nov. 19 when a roadside bomb hit a convoy of 12 Marines in Haditha, killing 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas.

The official press release said simply: "A U.S. Marine and 15 Iraqi civilians were killed yesterday from the blast of a roadside bomb."

Prompted by Magazine

What They Said

First, [U.S. Marines] went into my father's room, where he was reading the Koran, and we heard shots. ...I watched them shoot my grandfather, first in the chest and then in the head. Then they killed my granny.Eman Waleed, 9, who says she saw U.S. troops kill seven members of her family Nov. 19 in Haditha, Iraq", U.S. Marine and 15 Iraqi civilians were killed yesterday from the blast of a roadside bomb.Official military press release issued shortly after the incident", 'The Americans gathered my four brothers and took them inside my father's bedroom, to a closet. They killed them inside the closet.''Yousif Ayed, who says his father's house in Haditha was raided Nov. 19 (The U.S. military denies his relatives were shot dead in a closet.)", ''American troops immediately cordoned the area and raided two nearby houses, shooting at everyone inside. It was a massacre in every sense of the word.''Khaled Ahmed Rsayef on the civilian deaths (His brother and six other relatives were killed in the incident.)", ''The captain admitted that his men had made a mistake. He said that his men thought there were terrorists near the houses, and he didn't give any other reason.Haditha mayor Emad Jawad Hamza, who led a delegation of elders to a nearby Marine camp to protest the killings", ''We take these allegations very seriously, and I believe the fact that two additional investigations are ongoing concerning this incident clearly demonstrates that.''Lt. Col. Michelle Martin-Hing, a spokeswoman for the U.S. military, responding to new questins about the Haditha deaths" *****

''First, [U.S. Marines] went into my father's room, where he was reading the Koran, and we heard shots. ...I watched them shoot my grandfather, first in the chest and then in the head. Then they killed my granny.''

-- Eman Waleed, 9, who says she saw U.S. troops kill seven members of her family Nov. 19 in Haditha, Iraq

1/6

Sources: TIME, ABC News, AP

Military officials now acknowledge the Iraqis were not killed by the bomb -- but, they now say, by crossfire as U.S. Marines stormed the surrounding homes.

The military did "NOT" launch an investigation until two months after the incident, when Time magazine showed officials the video and eyewitness testimony.

"We launched an investigation of our own with the help of a human rights group," said Aparisim Ghosh, a writer for Time. "We spoke to some eyewitnesses.

And it turns out all the people killed were killed by the Marines in small arms fire and, in a few instances, by an explosive that was tossed into the home by the Marines themselves."

Senior Pentagon officials would not comment on the details of the case but said they take the allegations very seriously, which is why they've launched the criminal investigation.

It still is not clear the Marines used excessive force, but the locals seem to have made up their minds.

"They came and started shooting all of a sudden," one local said. "They didn't even knock on the door. They killed them wholesale."

According to a military spokesman, the Marines involved still are deployed inIraq.

03-20-06 16:33 EST

Copyright 2006 ABCNEWS.com

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