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Hadithah officer told Marines to clear homes

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — The platoon commander of an infantry squad implicated in the deaths of 24 Iraqis in Hadithah testified Tuesday that he told the squad leader to “clear” the houses in a search for insurgents responsible for a fatal roadside blast.

First Lt. William Kallop, who has received immunity in exchange for his testimony, said at the preliminary hearing that at least one Marine told him when he arrived on the scene with a quick-reaction force Nov. 19, 2005, that they were taking enemy fire.

Kallop, who commanded 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, told then-Sgt. Frank Wuterich “to clear a group of buildings” south of the bomb crater.

“At the time, I didn’t see any insurgents. … I didn’t see any bad guys,” said Kallop, who was questioned by Charles Gittins, a defense attorney for Capt. Randy Stone.

Stone, 34, was the staff judge advocate for the Pendleton-based battalion during the Iraq deployment. He is charged with two counts of dereliction of duty and one count of violating a lawful order. He is one of four officers and three enlisted Marines facing charges in connection with the Hadithah incident.

Kallop said he later went into one of the two houses where 17 civilians, including several women and children, were killed and others were wounded. “I just wanted to see what happened,” he said.

The severed leg of one person blocked a door that lead into a room where a family lay dead. “I saw a little boy moving in the back corner of the room,” Kallop said. The wounded children refused to leave the room, opting to run back into the corners, he said.

The scene jarred him but didn’t prompt him to report anything out of the ordinary to his superiors.

Kallop testified that he thought, “What the crap? Where’s the bad guys? Why weren’t there any insurgents in here?” He looked at one of his corporals, who earlier had reported taking enemy fire, “and he looked shocked.”

Later, in a brief conversation of “20 to 30 seconds” with Wuterich, Kallop said that the squad leader told him that he had heard noises behind a door in the house that sounded like the bolting action of an AK47 rifle.

“From what he told me,” Kallop said, “… I thought that [their response] was within the rules of engagement because the squad leader felt he was going to kick in a door and walk into a machine-gun nest.”

Kallop said he “trusted” the squad leader and considered him a good and proficient Marine.

Wuterich is facing murder and other charges.

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