Duncan Hunter, a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from California and the House Armed Services Committee chairman, said Thursday that the incident involving Marines firing on unarmed Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha on 19 November 2005 will be subject to Congressional hearings as soon the criminal investigation is completed. The incident is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Multi-National Forces Iraq. No official investigation report has been released yet. John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat and member of the House of Representatives, said earlier on Wednesday that what happened near the Iraqi town of Haditha was , "much worse than was reported in Time magazine". On March 21, Time reported that "U.S. Marines killed 15 Iraqi civilians in their homes", including "seven women and three children". Time also reported that U.S. troops were responding to an IED and insurgent fire. Murtha, referring to preliminary military investigation reports, said, "There was no firefight. [ … ] There was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops over-reacted because of the pressure on them. And they killed innocent civilians in cold blood." He also said that the civilian death toll was 24 and not 15 as reported by Time magazine. Marine Corps Central Command spokesperson Lt. Col. Sean Gibson would neither confirm nor deny Murtha's charges.
, a member of the from California and the chairman, said Thursday that the incident involving Marines firing on unarmed Iraqi civilians in the town of on 19 November 2005 will be subject to Congressional hearings as soon the criminal investigation is completed. The incident is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the and Multi-National Forces Iraq. No official investigation report has been released yet. , a and member of the House of Representatives, said earlier on Wednesday that what happened near the Iraqi town of Haditha was "much worse than was reported in Time magazine". On March 21, Time reported that "U.S. killed 15 Iraqi civilians in their homes", including "seven women and three children". Time also reported that U.S. troops were responding to an and insurgent fire. Murtha, referring to preliminary military investigation reports, said, "There was no firefight. [ ... ] There was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops over-reacted because of the pressure on them. And they killed innocent civilians in cold blood." He also said that the civilian death toll was 24 and not 15 as reported by Time magazine. Marine Corps spokesperson Lt. Col. Sean Gibson would neither confirm nor deny Murtha's charges.
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Duncan Hunter, a Republican
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United States House of Representatives
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House Armed Services Committee
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Haditha
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Naval Criminal Investigative Service
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John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat
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Marines
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IED
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Central Command