Eight Marines Charged in Haditha Incident

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published December 21, 2006 at 1:35 PM PST

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

Camp Pendleton authorities have charged eight Marines in connection with an incident in Haditha Iraq in November 2005, in which 24 Iraqi civilians were killed. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Camp Pendleton authorities have charged eight Marines in connection with an incident in Haditha Iraq in November 2005, in which 24 Iraqi civilians were killed. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The charges come after nine months of investigation of the incident in Haditha by military investigators. The Iraqis were killed when a Marine squad stormed into several homes after their convoy was hit by a roadside bomb, killing one marine. More than 10 women and children were among those killed .

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Chief of Staff of Marine Corps Installations West, Colonel Stewart Navarre, says the investigation shows initial reports claiming the Iraqis were killed by a bomb were false.

Navarre: These charges include murder, dereliction of duty, false information and obstruction of justice.

Four of the Marines are charged with unpremeditated murder. Four other more senior officers who were not present during the incident are charged with dereliction of duty and in some cases false information and obstruction of justice.

The charges signal the start of a second level of military investigation before General Matthis decides next year whether to refer the case to courts martial. Alison St John KPBS news.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.