OCEANSIDE — Several Marines are being held in the brig at Camp Pendleton and several more are restricted to the base pending an investigation in the slaying of a civilian in Iraq and a possible attempt to make him appear to have been an insurgent, Marine Corps officials said.
The inquiry in the April 26 killing in Hamandiya is separate from the investigation of the Nov. 19 slaying of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha.
But both cases involve the moral, legal and tactical issues of how to treat noncombatants in western Iraq, a complex and chaotic battleground patrolled by Marines.
"Like the commandant of the Marine Corps, Marines aboard Camp Pendleton are concerned regarding allegations emanating from Iraq," Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski, commanding general of the 1st Marine Division, which is based at Camp Pendleton, said in a statement Saturday.
"But we will continue to undergo our extensive training regimen in preparation for future deployments. The Marine Corps prides itself on its history and its demanding moral code."
Marine Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee is in Iraq to lecture Marines on the need to obey the Geneva Convention and other rules about humane treatment of noncombatants. He also plans to visit Camp Pendleton and other bases.
In the Haditha case, an investigation has concluded that Marines killed unarmed civilians, including women and children, in a house-to-house search conducted after an insurgent bomb killed a Marine and injured several others.
Some of the Marines could face murder charges, and others could be charged with dereliction of duty by assisting in a cover-up.
Photographs of the bodies taken by a Marine intelligence unit have convinced investigators that the civilians were defenseless and that some were killed "execution-style," officials close to investigation have said.
In the Hamandiya incident, an Iraqi was allegedly taken from his home and shot to death, officials said.
Troops may have planted an AK-47 and shovel near the body, Marines said, to make it appear that the man was an insurgent placing an improvised explosive device to detonate beneath a military vehicle.
The Marines were brought back from Iraq for the investigation.
Natonski took the unusual step of having some of the Marines kept in the brig "based on information [he] was privy to regarding alleged actions" of the Marines, the statement from the base said.
