CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., July 17 -- One of the Marines charged with murdering civilians in Haditha, Iraq, in 2005 knew that only women and children were huddled in a back bedroom in a house there, but he opened the door and shot them anyway, his squad-mate testified Tuesday.
"I told him, there's women and kids in that room," Lance Cpl. Humberto M. Mendoza said of Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum. Tatum's response was, "Well, shoot them," Mendoza said.
The statements came in an Article 32 investigation to determine whether Tatum will face a court-martial. It was a day of damaging testimony by his Marine comrades, who portrayed Tatum as eager to kill innocent bystanders.
Tatum, his former squad leader Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich and Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt, are charged with murder for 24 civilian deaths in Haditha. The investigating officer in Sharratt's case recommended last week that he not face a court-martial for shooting a group of men in a different house that day. Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis will decide how to proceed.......
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