Marines order probe into leak of government report on killing of Iraqi civilians in Haditha

Monday, January 29th 2007, 10:13 pm

By: News On 6

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) _ The Marine Corps said Monday that it has ordered a probe into how a government report on the killings of Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha was leaked to the news media.

Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the top general at Camp Pendleton, ordered the investigation after several defense attorneys complained that sensitive information about their clients had been leaked, Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Sean Gibson said.

The Washington Post published photos and eyewitness accounts on Jan. 6 from the military's investigative file that had not been made public. One photo showed five Iraqis who had been shot dead near a taxi.

Four enlisted Camp Pendleton Marines were charged Dec. 21 with unpremeditated murder, and four officers were charged with failing to properly report the killings.

Jack Zimmerman, attorney for one of the accused Marines, Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, said Mattis ordered the investigation on Jan. 23.

``I was very pleased that he shared our thought that the investigation should never be released,'' Zimmerman said.

The killings are the biggest U.S. criminal case involving civilian deaths to come out of the Iraq war. A total of 24 Iraqis _ including women and children _ were killed by Marines on Nov. 19, 2005. Marine lawyers have said the troops were responding with legitimate force after a roadside bomb killed one of their squad.

A person who answered the phone after regular business hours at the Post deferred comment to the paper's public relations department, which was closed.