Haditha case review finished; U.S. officials ask to exhume remains

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A top U.S. commander who reviewed an investigation into whether the Marines tried to cover up the Haditha case agreed that errors were made, a U.S. military official said.

The investigation was separate from an inquiry still underway into whether a group of Marines killed 24 civilians on Nov. 19 in a revenge attack after a fellow Marine died in a roadside bombing in the town of Haditha.

Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli 's report was based on an investigation conducted by Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell into whether the Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment followed proper procedures in reporting the incident to commanders, or whether anyone engaged in a cover-up.

The U.S. military official said Chiarelli agreed with Bargewell's findings for the most part, but he said the investigation found that errors were made in the reporting and follow up of initial allegations after the killings and suggested some were of a criminal nature.

The case is among the most serious against U.S. soldiers allegedly involved in the deaths of Iraqi civilians. At least 14 U.S. troops have been convicted. Steven D. Green, a former Army private, pleaded not guilty this week to federal court charges of slaying and raping a young Iraqi woman and killing her father, mother and sister in March near Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad.

U.S. investigators have asked Iraqi authorities to help them navigate cultural sensitivities to exhume the body of the young woman, a military official said Saturday.

U.S. Maj. Mark Wright said U.S. authorities are aware that Islamic tradition has strict rules governing exhumation.

Muslim tradition generally frowns on exhumations, considering them desecration of the remains.

-- AP

However, Ahmed Taha, the uncle of the dead teen, said Thursday that relatives were eager to cooperate with investigators and would allow them to exhume the body of the alleged rape victim, Abeer Qassim Hamza. Her parents and sister were also slain.

-- AP