Haditha: Two US marines implicated in killing family in notorious Iraq war shooting, expert tells BBC
Another marine, Lance Corporal Stephen Tatum did not deny he took part in the shootings, but said he had followed the squad leader, Wuterich, into the bedroom and initially claimed he did not know there were women and children there because of poor visibility.
But in three later statements obtained by the BBC, Tatum gave a different account.
“I saw that children were in the room kneeling down. I don’t remember the exact number but only that it was a lot. I am trained to shoot two shots to the chest and two shots to the head and I followed my training,” Tatum told the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in April 2006.
A month later, he said he “was able to positively identify the people in the room as women and children before shooting them”.
And then a week after that, he said: “This is where I saw the kid I shot. Knowing it was a kid, I still shot him.” He described the child as wearing a white T-shirt, standing on the bed, and having short hair.
Tatum’s defence lawyers claimed these later statements had been obtained under duress. Charges against Tatum were dropped in March 2008, and the statements were disregarded at Wuterich’s trial.
Forensics expert Michael Maloney said the statements by Mendoza and Tatum point to them being the two marines who shot Safa’s family. He believes Mendoza went into the bedroom first and Tatum followed “firing across the head of the bed”.
We put the allegations to Mendoza and Tatum. Mendoza did not respond. He has previously admitted to shooting Safa’s father, but said he was following orders. He was never charged with a criminal offence.
Through his lawyer, Tatum said he wants to put Haditha behind him. He has never withdrawn his testimony that he was one of the shooters in Safa’s house.
