US Marines killed innocent Iraqi civilians in a November attack in Iraq, a US congressman and retired Marine colonel said here, commenting on a still-unreleased Pentagon inquiry into the incident.
Congressman John Murtha, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, spoke Wednesday about a November 19 incident in the western Iraqi town of Haditha in which a Marine was killed by a roadside bomb.
"Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood. That is what the report is going to tell," Murtha, a decorated Vietnam war veteran, told reporters.
"There was no firefight" that led to the shootings at close range, said Murtha, contradicting early official accounts saying a roadside bomb had killed the Iraqis.
"There were no roadside bombs that killed these innocent people," he said.
The US military said the incident is still under investigation. "Any comment at this time would be inappropriate," said Lieutenant Colonel Sean Gibson, a Marine spokesman at Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida.
Murtha said he learned about the Pentagon inquiry findings from military commanders and other sources, but has not read any official report.
US Marines barged into the home throwing grenades and shooting, killing 15 unarmed Iraqis including women and children, according to a Time magazine report in late March which cited an Iraqi human rights group and Haditha residents.
Murtha said the death toll could be "twice as high."
"It's much worse than reported in Time magazine," he said.
At least three Marine officers whose troops were involved in the incident are being investigated. The officers - the battalion commander and two company commanders - were reassigned to staff jobs in April.
Gibson emphasized that no charges have been made against the three.
Murtha, a 37-year Marine Corps veteran, is a harsh critic of the war in Iraq and said such incidents result from inadequate planning, training and troop numbers.
"I feel that the tremendous pressure and the redeployment over and over again is a big part of this.
"These guys are under tremendous strain, more strain than I can conceive of. And this strain has caused them to crack in situations like this," he said.
Six months ago, Murtha shocked Washington by introducing a resolution in Congress to withdraw US troops from Iraq.
"Since that time, we've lost 370 Americans, we're spending nine billion dollars a month, (violent attacks) have increased from 550 a week to 900 a week, and we lost 1,000 Iraqis in the last month," the Pennsylvania Democrat said.
"Now, you can imagine the impact this is going to have on those troops for the rest of their life and for the United States in our war and our effort in trying to win the hearts and minds?"
At least 2,445 US troops have been killed since the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, according to an AFP count based on Pentagon figures.
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