BoarSpear

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5032214.stm

The US government has promised to make public all the details of inquiries into the alleged massacre of Iraqi civilians by US marines last November.

Washington made the pledge following claims that the killings of 24 people in the town of Haditha were covered up.

A White House spokesman said President George W Bush was concerned by the reports, but wanted the military first to complete their inquiries.

The Iraqi prime minister said earlier Baghdad would investigate the claims.

Nouri Maliki told Reuters news agency there was "a limit to the acceptable excuses" for civilian casualties.

The Pentagon is close to ending its two separate inquiries into the alleged killings and the cover-up in Haditha, initially attributed to a clash with militants.




US upset by 'massacre'

According to initial US military reports, 15 civilians and eight insurgents died after a bomb killed a marine in Haditha, a militant stronghold in Anbar Province.

But the army now says it is investigating a total of 24 deaths.

Observers say the incident on 19 November could deal a more serious blow to US standing than the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal.

Marines 'co-operating'

White House spokesman Tony Snow said he had been assured by the Pentagon that "all the details" of the inquiries would be make public.

US marines in Iraq
Haditha has seen regular deadly attacks on US troops

"We'll have a picture of what happened," Mr Snow said.

He said President Bush was "allowing the chain of command to do what it's supposed to do in the department of defence, which is to complete" their inquiries.

"The marines are taking an active and aggressive role in this."

The spokesman added that Mr Bush did not hear about the incident until earlier this year when a reporter began asking questions about it, leading officials to brief him.

John Murtha, a Democratic Congressman and former marine, has said he had been briefed by military officials and believes the civilians were murdered and the incident was covered up.

The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says enough material has now been leaked to the US media about the Haditha incident to suggest to many Americans that allegations of a massacre are very serious and may well be true.

'Cold blood'

US investigators are looking at both the actual events in Haditha and the alleged cover-up by troops.

The military said at the time that the civilians were killed as a result of either the bomb or a gun battle which erupted afterwards, in which the militants were reportedly killed.

But reports from Iraqi witnesses and in the US media allege that marines went on a rampage.

According to the Wall St Journal, there is evidence that marines killed civilians, including women and children, without provocation.

Several marines are likely to be charged with murder and others with attempting to cover up the incident, the newspaper said, quoting civilian and military officials close to the investigations.

One of the marines in Haditha that day, Lance Cpl Roel Ryan Briones of Hanford, California, told the Los Angeles Times he had taken photos and carried bodies out of homes as part of a clean-up crew:

"They ranged from little babies to adult males and females. I'll never be able to get that out of my head. I can still smell the blood."

BoarSpear

The reports are there to read for yourself, so are the pics and video although they are tough to find. The marines said the people died in explosions, the investigation shows gunshot wounds to the head and chest The marines started the ball rolling by lying...