Chronology of events at Haditha

Incident at Haditha

Reports that U.S. Marines killed unarmed civilians last year in the Iraqi town of Haditha have led the Iraqi government to order an investigation and the U.S. military to plan ethical training on battlefield conduct. Here is background on the incident:

Chronology

Nov. 19, 2005: A roadside bomb kills Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, 20, from El Paso, Texas, during a patrol by Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division in Haditha. In the following hours, 24 Iraqis are killed. Marine investigators inspect the scene and take photographs.

Nov. 20: Military says roadside bomb killed a Marine and 15 civilians. Capt. Jeffrey Pool says in a statement: "Iraqi Army soldiers and Marines returned fire killing eight insurgents."

December/January: Families of some dead are paid $2,500 each by U.S. military, Iraqi human-rights activist says. U.S. officer says in May he paid out $38,000 in total compensation.

January 2006: Journalism student Taher Thabet, via an Iraqi human-rights group, passes video of bodies to Time magazine. Time says Capt. Pool dismisses it as al-Qaida propaganda, but military spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Johnson recommends investigation.

Feb. 10: Time magazine raises questions with military sources in Baghdad about the circumstances of the Iraqi deaths. Army Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, commander of Multi-National Corps in Iraq, speaks with the Time reporter.

Feb. 14 — Chiarelli initiates a preliminary investigation.

March 3: A preliminary report is completed and recommends further investigation.

March 9: Chiarelli receives the initial findings of the probe and directs further review by Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

March 10: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are notified of the case.

March 11: President Bush is briefed on the case for the first time by national-security adviser Stephen Hadley.

March 12: Marine Maj. Gen. Richard C. Zilmer, commanding general of the Multinational Force-West, appoints a Marine colonel to investigate reporting of information at all levels of the chain of command.

March 13: The Naval Criminal Investigative Service team arrives in Haditha.

March 19: Time magazine reports the first public account of survivors' allegations that Marines ran amok after Terrazas' death. Iraqi human-rights group issues the video of residents describing the rampage. U.S. military confirms accounts by doctors that all the civilians were shot, not killed by bomb. Witnesses say the dead were in three houses and a car. Chiarelli appoints Army Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell to investigate.

April 7: Three officers — 3rd Battalion commander Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, Kilo Company commander Capt. Lucas McConnell and Capt. James Kimber — are relieved of command.

May 17: Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a former Marine, says the military attempted a cover-up and accuses Marines of killing "in cold blood."

May 26: U.S. defense official says investigators would recommend charges against about a dozen Marines, including murder and lying.

May 31: President Bush says in his first comment on the affair: "If ... laws were broken there will be punishment."

June 1: Iraq announces investigation of incident, and U.S. says it will begin training in wartime ethics for its troops.

Haditha

Haditha is a Euphrates valley farming town 125 miles northwest of Baghdad in Iraq's western Anbar province, the heartland of the Sunni Arab insurgency seeking to topple the Shiite-led government.

The Dead

In addition to Terrazas, Iraq's Hammurabi human-rights organization listed 23 of the dead as follows:

House 1: Asmaa Salman Raseef, 32; Abdullah Waleed Abdul Hameed, child; Abdul Hameed Hasan Ali, late 70s; Waleed Abdul Hameed Hassan, 35; Rasheed Abdul Hameed Hassan, 30; Khameesa Toama Ali, 65.

House 2: Younis Salim Raseef, 41; Aida Yaseen Ahmed, 35; Muhammad Younis Salim, child; Noor Younis Salim, 14; Sabaa Younis Salim, 9; Aisha Younis Salim, 2; Zainab Younis Salim, 3; Huda Yaseen Ahmed, 28.

Car: Ahmed Finer Muslih, 25; Khalid Oyada Abid, 27; Wajdi Oyada Abid, 22; Akram Hameed Flayeh, 21; Muhammad Fatal Ahmed, 21.

House 3: Jamal Ayed Ahmed, 41; Chassib Ayed Ahmed, 27; Marwan Ayed Ahmed, 28; Kahtan Ayed Ahmed, 24.

The Marines

The 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment landed in Haditha last September. It was one of the first Marine battalions to do a third tour in Iraq. Marines, who have suffered the worst casualties per capita among U.S. forces in the Iraq conflict, mounted several offensives last year in the region around Haditha, where they have often been hit by roadside bombs, the most effective killer of U.S. troops. A roadside bomb killed 14 Marines in August near Haditha. Six were killed by gunmen in the town, and a seventh was killed by a car bomb in nearby Hit a few days earlier.

The Associated Press and Reuters