Two US Marines face Haditha courts-martial

SAN FRANCISCO, Saturday (Reuters) - A U.S. battalion commander and an enlisted man will face courts-martial on charges related to the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha, Iraq, in 2005, the Marines said on Friday. The two men are the first to be referred a court-martial in a prosecution that has lost some momentum, with charges dismissed against four men since it began last December.

Jeffrey R. Chessani	Stephen B. Tatum

Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani was one of four officers initially charged in the killings that sparked international anger. He is charged with dereliction of duty and failing to report accurately and investigate the incident. The Marines also announced on Friday that Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum would face a court-martial on involuntary manslaughter and other charges, dropping original charges of murder against him.

Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command, referred the charges against the two men after reviewing evidence presented in pretrial evidentiary hearings known as Article 32 proceedings.“Lt. Gen. Mattis made his decision after consideration of information developed from investigations by Marine, Army and Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigators, as well as evidence produced during an Article 32 investigation hearing,” the Marines announced in a statement.

The Marines relieved Chessani of his command in April 2006 after a Time magazine story detailed the Nov. 19, 2005, killings that followed a bomb attack that killed a popular young Marine.

Chessani passed on a letter from the Haditha town council asking for a probe of the killings but did not begin an investigation. Testimony in military court has shown that Marines in the unit shot dead five unarmed men after ordering them out of a car, then killed other 19 people, including women and children in two nearby houses.