Among the dead were men, women, elderly people and children as young as three years old, who were shot multiple times at close range.

The massacre took place after an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded near a convoy, killing a lance corporal and severely injuring two other marines.

On October 3, 2007, the Article 32 hearing investigating officer recommended that charges of murder be dropped and Wuterich be tried for negligent homicide in the deaths of two women and five children.

[9][10] Iraqis expressed disbelief and voiced outrage after the six-year U.S. military prosecution ended with none of the marines sentenced to incarceration.

[12] Prior to the deployment, a Guardian investigation reported that two Iraqi insurgent groups—Ansar al-Sunna and Al-Qaeda—had taken over operations of the town after driving out local police and civil servants.

[13] Although the battalion been told to expect a battle like in Fallujah, where coalition forces had driven out Iraqi insurgents from the city, the marines faced no resistance upon entering Haditha.

[16][13] Marines instead spent their time searching for insurgents, seizing munitions, and building rapport with local residents as part of the US military's "hearts and minds" campaign.

[citation needed] Five Iraqi men (a taxi driver and four passengers) were ordered out of their car and shot dead in the street, principally by Wuterich.

The initial U.S. military statement read: A US marine and 15 civilians were killed yesterday from the blast of a roadside bomb in Haditha.

[1][26] The video showed the bodies of the women and children with gunshot wounds, bullet holes in the interior walls of the house, and bloodstains on the floor.

[30] This news predated the results of the U.S. military investigation, which found that the 24 unarmed Iraqis—including women and children as young as two years old[31]—were killed by 12 members of K Company.

[citation needed] On June 17, 2006, the New York Times reported that "Investigators have also concluded that most of the victims in three houses died from well-aimed rifle shots, not shrapnel or random fire, according to military officials familiar with the initial findings.

In his memoir Call Sign Chaos, then I Marine Expeditionary Force commander James N. Mattis explains his experience and actions in relation to the Haditha massacre.

Mattis relieved the battalion commander from duty because the lack of reporting and because the number of civilian deaths "should have alerted him that something very out of the ordinary ... had occurred."

He then recommended letters of reprimand for the division commander and two colonels, stating, "[b]y their actions or inactions, they demonstrated lack of due diligence."

[42] At the hearing, Kallop, the platoon commander who ordered Marines to "clear" four houses, testified that the rules of engagement were followed and that no mistakes had been made.

[43] On May 9, Dela Cruz, who received immunity in return for testimony, testified that he watched Wuterich shoot five Iraqis who were attempting to surrender.

[49] Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani was recommended to face court-martial for having "failed to thoroughly and accurately report and investigate a combat action that clearly needed scrutiny.

[56] On October 19, Sharratt's commanding officer decided the charges should be lowered to involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and aggravated assault.

[10] He was convicted of a single count of negligent dereliction of duty on January 24, 2012, receiving a rank reduction and pay cut but avoiding jail time.

He cited false statements Dela Cruz made about the circumstances surrounding the deaths of five men found next to a white car at the scene.

Jeffrey S. Pool, who had issued the first statement on Haditha as an action against terrorists months earlier, told reporters that they were falling for al-Qaida propaganda.

[70]On May 17, 2006, Democratic Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a retired Marine colonel and critic of the war, stated at a news conference that an internal investigation had confirmed the massacre.

As a Spiegel reporter notes in an interview with Michael Sallah, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his investigation of atrocities committed by the Tiger Force unit in Vietnam,[81] "you would have difficulties finding a single newspaper in Germany, or elsewhere in Europe, that does not deal with My Lai, Abu Ghraib, and Haditha in the same commentary.

"[82] Some rejected the comparison, however, including prominent journalist Christopher Hitchens who stated in a June 2006 essay that: ...all the glib talk about My Lai is so much propaganda and hot air.

In Vietnam, the rules of engagement were such as to make an atrocity – the slaughter of the My Lai villagers took almost a day rather than a white-hot few minutes – overwhelmingly probable.

Professor Martin Shaw pointed out on the analysis website OpenDemocracy,[84] that of the 22 officers put on trial for the My Lai massacre, all were acquitted except for Lieutenant William Calley, who served only three and a half years of his life sentence.

Comparisons have also been made to the case of Ilario Pantano, who was initially charged with premeditated murder in Iraq but this was dropped after it was determined there was no credible evidence or testimony.

[citation needed] Family, friends, defense lawyers and right-wing radio host Michael Savage strongly criticized the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) for its role in the case.

I was expecting that the American judiciary would sentence this person to life in prison and that he would appear and confess in front of the whole world that he committed this crime, so that America could show itself as democratic and fair.