Bush vows open investigation into Haditha incident

The White House said Thursday that it took nearly a month for President George W. Bush to learn that the U.S. military was investigating reports that Marines killed unarmed civilians in Iraq.

Photo: Bush vows open investigation into Haditha incident

On Tuesday, the White House said Bush was briefed "soon after" the opening of the probe, which was prompted by inquiries about the Nov. 19 incident from Time magazine.

A reporter from the magazine asked U.S. military officials on Feb. 10 about the circumstances surrounding the alleged massacre, in which 24 people in Haditha, an insurgent stronghold in western Iraq, were killed following a bomb attack on a military convoy in which a Marine died. Four days later, on Feb. 14, Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, commander of Multinational Corps Iraq, ordered an investigation into the incident, White House press secretary Tony Snow said Thursday.

But, Snow said, Bush was not informed about the existence of the investigation until March 11, when he was briefed by national security adviser Stephen Hadley.

A preliminary report on March 3 recommended additional inquiry. Chiarelli received initial findings from that on March 9 and asked for the further review, which still is continuing, Snow said. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were informed the next day and Bush the day after, on a Saturday.

Time reported the investigation on March 19.

Bush pledged Thursday that the results of the inquiry will be made public.

"The world will see the full and complete investigation," he said after meeting with his Cabinet at the White House. "If there is wrongdoing, people will be held to account."

A senior defense official said last week that military investigators have evidence that points toward unprovoked murders by Marines.

The Iraqi government is conducting its own investigation.

Based on the timeline given by Snow, the U.S. military appears to be conducting four investigations into different aspects of the incident, including into why the American military's initial statement about the incident described it as an ambush on a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol, with a roadside bombing and subsequent firefight killing 15 civilians, eight insurgents and a Marine. The statement, which said the 15 civilians were killed by the blast, has led some to allege a coverup.

The president said the ethical training ordered for U.S. troops in Iraq came as a result of the Haditha investigation, reports AP.

O.Ch.