Marine testifies against alleged Haditha ringleader

By Dan Whitcomb

CAMP PENDLETON, California (Reuters) - A U.S. Marine testified on Thursday that he shot at least two unarmed Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha after a roadside bomb killed a fellow Marine in his squad in November 2005.

Lance Cpl. Humberto Mendoza told a military hearing at the Camp Pendleton Marine base in southern California that he helped squad members "clear" Iraqi houses after the bomb ripped apart his comrade Lance Cpl. Miguel "T.J." Terrazas.

Mendoza was testifying at a hearing against Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, accused of being the ringleader of the troops who prosecutors say massacred 24 unarmed civilians in Haditha in retaliation for the death of Terrazas on November 19, 2005.

The hearing, which is expected to last several days, will determine whether Wuterich should face a court martial for his part in the shootings.

The Haditha killings were among a series of apparent abuses by U.S. soldiers in Iraqi towns and at the Abu Ghraib prison that caused outrage in Iraq and internationally.

Mendoza said he was a member of Wuterich's squad and was in a four vehicle convoy when the roadside bomb went off in Haditha and joined Wuterich and two other Marines in "clearing" nearby Iraqi homes afterward.

In one case, Mendoza said Wuterich knocked on the door of one house and told him; "Just wait until he opens the door and shoot."

In another instance Mendoza said he opened fire on an unarmed Iraqi man. "I got scared thinking he was trying to get a weapon so I started to shoot until he went down ... After all those rounds I was pretty sure he wasn't going to get up," Mendoza testified.