U.S.Senators urge Bush to act on Haditha probe

[cal04]

U.S. senators demanded on Tuesday that the Bush administration swiftly establish what happened in Haditha where U.S. Marines are suspected of killing 24 unarmed Iraqis. They said only swift action could salvage the image of the military and U.S. international relations. The Senate Armed Services Committee plans hearings soon on last November's incident in the western Iraqi town and to determine whether the military tried to cover it up.

One senator, from President George W. Bush's own Republican party, insisted U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should be brought to account. The senator, Susan Collins from Maine, said the committee must "ask hard questions such as, 'When did Secretary Rumsfeld learn of the allegations?' and 'What action did he take?'" The senators spoke on the same day a senior U.S. State Department official brushed aside criticism from Iraq's prime minister over the Haditha incident.

"It's a defence mechanism ... I wouldn't make too much out of it," James Jeffrey, the State Department's Iraq coordinator, said of the criticism from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. He said he believed U.S. forces were well-respected in Iraq and Maliki's outburst was to be expected. "There is a constant buzz in Iraq of what our troops did or didn't do," Jeffrey told a group of defence writers. Last week, Maliki demanded the United States share files from the investigation of the Haditha killings, which he called a "terrible crime."

SENATORS VOICE CONCERN

Senators just back from a week-long recess blasted the Pentagon for taking months to start a probe of the incident first reported by Time magazine. Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner wrote to Rumsfeld worried about its impact on U.S. relations "around the world, ongoing military operations, diplomatic initiatives and the struggle of the new Iraqi government to assume full responsibilities of sovereignty."

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[gademocrat7]

1. Everyday we are seeing more evidence of war crimes.

The slaughter of men, women and children in an illegal war. For what? This administration has done what they are accusing Saddam Hussein of.