Warner: No Rush to Judgment Over Marine Killings

May 28, 2006 — -- In an exclusive appearance on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," Sen. John Warner, R-Va., did not dispute reports that a group of U.S. Marines may have killed 24 Iraqi civilians following an IED explosion in Haditha, Iraq, but called for "calmness" pleading, "We've got to let the uniformed code of military justice proceed before we reach any conclusions on this matter."

Time magazine reported this week that the Marines in question attacked men, women and children in the Iraqi town of Haditha after an improvised explosive device, or IED, killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, 20, of El Paso, Texas. According to the report, only one of the Iraqi civilians was armed, and the U.S. military has opened a criminal investigation into the incident.

Warner, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the former secretary of the Navy, said the Senate will proceed with its own investigation and hearings into the Haditha killings if and when they can do so without interfering with the military's formal inquiry.

"I will do exactly what we did with Abu Ghraib," Warner said.

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., also appearing exclusively on "This Week," took a much more aggressive tone, citing the Haditha incident as "worse than Abu Ghraib" and calling the Marine's actions war crimes committed "in cold blood."

Murtha, the ranking Democrat on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in the House, said the damage to U.S. interests in Iraq may already be done.

"This is the kind of war [in which] you have to win the hearts and mind of the people," Murtha said, later telling chief Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos, "I will not excuse murder and that what's happened. … This investigation should have been over two or three weeks after the incident."

The senator disagreed with Murtha, saying, "I think we should be calm and re-assuring to the American people that the men and women of our Armed forces are [acting] admirably and respectfully," and repeating, "a sense of calmness should be brought over this situation."