US lawmaker vows probe into Iraq civilian deaths

WASHINGTON, May 28 (Reuters) A senior Republican Senator vowed today to hold hearings on US Marines' role in the deaths of up to two dozen Iraqi civilians last November as a leading Democratic war critic alleged a military cover-up.

The US military is investigating the Nov. 19 incident in Haditha, about 140 miles (220 km) northwest of Baghdad. The military has said 15 civilians were killed, while other accounts put the number at about 24.

Senator John Warner told ABC news the Senate committee he heads would probe ''what happened and when it happened and what was the immediate reaction of the senior officers in the Marine Corps when they began to gain knowledge of it.'' ''I can assure the American public this morning, as chairman of the Armed Services Committee, I'll do exactly what we did with Abu Ghraib,'' the Virginia Republican told the network's Sunday program, ''This Week with George Stephanopoulos.'' Warner said the hearing would be held at a time that does not interfere with military justice procedures. He said the Marine Corps was investigating the killings and the US Army Central Command was analyzing how the incident was handled.

A US defense official said on Friday that US Marines could face criminal charges, possibly including murder.

A criminal probe by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which handles criminal inquiries involving Marines, has not been completed and no final decisions on charges have been made, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Marine Corps commander Gen. Michael Hagee flew to Iraq on Thursday to tell his troops to kill ''only when justified.'' COVER-UP ALLEGED The Los Angeles Times reported that investigators were expected to call for charges including murder, negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and filing a false report.

The Times reported that military investigators have concluded that a dozen Marines acted improperly in an incident in which US troops, after a Marine was killed by a roadside bomb, wantonly killed unarmed civilians, including women and children, and then tried to cover up the incident.

Rep. John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat and retired Marine who has been a staunch critic of the Iraq war, told ABC there was ''no question'' the U.S. military tried to cover up an incident he called ''worse than Abu Ghraib.'' ''First of all, they tried to say the IED is what killed these people,'' he said, using a term for roadside bombs. ''The next day, there was a team out there investigating as they always do, and then nothing happened.'' Murtha, who said he based his assertions on briefings he received from high-level military officials, added: ''There was an investigation right afterward, but then it was stifled.'' He said he did not know how far up the chain of command responsibility for the alleged cover-up goes.

''But we cannot allow something like this to fester,'' said Murtha, who warned that the Haditha killings would undermine the war effort in Iraq and be used as propaganda by radical Islamists fighting the United States. ''We're set back every time something like this happens,'' he said.

There are 21,000 Marines serving in Iraq in one of the most violent regions of the country; more than 700 have died since the war began in 2003.

REUTERS CH PM2239