CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., May 11 (UPI) -- A Marine general told a Camp Pendleton, Calif., hearing that he learned about the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians by U.S. troops from a journalist.
"It had been alive for three weeks without my being aware of it," Marine Maj. Gen. Richard Huck said of the Nov. 19, 2005 killings in Haditha, Iraq, The New York Times reported Friday.
Huck testified at a military hearing for one of four officers charged with not adequately investigating the civilian deaths. Three enlisted men face murder charges in the deaths.
Huck testified officers under him had not filled him in about the killings and he learned from a Time magazine reporter's questions in January 2006 the killings might not have been justified.
The Times said another witness Thursday, First Lt. Adam P. Mathes, testified via video from Kuwait the magazine reporter's questions about the Haditha killings "sounded like bad, negative spin."
"This guy is looking for blood, because blood leads headlines," Mathes testified.
