CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., Feb. 21 (UPI) -- A U.S. Marine private who admitted responsibility for the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in 2005 has been discharged under honorable conditions.
Friday was former Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich's last day in the Marine Corps, said Lt. Col. Joseph Kloppel, a Camp Pendleton spokesman.
Kloppel said Wuterich's discharge was one step down from an honorable discharge, the North County Times of Escondido, Calif., reported Tuesday.
Wuterich did not serve any jail time for his Jan. 23 guilty plea for one count of negligent dereliction of duty for his role in the 2005 killings. His rank was reduced to private as part of the plea deal.
He admitted he told the Marines under his command to shoot first and then ask questions as they raided two houses in Haditha. One member of the unit had just been killed by a roadside bomb, the Los Angeles Times reported.
"When my Marines and I cleared those houses that day, I responded to what I perceived as a threat and my intention was to eliminate that threat in order to keep the rest of my Marines alive," Wuterich said. "So when I told my team to 'shoot first and ask questions later,' the intent wasn't that they would shoot civilians, it was that they would not hesitate in the face of the enemy."
