Bush didn't hear slaying reports until reporters raised questions

WASHINGTON — President Bush learned of reports that U.S. Marines killed two dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians only after reporters began asking questions, the White House said Tuesday.

Asked when Bush was first briefed about the events in Haditha, White House press secretary Tony Snow replied Tuesday: "When a Time reporter first made the call."

Frederick Jones, spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House, said Time magazine brought the matter to the attention of the multinational force in Baghdad on Feb. 10. "The questions by Time magazine prompted an inquiry into the Haditha incident and revealed a potential cover-up," Jones said. "The president was briefed soon after the inquiry was opened."

Time magazine and Knight Ridder Newspapers reported in March that the U.S. military was investigating a dozen Marines for possible war crimes in the November incident. The killings, which included women and children, came after a bomb rocked a military convoy Nov. 19, killing a Marine.

Marines then shot and killed unarmed civilians in a taxi at the scene and went into homes and shot other people, according to Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a decorated Marine war veteran and prominent critic of Iraq policy who has talked with military officials.

Envoy renews claim U.S. killed cousin

WASHINGTON — Iraq's new ambassador to the United States, Samir Sumaidaie, renewing an allegation he first made last summer, accused U.S. troops of killing his unarmed cousin during house-to-house searches in Haditha on June 25, 2005.

Sumaidaie, who was officially received by President Bush at the White House on Tuesday, said the military conducted a flawed investigation into the death of 21-year-old Mohammed Sumaidaie. The incident is different from the one in November that alleges that U.S. Marines may have killed as many as 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians.

"I believe he was killed intentionally; I believe he was killed unnecessarily," Sumaidaie said in an interview with CNN.

"Unfortunately, the investigation that took place after that sort of took a different course, and concluded that there was no unlawful killing. I would like further investigation."

The U.S. military said the killing was in self-defense. Sumaidaie said there was only one weapon in the house, and it was unloaded.

Sumaidaie, who was formerly Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations, officially became ambassador with the formation of the new elected Iraqi government. In the ceremony with Bush, Sumaidaie said he was "honored and privileged to serve as the ambassador of free Iraq ... to represent my country to this great country."

Los Angeles Times

204 detainees released in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The U.S. military said it released 204 male detainees in Iraq on Tuesday.

A military statement said they were released after the Iraqi-U.S. Combined Review and Release Board reviewed their files and recommended release. It gave no further details.

Many Iraqi detainees complain they are held for long periods in U.S. military jails without being charged before they are released or transferred to a court.

About 15,000 inmates are being held in U.S. military jails.

The board, established in 2004, has reviewed the cases of more than 39,000 detainees and recommended more than 19,600 for release.

Reuters

Kidnapped envoy freed, UAE says

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — The UAE said Tuesday that its kidnapped diplomat in Iraq, Naji al-Noaimi, had been freed.

The official WAM news agency said Foreign Affairs Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan thanked the Iraqi government and political groups for helping secure Tuesday's release of Noaimi.

Earlier this month, a group calling itself Islam's Banner said it had kidnapped Noaimi and demanded that the UAE withdraw its charge d'affaires.

The kidnapping and killing of Arab diplomats and embassy workers over the past year by Islamist extremists has worsened the already frosty relations between Iraq's U.S.-backed Shiite-led government and Sunni-dominated Arab states.

Reuters