Guerra Eterna

Conviene añadir a esta lista el hecho de que Time comenzó en enero a preguntar a los portavoces de los marines sobre la posibilidad de que una matanza de civiles hubiera tenido lugar en Haditha.

A look at the events surrounding the Haditha investigation:

- Nov. 19: U.S. Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, 20, of El Paso, Texas, is killed by a roadside bomb in Haditha, a Sunni Arab city considered among the most hostile areas of Iraq.

- Nov. 20: The Marines release a statement saying that insurgents attacked a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol with small-arms fire after the blast, triggering a gunbattle that left eight insurgents and 15 Iraqi civilians dead.

- Feb. 14: Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the commander of Multinational Corps Iraq, orders a preliminary investigation.

- March 9: Chiarelli directs further review of the incident by the Naval Criminal Investigation Service.

- March 20: The U.S. military says it's investigating possible misconduct by the Marines and confirms there is a videotape, which Time Magazine says shows the aftermath of the Marines' assault.

Haditha residents tell The Associated Press that American troops entered homes and shot dead 15 members of two families, including a 3-year-old girl, after a roadside bomb killed a U.S. Marine.

- March 21: The video taken by an Iraqi is aired repeatedly by Arab television stations showing bodies of women and children in plastic bags on the floor of what appeared to be a morgue. Men were seen standing in the middle of bodies, some of which were covered with blankets before being placed in a pickup truck.

- April 10: The military says Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani, Capt.

James S. Kimber and Capt. Lucas M. McConnell have been relieved of their commands in connection with problems in Iraq, including their battalion's actions during a firefight that left 15 Iraqi civilians dead.

- May 17: U.S. Rep. John Murtha says a Pentagon war crimes investigation will show Marines killed more than a dozen innocent Iraqi civilians "in cold blood" in the town of Haditha.

- May 18: Military officials say the criminal investigation into the firefight in Haditha is not complete, but they don't dispute a congressman's charges that the attack by Marines was far worse than originally reported.

- May 25: Top U.S. Marine Gen. Michael W. Hagee says he fears some Marines could become "indifferent to the loss of a human life." His office announces that he was enroute to Iraq to reinforce the Corps' standards of behavior in combat.

- May 30: In his first statement on the case, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. that the killings of civilians in Haditha were not justified.

- May 31: President Bush promises that any Marines involved in the alleged murders of Iraqi civilians will be punished.

- June 1: The Iraqi government announces its own investigation into reports that U.S. Marines killed unarmed civilians last year, and the second-ranking commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, orders American commanders to hold ethical training on battlefield conduct.