US Marine pleads guilty in deal over Iraq killings

A US soldier facing court martial over the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in 2005 pleaded guilty Monday to negligent dereliction of duty, in a deal with prosecutors, military officials said. Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, the commander of a group of Marines whose other members have been exonerated, had faced nine counts of voluntary manslaughter and other charges over the killings in the Iraqi town of Haditha. A military judge will now determine the sentencing for Wuterich, said a statement from Camp Pendleton, south of Los Angeles, where the 31-year-old went on trial earlier this month. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, a spokesman told AFP. "SSgt Frank G. Wuterich appeared before the military judge here today and pleaded guilty to one count of negligent dereliction of duty for his involvement in the death of Iraqi civilians in Haditha," said the statement. "The defense and trial counsel initiated a discussion to resolve the case" under which Wuterich "agreed and admitted that he was derelict in the performance of his duty," it added. "The military judge will now determine the sentencing for SSgt Wuterich. The military judge's sentencing will then go to LtGen Thomas Waldhauser, Commander, Marine Corps Forces Central Command for final adjudication." In all, 24 Iraqi civilians including women and children were killed -- 19 in several houses along with the five men who pulled up in a car in the Iraqi town of Haditha on November 19, 2005. The other seven Marines charged in the case have been exonerated through various legal rulings, fueling anger in Iraq, where authorities had pushed for US troops to be subject to Iraqi justice before the US pullout in December.