Iraqis Accuse Marines in April Killing Of Civilian

Family members insist Hashim was not an insurgent and say they do not know why he was killed, although it appeared clear that tensions over the roadside bombs that cause most American fatalities in Iraq were involved.

Local police, who are Shiite Muslims although the area is Sunni, also said the small, crippled man with the gray and brown stubble was not known to have connections to the insurgency.

An American investigating team -- a mix of uniformed troops and civilians -- came to Hamdaniyah on Wednesday, according to Saadoun Ibrahim, Hashim's brother. Ibrahim showed them where his brother's grave was and agreed to allow Americans to exhume the body when they return, he said Saturday.

"One of them . . . said, 'We are an investigation team, and we want to show the truth, and compensate his family if he's proved innocent,' " Ibrahim said. "I agreed."

A different group of American troops arrived at the house the next day, at about 9 a.m. and talked to Ibrahim, 60, in the presence of his wife, 13-year-old son and other children, he said. One man identified himself through the interpreter as a sergeant, Ibrahim said.

The American, who Ibrahim said appeared to be in charge of the group, first asked if the investigating team had spoken to him yet. He responded that they had.

According to Ibrahim, the American said, "We are ready to compensate you with the money you want, on one condition, which is when the investigation committee comes back, you tell them that your brother worked with the insurgents and had connections with the insurgents, and that he used to go out at night to places you don't know."

The American did not specify an amount, Ibrahim said, saying only that it would be "more than the American military will give you" in standard compensation for killings that commanders later deem to be wrongful.

Ibrahim said he refused. "I told them I will tell them what I know," he said. "And all the money in the world wouldn't compensate for the loss of a brother and the loss to the 13 members of his family."

The American then consulted briefly with another American service member with him and left, Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim said he did not know the men's names or branch of service. Iraqi civilians commonly have difficulty distinguishing the uniforms of different American military branches.

The family's account could not be independently confirmed.

The Post outlined the family's allegations regarding an offer of payment to U.S. military spokesmen in Baghdad and at Camp Pendleton on Saturday and Sunday.

Lt. Lawton King, a spokesman with the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, said in an e-mail Sunday that military officials had visited the family several times as part of the investigation into the killing.

"We are unaware of suggestions of inappropriate conduct of the nature described by your reporter; however we will inquire as part of the overall investigation," King wrote.

U.S. forces announced their investigation of the Hamdaniyah killing on May 25, saying local Iraqi leaders had raised questions about the case at a previously scheduled meeting on May 1. The first U.S. military statement on the case mistakenly identified the site of the killing as Hamandiyah, another village nearby.

Staff writer Thomas E. Ricks in Washington contributed to this report.