TEHRAN – More evidence has emerged revealing that U.S. troops carried out horrific civilian killings in Iraq that were long concealed.

An Investigation by the BBC has revealed new evidence linking two American soldiers, who were never brought to trial, to the infamous Haditha massacre during the U.S. occupation of Iraq. 

The findings, based largely on statements and testimony given soon after the killings, raise serious doubts about the integrity of the U.S. inquiry and highlight long-standing concerns about accountability within the American military.

The Haditha massacre stands as one of the darkest war crimes of the Iraq War, yet not a single American was convicted. Four U.S. soldiers were originally charged with murder, but their accounts conflicted, and over the years American military prosecutors dropped charges against three of them. 

Those Marines were granted immunity, shielding them from future legal action. This new BBC probe follows an earlier investigation by The New Yorker, which detailed what Iraqis had known for decades but what U.S. officials had tried to bury.

On November 19, 2005, U.S. soldiers patrolling the town of Haditha in Anbar Province went from house to house and killed at least two dozen civilians. 

According to survivors, the youngest victim was only three years old. Families were gunned down at close range. Men, women, and children were given no chance to plead for their lives. Moments earlier, four students riding in a taxi to the site of the massacre were forced out of their car and executed with their driver.

The U.S. military did not open an investigation until the Time magazine reported on the massacre months later. When the inquiry finally took place, the charges were quickly dismissed. A conviction would have further stained the image of the U.S. occupation.

Leaked photos published by The New Yorker last year showed parents lying dead while still trying to shield their children. Whole families, including babies, were slaughtered, their bodies later photographed by American troops. Without those photos, the massacre might never have reached the public.

For years, Washington has framed abuses in Iraq as the work of “a few bad apples.” But the record tells a different story. The torture and humiliation of Iraqi detainees by American soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison did not begin with Saddam Hussein’s fall, nor did it end after.

In another infamous case on March 12, 2006, in the Iraqi town of al-Mahmoudiyah, American soldiers took turns to assault 14-year-old Abeer al-Janabi, then murdered her and her parents, who were trying to protect her. Her six-year-old sister was also killed. One of the attackers later described the assault as “awesome.” 

The U.S. Army initially blamed Iraqis, and only overwhelming evidence forced a trial. Even then, officials insisted the soldiers were isolated offenders.

But Iraqis ask how many “bad apples” it takes before the system itself is questioned. Why were senior American commanders never called before a jury?

Human rights groups documented widespread abuses by U.S. forces from 2003 to 2011, including indiscriminate attacks, secret detentions, torture, mock executions, and threats of rape. Former detainees described sleep deprivation, starvation, and constant fear.

While Iraqis still carry the trauma of these years, the U.S. has shifted its focus. Today, it supports a new cycle of war crimes in Gaza. 

Children have been shot at close range. UN shelters have been bombed. Hospitals receive infants with no heads left to identify. Many abuses, mass arrests, medical workers stripped and taken to detention centers, torture, and rape go unrecorded or unreported.

And so, as with Iraq, much of the truth may remain buried. The full extent of the war crimes may never be known.