An Army general's report that faults Marine commanders for failing to investigate what he concluded was "serious misconduct" in the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha actually should help exonerate the highest-ranking officer charged in the case, one of his attorneys said Saturday.

Attorney Brian Rooney said that Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, the former commander of Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, accurately reported what he knew within hours of the November 2005 slayings.

Rooney's comments came after The Washington Post reported Saturday that it had obtained a copy of the document prepared by Army Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell, which it said concluded that officers may have ignored the killings to shield themselves and their troops from prosecution.

The Bargewell document also faults the 2nd Marine Division commander, Maj. Gen. Richard A. Huck, and the regimental commander, Col. Stephen W. Davis, for failing to investigate the deaths, according to the Post report.

Rooney said that Chessani's actions were proper and that his role in the incident that sparked a worldwide outcry will be fully aired during a court hearing set to begin at Camp Pendleton in late May. Chessani is accused of dereliction of duty and violation of a lawful order.

"Lt. Col. Chessani went to the battlefield that night and the next day and reported to Col. Davis and Gen. Huck what he knew," Rooney said. "The Bargewell report as a whole exonerates our client. He finds no cover-up, so why is he charged?"

According to the Post report of the Bargewell document, Marine commanders in general had allowed a climate that did not consider Iraqi civilian deaths as significant.

"All levels of command tended to view civilian casualties, even in significant numbers, as routine and as the natural and intended result of insurgent tactics," the Post quoted the report as saying. "Statements made by the chain of command during interviews for this investigation, taken as a whole, suggest that Iraqi civilian lives are not as important as U.S. lives, their deaths are just the cost of doing business, and that the Marines need to get 'the job done' no matter what it takes."

Rooney said that tone runs throughout the Bargewell report, which he said suggests that the Marines in general were too aggressive, a stance he said is troubling given the nature of their training and job the troops are asked to do in Iraq.

Bargewell, who is now retired, conducted his investigation at the direction of Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq at the time.

He found that Huck's staff viewed the allegations that the Marines had gone on a rampage as part of insurgent "information operations" and noted that senior officers often looked past such allegations.

The Marine Corps filed murder charges against four enlisted men and the dereliction of duty accusations against the officers on Dec. 21.

It has since granted immunity to eight Marines who were in Haditha that day, including Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, who was facing five counts of unpremeditated murder for his role in the slaying of five Iraqis who emerged from a car that drove up moments after a massive roadside bomb that destroyed a Humvee and killed a lance corporal. Dela Cruz is the only man charged in the case who has now been given immunity.

The Marine Corps also has given immunity to 1st Lt. William Kallop, who was part of a quick reaction team that responded to the report of the bombing and allegedly directed Sgt. Frank Wuterich to assault a group of nearby homes, resulting in the death of 19 other civilians including several women and children. Kallop was not charged in the case.

The men in the car were killed when they allegedly failed to heed orders to stop running from the scene. The homes were assaulted after the Marines reported taking small-arms fire from the direction where they were located.

Bargewell found that although the Marines were trained correctly, some "did not follow proper house and room techniques" by not positively identifying their targets before attacking with grenades and small-arms fire, according to the Post report.

Richard McNeil, an attorney for Kallop, said last week that his client is cooperating with prosecutors and defense attorneys.

"Lt. Kallop wants the real truth about these events to be revealed and he hopes that a fair and impartial judgment ... can then take place," the attorney said.

Besides Wuterich, the enlisted defendants are Lance Cpls. Justin Sharratt and Stephen Tatum.

In addition to Chessani, the officers accused of failing to properly report what happened are Capts. Lucas McConnell and Randy Stone and 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson.

The Marine Corps had no comment Saturday on the specifics of the Bargewell report, which is less than 150 pages and was completed last June, but has remained under wraps until now.

"It is part of an ongoing investigation, and as such is neither releasable nor would it be appropriate for me to comment on it," said Lt. Col. Sean Gibson, a spokesman at Marine Corps Central Command in Florida.

Bargewell's investigation was a companion effort to a probe conducted by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service that resulted in a more than 2,000-page report.

Kathleen Duignan of the National Military Justice Institute in Washington said she questions why officers above Chessani's rank were not charged.

"It smacks as the same sort of selective prosecution that the military did in the Abu Ghraib case," she said Saturday.

In that case, involving Army enlisted troops charged with abuse of Iraqi detainees at a U.S. prison, officers who allegedly knew of what was taking place were not accused of any crime.

As for all the immunity grants prosecutors that have now issued, Duignan said it appears the government needed to take that step to make its case against the accused.

Rooney said he remains confident that Lt. Gen. James Mattis, the convening authority over the Haditha case as commander of Marine Corps forces in the Middle East, will properly evaluate the cases when they are aired during upcoming Article 32 sessions. Those sessions are conducted before a hearing officer who at the conclusion will issue a recommendation as to whether the cases should proceed to court-martial.

"We've been trying to yell from the rooftop that nobody should be charged," Rooney said.

-- Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.