CAMP PENDLETON - A platoon commander testified Tuesday that he ordered his men to storm several Iraqi homes in 2005 because he believed armed insurgents were inside and that, despite the resulting deaths of 19 civilians, the assault complied with the Marine Corps' rules of engagement.

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The dead included five children and two women.

The testimony from 1st Lt. William Kallop came as the first case began in the government's prosecution of seven Camp Pendleton Marines charged with criminal wrongdoing in the incident that took place in the insurgent-riddled city of Haditha.

Kallop was called as a witness for Capt. Randy W. Stone, who is charged with dereliction of duty for not fully investigating what transpired in one of the largest war crime cases arising out of the conflict in Iraq.

Stone's attorney, Charles Gittins, asked Kallop what he or his Marines might have done wrong that day.

"Nothing," Kallop said, adding that he did not believe the incident required any investigation beyond a standard "after-action" review by commanders.

Granted immunity for his testimony and scheduled to head back to Iraq this week, Kallop said he was taken aback upon seeing the bodies of the victims after the shooting stopped and he conducted a brief inspection.

"What the f-- happened here?" Kallop said he asked one of his men.

Kallop said he had ordered Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich and his squad to attack the homes after a Marine reported seeing a suspected insurgent near one. The troops also believed that small arms fire was coming from one or more residences, he said. The action came shortly after a roadside bombing that killed a lance corporal and injured two other Marines.

"I essentially told them to try and bust them out - find the (bomb) triggerman, find the insurgents," Kallop testified.

Despite believing they were taking small arms fire, Kallop said he never heard any shots as Wuterich and the other Marines moved toward the homes.

Wuterich later told him the men used grenades to clear rooms, followed by automatic weapons fire. No weapons were found and none of the slain were determined to be insurgents. The men did find passports and money in one home that may have been left behind by the attackers, the lieutenant testified.

Kallop said he and his men were surprised when they didn't find any insurgent bodies or weapons. He also testified that Cpl. Hector Salinas told him he was certain he had heard AK-47 gunfire coming from inside one or more of the homes.

"Cpl. Salinas looked just as shocked as I was," Kallop said of what they saw in the aftermath.

Stone's attorneys are trying to convince a hearing officer that he did nothing improper in his role as the legal officer for the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. The 34-year-old Maryland native was not present when the killings took place but was responsible for conducting an initial review.

Kallop was part of a quick reaction team that arrived after the roadside bomb destroyed a Humvee, killing Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas.

In addition to the men, women and children inside the homes, five men were shot and killed after emerging from a car that drove up moments after the bombing. Kallop said Wuterich told him those men were shot when they refused to heed an order to stop running away.

Under questioning by Lt. Col. Sean Sullivan, one of three prosecutors assigned to Stone's case, Kallop said Wuterich never told him that day or anytime afterward that the Marines had killed the women and children, all of whom were found in a single bedroom. Wuterich also never reported that two children were found suffering injuries, Kallop said.

Asked by Sullivan if he ever believed his men might have "crossed the line," Kallop said he did not.

"I thought my Marines had a good understanding of the rules of engagement and were of the character that they were not going to violate the rules - they were doing the best they can," he said. While the outcome was bad, his men were "trying to do the right thing," he said.

It was Stone who conducted training in the rules of engagement for Kallop and his Kilo Company troops. Those rules state that troops can defend themselves if under attack but also must have definitive knowledge that hostile forces are inside when attacking a residence.

At the end of his testimony, Kallop said U.S. forces were in a series of battles in Haditha that day and that the Marines were in near-constant combat in the volatile Anbar province municipality.

"We were fighting the insurgents for control of that city," he said. "They were fighting for the city as much as we were."

Stone was accompanied into the courtroom by his wife and parents, who sat directly behind him during the proceedings. He sat ramrod-straight through most of the session and said little other than to identify himself and confirm Gittins and two appointed military attorneys as his counsel.

Maj. Thomas McCann, a legal affairs officer at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, is presiding over the hearing. At its conclusion, he will write a report stating whether he believes Stone should be court-martialed. That decision will be made by Camp Pendleton's Lt. Gen. James Mattis as head of Marine Corps forces in the Middle East.

McCann has 120 written exhibits to consider, and more than 20 witnesses may be called to testify. A key defense witness will be Maj. Gen. Huck, the former commander of the 2nd Marine Division who was in charge of the Marines in Haditha when the incident took place on Nov. 19, 2005.

Huck will testify later this week via video hookup from the Pentagon. One of his top aides in Haditha in 2005, Col. R. Gary Sokoloski, has invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege and is refusing to testify. Sokoloski is a lawyer who served as Huck's chief of staff at the time of the killings.

Outside court, Gittins told reporters it wasn't Stone's place to decide whether a full-scale probe was warranted.

"My client didn't have any duty to do so," Gittins said. "He would have, but he wasn't ordered to."

Stone is one of four officers, including former battalion commander Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, charged on Dec. 21 with dereliction of duty.

Wuterich and two lance corporals face homicide charges for the civilian deaths. Pretrial hearings for all the defendants take place in the coming weeks.

If Stone is ordered to trial and convicted, he faces up two years in custody and dismissal from the service.

Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, one of the men who took part in shootings and who also has been granted immunity, is expected to testify today.

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