US 'winding up' Iraq deaths probe

"'Cold blood'

On Thursday, John Warner, chairman the Senate Armed Services Committee, said there were "established facts that incidents of a very serious nature did take place".

The commander of the US marine corps, Gen Michael Hagee, flew to Iraq the same day and said the scenes and experiences faced by marines "can be numbing".

"There is the risk of becoming indifferent to the loss of a human life, as well as bringing dishonour upon ourselves," he said.

Last week John Murtha, a Democrat member of the House of Representatives and a retired marine said US troops in Haditha "overreacted because of the pressure on them.

"They killed innocent civilians in cold blood. And that's what the report is going to tell.""