THE US sergeant who led the squad of marines that killed 24 Iraqis at Haditha has emerged from the shadows to reject accusations that civilians were massacred “in cold blood” in the worst American atrocity of the Iraq war, writes Sarah Baxter.

Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, 26, is suing Democrat congressman John Murtha, a decorated former marine, for libel after he publicly accused the squad of murder. He is also threatening to sue John Kline, a Republican congressman, unless he apologises for his comments on Haditha.

Two dozen men, women and children were killed last November in the insurgent stronghold of Haditha in an apparent revenge spree for the death of a marine in a roadside bombing.

According to papers filed in court, Murtha “spread false and malicious lies about Wuterich and his squad” and “sought to destroy the reputations of young marines”.

The sergeant’s counterattack is being launched in advance of the release of two military reports into the events at Haditha, one into the shootings and another into an alleged cover-up of the deaths.

Wuterich could be charged with murder, which carries the death penalty in America, although defence sources suggested last week that the investigations have yet to conclude the killings were deliberate.

At the home where Wuterich grew up in Meriden, Connecticut, which is decorated with American flags and a quilt bearing the Pledge of Allegiance on the door, the sergeant’s parents are “praying daily” for their son’s name to be cleared.

“We were devastated by the allegations because we just don’t believe Frank would do something like this,” said Wuterich’s father David. He said his son wanted to join the marines to play the trumpet in the band, not to kill people. “He was not one of those gung-ho guys. He was a smart boy.”

Wuterich was passed over for the marine corps band — “he didn’t have enough experience”, his father says — but went on to enjoy his time in the marines. “He’d write us letters about handing out candy bars to Iraqi kids and being invited to dinner by Iraqis.”

Wuterich, a father of two young girls, is in limbo at Camp Pendleton in California, waiting to see if he will be court-martialled for his role at Haditha. He was promoted to staff sergeant last January, well after the incident. “They must have felt he was doing a good job,” his father said.

But the investigations are likely to conclude that the military failed to heed warning signs, such as the payment of £20,000 to relatives of the victims, that the Haditha killings were being hushed up.

Wuterich claims through his lawyer, Neal Puckett, that after the roadside bombing, a white car containing four men and a driver approached the convoy. After initially disobeying orders to stop, they sprang from the car and were shot.

“My client had no way of knowing what their identity or motives were,” Puckett said. “They attempted to flee after being ordered to stop.”

The victims are now thought to be a taxi-driver and four students, not insurgents. Accounts vary, but several Iraqis claim the men were ordered to lie on the ground and were killed.

Wuterich went on to lead what has been described as a four-man “fire squad” into two neighbouring houses, which he suspected of harbouring insurgents. The first room was empty but on hearing noises, two fellow marines rolled grenades into a second room and sprayed it with gunfire.

Iraqi witnesses insist that at least some of the victims were killed by close-range shots to the head and the chest, but the facts are hard to pin down because the families have refused permission to the US military to exhume the bodies.

Congressmen are rarely sued for libel and it will be difficult to win the case. But some Americans are delighted Wuterich is fighting back.

“Every day I get letters, cheques and cards in the mail from people I don’t know,” David Wuterich said. “I just hope and pray the marines are not going to make an example out of my son.”

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