IMPEACH BUSH

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - A Marine Corps officer accused of failing to properly investigate the alleged massacre of 24 Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha has been cleared of wrongdoing, the military said Tuesday.

A statement released from the Marines Camp Pendleton base in southern California said all charges against Captain Lucas McConnell stemming from the Haditha investigation had been dropped.

The charges against McConnell had been dropped following a ruling by Lieutenant-General James Mattis, commander of the US Marine Corps Forces, who was last week named by the Pentagon as head of the US Joint Forces Command.

"(Mattis) determined that administrative measures are the appropriate response for any errors or omissions allegedly committed by McConnell," the statement said.

McConnell was one of eight Marines facing charges in connection with the Haditha killings in November 2005, the most serious allegations of war crimes against US troops serving in Iraq.

Four Marines were initially charged with murder, while McConnell and three other officers were charged with failing to properly investigate or report the circumstances surrounding the killings.

Prosecutors have alleged that Marines went on a killing spree in the town west of Baghdad, shooting unarmed men, women and children in retaliation for the death of a comrade in a roadside bomb on November 19 2005.

An initial press release from Marines concerning the incident said that 15 civilians had been killed in the bomb blast. However an investigation published by Time Magazine in March 2006 reported that many of the civilian dead had died after being shot at close range.

As a result the Marines launched two parallel investigations into the allegations -- one focusing on the circumstances surrounding the deaths, the other looking at how the incident was investigated.

Charges against eight servicemen were announced last December. The various prosecutions of Marines involved in the case have slowly unraveled however. McConnell and another officer, Captain Randy Stone, have both had charges of failing to investigate the killing withdrawn.

Two soldiers originally charged with murder in the case have also been cleared, while an investigating officer has recommended that charges against a third soldier are also dropped.

That would leave only one soldier, Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, facing murder charges in connection with the deaths.

In a separate development earlier this month, a two star general and two other officers have been sanctioned for laxness in investigating Haditha but were cleared of a cover-up.

The Marines said "letters of censure" had been issued to the former commanding general of the 2nd Marine Division, Major General Richard Huck, and two colonels.

Marine Commandant General James Conway said the officers' "actions, their inactions, and decisions in the aftermath of the Haditha incident did not meet the high standards we expect of Marine senior officer leadership."