Group "coordinated with Human Rights Watch". A correction was issued when no official links could be confirmed. McGirk, who was based in Jerusalem, declined to testify at the hearings. Legal proceedings The intentional killing of noncombatants is prohibited by modern laws of war derived from the UN Charter, the Hague Conventions and the Geneva Conventions, and constitutes a war crime. The Marines and officers were subject to possible courts martial under American military law, the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Attorney Gary Myers, who worked on the case, was the first lawyer in American history to use DNA evidence in a military trial dating back to the trial stemming from the My Lai massacre. James Mattis' actions In his memoir Call Sign Chaos, then I Marine Expeditionary Force commander James N. Mattis explains his experience and actions in relation to the Haditha massacre. He claims to have read "more than nine thousand pages" of investigative material. He concluded that "several have made tragic mistakes, but others had lost their discipline", which is why he recommended courts-martial for some Marines but not for others. The battalion commander was not aware of the details on the same day of the incident, and the killings were brought to light by a Time magazine reporter. Mattis relieved the battalion commander because the lack of reporting and the number of civilian deaths "should have alerted him that something very out of the ordinary ... had occurred." He then recommended letters of reprimand for the division commander and two colonels, stating, "[b]y their actions or inactions, they demonstrated lack of due diligence." This action forced the senior officers to leave active service. Investigations Upon being told of questions by reporters concerning the Haditha killings, Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli instructed his public affairs office to brief them with the results of the military investigation. It was then he learned there had been no investigation. On February 14, 2006, Chiarelli ordered a preliminary investigation, after video evidence which conflicted with the initial U.S. report, was released. On March 9, a criminal investigation was launched, led by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, to determine if the troops deliberately targeted Iraqi civilians. On March 19, 2006, U.S. military officials confirmed that, contrary to the initial report, U.S. Marines, not Iraqi insurgents, killed 15 civilians. Several official investigations began. The first, under United States Army Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell, examined