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The secretary of the Navy has ordered the Marine Corps to begin administrative proceedings to discharge two Marines from Camp Pendleton who admitted to lying to investigators about the killing of 24 unarmed civilians in Haditha, Iraq, in 2005.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus ordered the proceedings against Sgt. Humberto Mendoza and Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz because they gave false accounts to investigators about what led Marines to kill the civilians, according to accounts Thursday by the Associated Press and the Marine Corps Times.

"Such conduct is wholly inconsistent with the core values of the department of Navy," Mabus wrote to Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos in ordering separation proceedings against the two.

Dela Cruz also admitted to urinating on one of the bodies. He and Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, the squad leader, ordered five young men from a car and killed them just minutes after a roadside bomb killed one Marine and injured two others.

Wuterich, the last of eight Marines to have his case decided, pleaded guilty to one count of negligent dereliction of duty in the midst of his court martial on Jan. 23. He received no jail time but was dismissed from the Marine Corps with a general discharge.

Mabus waited until Wuterich's court martial was completed to review the case file to see if any Marines linked to the Haditha killings should be dismissed, according to the Associated Press and the Marine Corps Times.