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U.S. Rep. John Murtha, a veteran who is a vocal opponent of the Iraq war, said Wednesday that U.S. Marines killed Iraqi civilians after a roadside bomb killed one of their troops in November.

"Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood," Murtha, D-Pa., told reporters in Washington.

Time magazine reported on March 27 that Marines "went on a rampage" and killed 15 "unarmed Iraqis, including seven women and three children" near Haditha after the death of Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, 20. The U.S. military has opened an investigation into the Nov. 19 incident.

"It's much worse than reported in Time magazine," Murtha said. "Now you can imagine the impact this is going to have on those troops for the rest of their life and for the United States in our war and our effort in trying to win the hearts and minds."

Murtha said U.S. military officials gave him the information. In November, Murtha, who served in the Marine Corps in Vietnam, called for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

Iraq's incoming prime minister said Wednesday that he will unveil his Cabinet to parliament this weekend, the first sign that the country may finally be moving ahead with a national unity government after weeks of wrangling.

There are hopes that sharing power successfully will help heal the sectarian rift underlying the relentless wave of violence that has swept Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion three years ago and open the way for American troops to begin returning home.

But talks are still under way on choices to head the critical ministries of interior and defense, which control the police and the army, respectively. Without an eventual agreement, no resolution is possible for the basic conflict between Shiites and Sunni Arabs.

A spokesman for Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki told The Associated Press that he would present the Cabinet at a parliament session Saturday with or without a decision on those two posts.

In Washington, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld refused to say if there would be a major U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq by year's end. "I can't promise it," Rumsfeld said of the 132,000 American troops there.

Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who testified with Rumsfeld before a Senate subcommittee, was asked whether U.S. troops could withdraw completely from any of Iraq's 18 provinces within the next three months.

"No, sir," Pace replied.

Violence ebbed around Iraq on Wednesday, with two Iraqis killed and nine wounded in three roadside bombs, and two drive-by shootings. The bodies of two Iraqi men, handcuffed and shot in the head, were found in the capital.

The judge in Saddam Hussein's trial ruled Wednesday that the former Iraqi leader and his intelligence chief may testify on behalf of one of their co-defendants, who is accused of helping in a 1982 crackdown on Shiites.

The defense wants Saddam and Barzan Ibrahim to testify on behalf of Taha Yassin Ramadan, a former member of Saddam's inner circle.