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I know the Marines that were operating in western al Anbar, from Husayba all the way to Haditha. I went on countless operations in 2005 up and down the Euphrates River Valley. I was pinned on rooftops with them in Ubeydi for hours taking incoming fire, and I’ve seen them not fire a shot back because they did not have positive identification on a target.
I saw their horror when they thought that they finally had identified their target, fired a tank round that went through a wall and into a house filled with civilians. They then rushed to help the wounded — remarkably no one was killed.
I was with them in Husayba as they went house to house in an area where insurgents would booby-trap doors, or lie in wait behind closed doors with an AK-47, basically on suicide missions, just waiting for the Marines to come through and open fire. There were civilians in the city as well, and the Marines were always keenly aware of that fact. How they didn’t fire at shadows, not knowing what was waiting in each house, I don’t know. But they didn’t.
And I was with them in Haditha, a month before the alleged killings last November of some 24 Iraqi civilians.
Fox News Makes Murtha the Issue in Haditha Case
How does Fox News, the "good news in Iraq" network, handle a story about the possibility that U.S. marines killed 24 unarmed civilians in Haditha last fall? By making an issue of anyone who wants it investigated, of course. The messenger being shot Tuesday (May 30, 2006) on "Dayside," was Rep. John Murtha, D-Pennsylvania.
Dayside co-hosts Steve Doocy and Juliet Huddy invited Lt. BIll Cowan, a retired marine and a Fox News military analyst, to discuss the issue, not of what has been discovered in the investigation into what happened at Haditha, but rather whether Murtha "is rushing to judgment before a full linvestigation is completed and made public."
Huddy made an issue of Murtha's calling the possible massacre of 24 unarmed civilians, including women and children, "worse than Abu-Ghraib." Well, wouldn't 24 people killed for no reason be worse than abusing prisoners who lived? Oh, I get it. If there aren't pictures of it happening that are spread across the web, then that makes it not so bad.
Embedded CNN reporter doubts Haditha charges…
Originally posted by skippytjc
BBC: Haditha: Massacre and cover-up?
A simple US military statement hinted at the bloody chain of events which the attack started - though subsequent scrutiny showed it to be far from the truth.
It said: "A US marine and 15 civilians were killed yesterday from the blast of a roadside bomb in Haditha."
"Immediately following the bombing, gunmen attacked the convoy with small arms fire. Iraqi army soldiers and marines returned fire, killing eight insurgents and wounding another."
The bodies of women and children, still in their nightclothes; interior walls and ceilings peppered with bullet holes; bloodstains on the floor.
Before publishing its account on 19 March, the magazine passed the tape to US military commanders in Baghdad, who initiated a preliminary investigation.
Following their findings, the official version was changed to say that, after the roadside bomb, the 15 civilians had been ACCIDENTLY shot by marines during a firefight with insurgent.
"They knocked at our front door and my father went to open it. They shot him dead from behind the door and then they shot him again," she says in the video.
"Then one American soldier came in and shot at us all. I pretended to be dead and he didn't notice me."
Hammurabi says eight people died in the house, including Safa's five siblings, aged between 14 and two.
In another house seven people including a child and his 70-year-old grandfather were killed. Four brothers aged 41 to 24 died in a third house. Eyewitnesses said they were forced into a wardrobe and shot.
Outside in the street, US troops are said to have gunned down four students and a taxi driver who they stopped at a roadblock set up after the bombing.
Originally posted by Souljah
Futile attempts - both skippy and shots.
There's a ton of information that isn't out there yet," said one lawyer, who, like the others, would speak only on the condition of anonymity because a potential client has not been charged. The radio message traffic, he said, will provide a different view of the incident than has been presented by Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) and other members of Congress. For example, he said, contrary to Murtha's account, it will show that the Marines came under small-arms fire after the roadside explosion.
I was driving my car at full speed because I did not see any sign or warning from the Americans. It was not until they shot the two bullets that killed my sister and cousin that I stopped," he said. "God take revenge on the Americans and those who brought them here. They have no regard for our lives."
He said doctors tried but failed to save the baby after his sister was brought to the hospital.
The shooting deaths occurred in the wake of an investigation into allegations that U.S. Marines killed unarmed civilians in the western city of Haditha.
Originally posted by dgtempe
This must be a lie also. I'm telling you, every newsource is wrong and they are all anti military apparently:
www.breitbart.com...
I was driving my car at full speed because I did not see any sign or warning from the Americans. It was not until they shot the two bullets that killed my sister and cousin that I stopped," he said. "God take revenge on the Americans and those who brought them here. They have no regard for our lives."
He said doctors tried but failed to save the baby after his sister was brought to the hospital.
The shooting deaths occurred in the wake of an investigation into allegations that U.S. Marines killed unarmed civilians in the western city of Haditha.
Originally posted by dgtempe
they're killing civilians at random, for Petes sakes!
Originally posted by shots
Well I tell you what after hearing what those kids had to say; I am now more convinced then ever that this was a set up by your friends.
Originally posted by Nygdan
I, for one, would be very surprised if there wasn't something like Mai Lei in Iraq. We should be expecting something like it to happen, Haditha might very well be it. It hardly matters that someone who knows these guys thinks that they wouldnt' do it. I am sure most people that know those guys don't think of them as highly trained professional killers either.