US Marine - Korea
SEMPER FI MARINES
I will be watching this deal.
Posted on 03/16/2006 4:11:01 PM PST by Dubya
WASHINGTON - The military has opened a criminal investigation into firefight between U.S. Marines and insurgents last year that left 15 Iraqi civilians dead, defense officials said Thursday.
The inquiry will attempt to determine whether the Marines acted appropriately when they fired back at insurgents following a roadside bomb attack in Haditha, near Baghdad, in November 2005, said a military official who requested anonymity because the investigation has not been announced yet. The civilians were hit during that battle.
Military officials in Iraq completed a preliminary investigation and have forwarded it to the Navy Criminal Investigative Service. Several defense officials acknowledged the investigation was taking place, though the details were provided by one official.
According to the official, the initial allegations of possible violations were brought to the attention of the military by a reporter in mid-February.
Fifteen Iraqis, eight insurgents and a U.S. Marine were killed in the incident, which began when a roadside bomb detonated next to a joint Iraqi-U.S. squad patrolling Haditha. Immediately after the explosion, insurgents attacked the patrol with small arms, sparking the firefight.
The Marine killed was assigned to Regimental Combat Team 2 of the 2nd Marine Division, two other Marines were injured. Defense officials Thursday would not identify the unit or Marines involved in the investigation. While several Iraqis were part of the patrol, they are not involved in the investigation, the official said.
Gee...You think the fact that the filthy murdering terrorists don't wear uniforms might have something to do with this? This angers me!
US Marine - Korea
SEMPER FI MARINES
I will be watching this deal.
As a general rule, investigation our own troops during wartime is just plain sick.
Only one way out of an ambush...
It is probably good assumption that the 15 Iraqis had knowledge of the IED and that an attack on the joint patrol was about to take place. So, with that in mind, the 15 souls that said nothing were aiding the enemy of the joint patrol. Sorry, the dead Iraqis get no sympathy from me on this.
This is the same place last year where 20 Marines were killed.
I feel the same way.
Thanks for the information. This makes my blood boil.
I am sure glad I am not in the military today. Its bad enough being in a country with no beer and no broads, fighting to help people who should be helping themselves and risking death every day. But to have the arm chair generals trying to hang you for doing your duty the whole while just plain sucks.
You have to give it to the men who join today's military , they do their duty in spite of ambushes by the enemy and ambushes by the powers that be.
I had an uncle who was in france shortly after the malmedy massacre of GIs by the SS during WW2. Don't remember his unit, but he participated in liberating Dachau. He asked me how many SS his unit took prisoner following that incident -big fat 0- guess they didn't have JAG officers tailing their asses back then -- we need to end all this second guessing and there needs to be a ruthless coarsening of our will if we are going to win this war.
dismount if stopped and attack in force...otherwise group up, return fire and haul a@#
I'll defer judgement until I see the investigation, but I already know my inclinations.
As others have pointed out, the insurgents don't wear uniforms. Its pretty tough to tell, under those circumstances, who is hostile and who is your friend.
And you survive an ambush by laying down a lot of lead.
And, finally, when you're in the middle of an ambush, its a little unrealistic to expect that you would exercise cool calm collected precision in choosing your targets. If I'm ambushed, I'm shooting everyone in sight until the incoming stops. If I shoot the wrong person, I'll apologize later if I live that long. But the fault for the death of the innocent bystander lies with the ambusher, not the hapless ambushee trying to fight his way out.
Right on, this is one (a very big one)reason my son is bailing on the Corps this summer. He calls it "silly".
"a military official who requested anonymity because the investigation has not been announced yet"
Then why in the hell are they spilling their guts to a reporter? Reporters (for the most part) are scum and are the enemy.
Why they were ever allowed free access to the war zone is a mystery to me.
Its a lot worse than silly.
From what I've been able to gather, the terrorists are not too particular about where they've been laying IEDs, and coalition forces shooting their way out of a kill zone unfortunately, probably involves a number of innocent bystanders at times.
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