Posted on 05/18/2006 4:49:00 PM PDT by kellynla
WASHINGTON — Several Marines accused of firing on unarmed Iraqi civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha last November are part of a criminal investigation, senior military commanders told FOX News on Thursday.
Three Marines have already been relieved of their command in response to the shootings of at least 15 civilians in the Anbar province town. A report is being crafted on the incident but is not likely to be finished for another week or two.
"This report is going to be ugly," one commander said, adding that it appears the Marines did not follow the rules of engagement.
The private comments from senior commanders and various Pentagon officials come after Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., mentioned the report in a news conference Wednesday to mark the six-month anniversary since he called for the redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq.
Senior commanders said Murtha is "coming from a position of knowledge".
In his briefing, Murtha, a strong opponent of the war, said the investigation is going to show that innocent civilians were killed "in cold blood."
"This is going to be a very bad thing for the United States," he said.
Murtha said at least 15 Iraqis, including women and children, were killed in a firefight following an insurgent attack on Marines that left one dead.
Military officials said in November that the Marines were responding to improvised explosive devices and small arms fire attacks on their convoy. A U.S. military statement described it as an ambush on a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol that left 15 civilians, eight insurgents and a U.S. Marine dead in the bombing and a subsequent firefight.
But several news accounts, including one by Time magazine, quoted witnesses as saying Marines responded to the IED by firing indiscriminately on civilians in a residential area.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Murtha - what a pig!!
Here is the link to the Times article
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1174649,00.html
Daschel, et all not deeply saddened.
I think these Iraqis were carrying WMD's, but when it was investigated, they couldn't find any. Some believe that they were smuggled into neighboring Syria or even Iran, but others say there were no weapons of mass destructions anywhere in the area that these civilians were. </sarcasm)
"Reportedly, photos were taken of the scene that do not support the Marines' original account of how the incident evolved. In all, 15 members of two families, including a 3-year-old girl, were killed, but not by the IED, locals say."
I hate this!
And obviously I hope this didn't happen.
The politicians never say a word about the Corps these days unless they are smearing us.
Semper Fi,
Kelly
Murtha is a disgrace to our country and to the Marine Corps. This investigation is ongoing and he has said the Marines in question are guilty.
ya might want to ping my fellow Marines
Rummy will be on the O'Reilly Factor @ 8ET and will address this incident.
"I hate this!
And obviously I hope this didn't happen.
The politicians never say a word about the Corps these days unless they are smearing us."
I've seen the photos...it happened, and if the photos don't make you cry, you're not human.
If you are not behind our troops, get in front of them
The media will abuse this story just like it did Abu Ghirab. This will be the new rallying cry of the pro-terrorist left. I guess it's easy when you're safe on Capitol Hill to dictate would should and shouldn't have happened in the heat of an intense firefight. Personally I think this should have been handled purely internally by the Marines. If I thought the media had the maturity and perspective to handle this story with balance and restraint, fine. But it's just going to be used by the Bush bashing media to AGAIN demand Rumsfeld's resignation and to put forth a bunch of innuendo that somehow Pentagon and administration policies encourage this kind of thing.
Since this story will be irresponsibly wielded by an agendized, force America to retreat US media like a child who just found their father's gun it should have been keep inside the Marine Corp. for them to deal with. It's only going to be used by the left and the MSM to sully all Marines. And demented demagogues like Murtha will use it to further his own cheap political ends, emboldening America's enemies in the process and feeding them a propaganda victory. All the more reason to keep this under wraps. What a shame.
This story appears to have legs.
What I'm betting happened, the marines and Iraqis were patrolling when gunfire erupted. A shot killed a marine then they all went nuts and started shooting everywhere.
It's possible the marines even went into some housing shooting everything in sight.
Hey, it's a very human thing. I imagine if the marines were patrolling an allegedly peaceful neighborhood when an attack happens that kills one of my comrades....jeez, this Haditha thing could really be a huge PR fiasco.
Already Chris Matthews used the word "My Lai" and smirking Murtha's out and about telling the story.
Hang on...if you thought Abu Ghrab was bad, this is going to be mess.
I've seen the photos. I'll wait for the report.
SECDEF PING on O'Rilley now!!!
Don't mean nothin'.
O'reilly uses mai lai - is that going to be the new word for the drinking game?
This is sickening. I pray that it is proven not to be true.
Yes, an incident happened. But unless you're prepared to back it up with evidence, please don't imply what actually occurred. The DoD has been very forthcoming throughout this campaign. I will await the report.
It is possible that this is what happened. However, this is not at all what Marines usually do under fire. We should all remember this and not let others use any exceptions to undermine the rule.
well, once the patrol was fired upon and attacked with an IED - that already changes the nature of the incident. not that all further actions are justified, but its not like they walked into a restaurant and just started shooting people.
Murtha says it happened and the Marines are guilty. The investigation is ongoing so I don't know how he can say that. Do you have more info?
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