Posted on 06/01/2006 6:13:43 AM PDT by bobsunshine
As more disturbing facts come out surrounding the killings of up to two dozen civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha last November, KING 5 talked with a local Marine who was a member of the squad now under investigation.
The incident began November 19 when the Humvee that North Bend, Wash. native Lance Cpl. James Crossan was riding in was blown up by a roadside bomb.
He was seriously injured and one of his good buddies died. Lance Cpl. Miquel Terrazas, TJ, was killed by the blast.
"He was my point man and he was pretty much the guy that I went to if I needed anything," Crossan says now.
Terrazas was so admired that Crossan tattooed his name on his leg as he recuperated from the broken back, shattered bones, and perforated eardrums he suffered in the blast.
Now some, including Crossan, believe the anger his colleagues felt over that attack may have driven them to kill innocent civilians.
I know in my heart if I was there I possibly could've stopped what happened," Crossan said.
But the military is now investigating whether other members of the close-knit unit expressed their grief in a more immediate and lethal manner.
Several are now under investigation for the murder of 24 civilians immediately after the blast, several of them women and children, some of them in their beds.
Crossan said he doesn’t' think much about those who were killed.
"Probably half of them were bad guys and we just never knew, so it really doesn't cross my mind."
(Excerpt) Read more at king5.com ...
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Crossan: We used to go out on patrols and have the little kids count the patrols and all that stuff and we couldn’t really do anything except grab them and throw them inside their houses…
KING 5 TV interviewer: Why would you do that? Because you were afraid that the kids were scouting for the insurgents or you thought they were in danger?
Crossan: There are little kids that scout for ‘em. ‘Cuz later that day we, along the main road there, we cut behind a few buildings and the next patrol that went out got hit. And that little kid that was just there and there was people all around. But the day that I got hit they were planning a major attack and it got spoiled, so, and there was like 20 some people, insurgents, that were gonna attack the cop that day.
Then we got hit by an IED and the cops sent out a squad of Marines, and the insurgents just started attacking then, just right off the bat and we just foiled it. We were just driving back from the cop. I remember taking a left and then a right, and then remember waking up from the ground for a split second. And then waking up in the helicopter and then finally knew what happened in the hospital.
KING 5: So after you were injured, also tell me, you lost one of your guys. What can you tell me about him?
Crossan: We lost Lance Col. Miguel Terrazas. He was a good guy. He was from El Paso, Texas. And he was my point man. He was pretty much the guy I went to if I needed anything.
KING 5: Was he driving the Humvee at the time?
Crossan: Yes he was.
KING 5. And so you were sitting next to me?
Crossan: Yes, I was in the passenger side. I know in my heart if I was there, I possibly could have stopped what happened, so. ‘Cuz I know that the other team leaders and even staff sergeants…they both, they all kinda, listened to me and I just gave ‘em ideas and all that stuff. Things just went smoother. But I just don’t know.
KING 5: How do you feel about the villagers involved? Um, you know, do you have emotion as you think about them or not really?
Crossan: No. Because half of them were bad guys. You just never know, so. It really didn’t cross my mind.
KING 5: There are reports of, you know, little children being killed and women being killed.
Crossan: Little kids I can see being bad and even some of the women, but just over there, you just can’t tell who the bad guy was...
ping
Article in the El Paso Times this morning. Terrazas' family is standing behind the Marines.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_3885494
I'd have done the same thing.
Exactly!
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things.
--John Stewart Mill
Martin Terrazas, the father of the slain Marine, has said that he talked in early May with some of his son's Marine friends at Camp Pendleton, Calif. The Marines told him they were ordered not to discuss the case.
"We don't want to say anything bad about the inquiry," Martin Terrazas said. "I talked to his friends at Camp Pendleton. Their eyes water and they say they were doing their job."
God bless the Terrazas family and our Marines.
Shall we just shoot half the population of Iraq out of hand on the assumption that they are probably bad guys? If that's the general consensus of the troops over there then what the hell are we supposed to be accomplishing? I'm sorry but if the Marine investigation shows that these guys shot unarmed civilians who posed no threat to them then the entire military legal system needs to land on them like a ton of bricks. And if convicted then at the very least they need to spend the rest of their days at Leavenworth. If true this wasn't an accident, it wasn't an unfortunate incident like the pregnant lady in the car, this was deliberate murder.
Isn't it interesting how "our" media is so upset over civilians being killed during war but yet when it came down to USA civilians, they took the side of the Government - WACO.
Thanks for Posting this Bob.
PING to Delacoert
Bad things happen during a war and this is one of them. How about all those innocent civilians killed when we carpet bombed in Germany? Should we have prosecuted the people responsible for doing the bombing?
The MSM is looking for another Me Lai to hang their hat on to discredit the WHOLE war. Just like the communist playbook of the late 60's and early 70's.
Yes, it is!
Don't think he said he was a witness, just a passenger in the Humvee. He talks about "you don't really know your enemy" and "sometimes the insurgents use kids for their scouts, etc. "
Agree, need to know all the facts, but some of these "facts" never get reported by the MSM. In all wars, the enemy has used kids to carry bombs, kill our soldiers, spy on our troop movements. Sometimes it becomes difficult to determine the good from the bad.
And if the ENEMEDIA can not find such an act, they damn sure will create one. As a teen I still remember tears streaming down my face every time I heard the name "Lt. Calley"
Great observation.
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