Posted on 12/23/2006 2:02:52 PM PST by RedRover
When I heard the news that four U.S. Marines were charged for their alleged role in the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in the western town of Haditha in Nov. 2005, it marked the end of a personal odyssey.
In Jan. 2005, at Time's heavily fortified Baghdad bureau, I was shown a video by Iraqi human rights workers. In the first segment of the video, grieving Iraqi families were collecting bodies at a morgue. The second part showed the interior of two houses whose walls were spattered with blood and pitted with bullet holes. I asked who had carried out this savagery. I assumed it was part of the daily butchery that Sunni and Shiite extremists inflict on innocent Iraqis. The activist from the Hammurabi Human Rights groups replied: "It was done by you Americans. Marines."
At first, I didn't want to believe it. My father is an ex-Marine captain. At home I learned the Marine Corps Hymn before "Jingle Bells." In particular, I remembered the lyrics: "First to fight for right and freedom, And to keep our honor clean."? In Afghanistan, I went out on patrol in the desert hills looking for Taliban with Marines; they were a solid bunch of guys, as steely, brave and as irreverently funny as my Dad had led me to believe.
My investigation into the Haditha tragedy started with a simple Google search. I checked back to see what the U.S. Marines said had happened on Nov.19th. In a three-paragraph communique the Marines claimed that a roadside bomb on a convoy of Humvees had killed one Marine, wounded two others and had also killed 15 Iraqi civilians.
This didn't make sense. In the video, the corpses I had seen, unzipped from the U.S.-issue body bags, were wearing pajamas. Iraqis are conservative; they don't wear their nightgowns and pajamas outdoors. The corpses also had bullet wounds, not the kind of gaping tears caused by roadside bombs. Also, most of the damage filmed inside the houses looked like it was from bullets, not from shrapnel blown in from a streetside bomb. In other words, it seemed pretty clear that these Iraqis had been shot dead inside their houses, and that the Marines involved were lying.
It took TIME six weeks to piece together our investigation. The clincher was an interview with a girl who survived a killing spree by marines inside her home and then we turned our evidence over to the U.S. military command in Baghdad. The military launched a full inquiry, which lasted 13 months, splitting into two separate investigations: the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians, and the failure of Marine superior officers to truthfully investigate and report what had happened. In other words, some of the Marines tried to cover up the slayings.
During the months after the Haditha story broke, I became the target of bloggers, self-proclaimed patriots, for supposedly dragging the fine reputation of the Marines through the mud. Nothing about this story made me feel good save for one thing: until TIME's investigation, one of the Marines the squad leader, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich was in line to receive a medal for heroism for what he did that terrible day. According to press reports, the recommenda tion says that Wuterich, 26, displayed "calm and confident decisiveness that day and doubtlessly prevented further injury or death to fellow Marines and innocent civilians." Today, Wuterich faces 13 counts of unpremeditated murder. None of his victims were armed; most were the elderly, women and children.
I'm glad Wuterich didn't get his medal for "heroism." It would have been a grotesque travesty of justice, and against everything my father taught me was clean and honorable about the Marine Corps.
bump for later
"I'd like to see this Time "stooge" on patrol being shot at every day."
Like this?
"In Afghanistan, I went out on patrol in the desert hills looking for Taliban with Marines; they were a solid bunch of guys, as steely, brave and as irreverently funny as my Dad had led me to believe."
Mrs. McGirk's little Timmy is hoping like hell this his "personal odyssey" ends with a Pulitizer. That's the problem with Commie libs. It is always about them. No one else. Just them.
The guy spends three paragraphs telling how much he loves the Marines before he sticks in the knife. Class all the way.
And you believe him?
Anyone who reads 'Time', fills their
minds with sh*t.
Regardless of the outcome of this case, Tim McGirk is a POS and always will be. He has set himself up as the investigator, judge, jury and executioner when in reality he is only a hack journalist.
"And you believe him?"
Do I believe it when he says as a Time reporter, he went on marine patrols in Afghanistan, of course.
Being a journalist with Marines on patrol is not the same thing as being a Marine.
"Being a journalist with Marines on patrol is not the same thing as being a Marine"
God I hate these kind of threads, do you even read our posts?
Nov. 24, 2001, Thanksgiving With the Taliban
"TIME correspondent Tim McGirk shares bread, raisins, and thoughts about the afterlife with some Taliban fighters, and finds some common ground" By TIM MCGIRK
"With a few colleagues, I spent my Thanksgiving meal squatting on the floor of an Afghan passport office, talking to Taliban fighters about miracles and Judgement Day. . .[the radio reports that] Taliban have driven the Northern Alliance out of Maidanshahr, south of Kabul. They all beam and cheer; it reminds me a little of watching the annual Lions football game back home . . .I leave thinking that maybe this evening wasn't very different from the original Thanksgiving: people from two warring cultures sharing a meal together and realizing, briefly, that we're not so different after all."
I believe that this is the girl that we have heard nothing about for so long. The one that covered her ears before the bomb went off. How was she aware that the bomb was going to go off? Was the detonator in her house? Most likely she watched as the jihadi dialed the numbers on the tracfone bought by muslim "students" in the US.
No. Like this:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,185731,00.html
WHY do you show up on them?
If it was in TIME it is questionable. They always go for the left hand spin.
When I corrected a poster on a mistaken point, I didn't know that it was going to start down this road, but I am learning that there just seems to be some type of tribal emotionalism that emerges on some of these threads.
I remember when I was in the army during the Vietnam war and having discussions about My Lai when I was in the bars, I never could understand how so many people thought it was unpatriotic to look into atrocities.
I was embarrassed and ashamed that my army tried to hide that war crime. I think the marine corp is doing a good job on this investigation, and I have confidence that justice will be done in the trial.
Apparently, your hero went on patrols with the taliban.
I believe this girl is the survivor that was talked about.
Very interesting. Seems that Mr. McGirk did his "investigations" by e-mail; to wit,
After someone showed him a video made by, you guessed it, a villager, "McGirk and TIME’s Baghdad staff members interviewed more than a dozen Haditha locals by e-mail . . . including the mayor, the morgue doctor and a local lawyer who negotiated a settlement between the Marines and the families"
And who are they?
"The 'mayor' is the mayor of the Sunni insurgent stronghold where only 150 people out of 90,000 dared to vote in the Oct. 15 constitutional referendum. The mayor holds his job solely at the pleasure of the terrorists who are in total control of Haditha.
"The 'morgue doctor,' Dr. Walid Abdul-Khaleq al-Obeidi, claims to have been arrested, held prisoner for a week and brutally beaten by US troops. From his remarks in interviews it is clear he hates the US. And of course he too only holds his job as the head of the Haditha hospital at the sufferance of the Sunni 'insurgents.'
"The 'local lawyer,' Khaled Salem Rsayef, claims to have had several relatives murdered by the Marines. He also wants further compensation for himself and his clients. Which he will surely get if the Marines are found guilty."
FR FLASHBACK: Why Did "Rights Group" Delay Revealing Haditha "Massacre"? posted June 7, 2006
The Marines have to prosecute crimes when committed by Marines, no?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1646080/posts
You're pretty gullible.
He does seem to have made up his mind as to their guilt. I'll wait and see, myself.
His bias shows in that he doesn't report the flaky parts coming from some of the accusers.
I neglected to note that this Safa Younis related three different versions of how she survived, her veracity was in question.
You post very carefully, and so I find it.... interesting.... that you claim to have been in the military yet you don't even know how to spell "Corps" and don't realize that "Marine Corps" is always capitalized.
On CNN, she recalled that she was getting ready for school as the Marine Humvee approached.
For those interested, the interview was discussed on this thread...FR FLASHBACK: Haditha Child: I Knew of Bomb Plot to Kill Marines posted June 3, 2006.
Excellent post!
You captured the phenomenon perfectly. Well said.
Thanks! Though I'm a little slow. If I had known this piece of horsemurtha in TIME was coming, I would have found these old threads in advance and had them ready to post.
Like those convicted of "torturing" prisoners at Abu Ghraib, these marines will be found guilty of violating PC war rules.
This is pre-determined by the USMC and these guys will spend the rest of their lives in a military prison.
What a stupid, outrageous waste of brave, honest marines!!
What would be his reaction if his best friend standing beside him was shot by a thugs? Kiss and makeup?
"that you claim to have been in the military yet you don't even know how to spell "Corps" and don't realize that "Marine Corps" is always capitalized."
Highly suspicious, I hope I never have to take a test on navy and air force ranks, and specifics either, that might discredit the fact that I am an army veteran.
Is that relevant? He is not a professional, trained soldier.
Don't knock it. "Tribal emotionalism" is what gets me through life.
I agree that this article is irrelevant to the court martial. But it is relevant to the lives of the Marines and their families. A trial by media is its own special kind of hell.
"Don't knock it. "Tribal emotionalism" is what gets me through life"
It may be because it is Saturday night and I am getting ready to open a beer, or because I am walking over to a party in a couple of hours, but "Tribal Emotionalism" is starting to sound pretty good to me too.
I wasn't making a value statement; I just find these occurrences interesting and noteworthy.
FR FLASHBACK: How Haditha Came to Light posted June 4, 2006.
Yeah, I guess I am so fed up with the PC double standards against the USA, the rules of engagement for our military that frankly, war is hell and people get killed in horrid circumstances. Enough is enough. W had a chance to pardon two border patrol people. He should pardon all of these Marines. Period. Every time one of these incidents happens, the military is made to look like Vandals or Huns. Of course, there are war crimes. It just looks as if they are all American in the lefty media!
Are you speaking as an anthropologist? What kind of occurrences do you mean?
Notice his dad is an Ex-marine not a former Marine
Excellent! Tempers sometimes flare on these threads and I apologize if I misjudged your posts and was rude. There is more going on then is always evident. Have a good night.
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