Posted on 09/16/2007 4:13:36 AM PDT by RedRover
The ambush site
First images recorded by the Scan Eagle at Haditha: 0759 / November 19, 2005
Larger image below, click to enlarge...
At about 0715 on November 19, 2005 a four-vehicle convoy from 3rd Squad, 3rd Plt., Kilo Co., 3/1 was ambushed on Route Chestnut in Haditha, Iraq.
The pictures of the ambush site were taken approximately forty-five minutes later and show where the vehicles came to rest after an improvised explosive device destroyed the last vehicle in the convoy, killing LCpl Terrazas and wounding LCpls Guzman and Crossan.
The picture above shows the crater in the asphalt surfaced roadway where the IED had been buried and then covered over with fresh asphalt. The remainder of the convoy is out of the frame to the left (west) of the image.
____________________________________________________
Larger image below, click to enlarge...
Underlined in red, Vehicle 2 (upper right) and Vehicle 3, in the halted convoy looking west.
The destroyed HUMVEE is out of the frame at bottom of image. The wreckage came to rest about 40 meters (120 feet) behind (east) of Vehicle 3. The HUMVEEs remained where they had stopped after the IED blast until Wuterich’s squad cleared houses in the ambush area.
____________________________________________________
Larger image below, click to enlarge...
Another view of the destroyed HUMVEE.
From SSgt. Frank Wuterich's statement at his Article 32 hearing:
“Vehicle one turned left on Route Chestnut. Vehicle two turned left on Route Chestnut. My vehicle turned left on Route Chestnut. Vehicle four turned left on Route Chestnut. We were halfway home. Vehicle dispersion was normal- 30-40 m as per BN SOP. As 1 made the turn on Chestnut, I decided to cross the two lane road and drive on the left side of the median. This was a decision, I'm sure, that saved the lives of the Marines in my vehicle. Vehicle four was not so lucky. An explosion louder than anything I have ever heard rocked the entire convoy. I remained calm. 1 continued to drive west as my A driver started to scream, "The fourth vehicle got hit!" I made my way back to the other side of Chestnut and stopped my HMMWV. Clear skies suddenly turned brown, black and grey as shrapnel from a HMMWV came plummeting down in front of me from hundreds of feet in the air.”
____________________________________________________
Larger image below, click to enlarge...
The white car and bodies of dead Iraqi military-age males.
____________________________________________________
Larger image below, click to enlarge...
Direction of Marines’ rifle fire toward white car.
____________________________________________________
Above: Wuterich HUMVEE on right. White car is on left. Wuterich, Salinas and Dela Cruz shot to their left from about 20 meters (60 feet) away.
From SSgt. Frank Wuterich's statement at his Article 32 hearing:
"I remember encountering no vehicle traffic or foot traffic that morning leading up to the IED detonation. The white, four door sedan was parked on the side of the road within 100m of the IED attack, and within the security parameters of our convoy. I heard yelling mostly from the west where Cpl De La Cruz was shouting in broken Arabic and using expletives to the military aged males who occupied the white car. His weapon was at the ready, as it should have been. They were not complying and in fact were starting to run in the opposite direction to the south away from where Cpl Dela Cruz was approaching them. I took a knee in the road and fired. Engaging was the only choice. The threat had to be neutralized. Vehicle Borne IEDs were a serious threat and would have incapacitated our squad making us combat ineffective. I don't remember anyone else firing at the same time I was, although at a squad debrief later on I learned that Cpl Dela Cruz had engaged the men at the car at the same time as I did and Cpl Salinas reported that he had opened fire, as well. After I watched the military aged males fall to the ground, Cpl De La Cruz advanced on them and I saw him fire at the bodies as they lay before I turned to make my way to the casualties. That is when I started hearing small arms fire from the south."
____________________________________________________
This is part one of a three-part series. See below for links to parts two and three.
I’m feeling sea-sick looking at that picture. :-) Interesting way to look at the triggerer issue. Great idea. I agree the taxi would be in a more difficult position to trigger the IED. However, there’s always the possibility of “luck” and that they had four chances to hit a vehicle.
You mention the alleged “trigger house” (to the North) would be blocked by buildings on the north. What about if they were on the roof? Seems like a lot of these houses have flat roofs that are easily accessible.
Logically, the general location of house 1 makes the most sense. What can also be noticed in looking at these pictures, is house 1 would likely have known about the placement of the IED in the first place. The IED was placed in the road and paved over to match the rest of the road. I’m assuming this would have taken some time and made a bit of noiese to tear up the original pavement and redo the pavement. Even at night, it would be hard to believe it wasn’t noticed.
Remember GE ( GoogleEarth ) exaggerated the slope, it’s possible they could see, but the only real clear shot we can see is the 25m before.
Re. the taxi - true. As far as I know, nothing was found in it to indicate they had triggered anything.
“they could have found much better positions to park ( like up on that slope where they could see )” I’m not sure what you mean here. If they had anything to do with the triggering (even acting as spotters), I would agree their location would not be ideal. But setting of an IED is a crime of opportunity. Nobody knew when the Marines would be coming down this road since they tried to vary their routes. Just because someone isn’t in the prime position doesn’t mean they wouldn’t take that chance. The taxi occupants may have been insurgents readying to take part in later combat. They may have been additional spotters for the position of the convoy. They may merely have been in the wrong place at the wrong time and had nothing to do with anything.
It’s interesting that we’ve heard nothing from NCIS on their background. Where did their families live? What was their occupation? Did NCIS ever check to see if they were enrolled in the college that they were allegedly returning from that morning? Also, as far as I know, their families weren’t paid solatia payments (compensation for unintended casualties). There’s a black hole of information on the taxi occupants from both sides (at least available to the public).
From what I’ve read it looks like the Convoy passed the “Safe house” on the way to Haman’s group, spent some time there, then went back. This probably happened pretty regular, and there are only so many roads you can take.
A good bet would be someone from the safe house saw them go down, ( on a motorcycle perhaps ? ) and went up to position himself if the convoy took that route going back. Might have repeated it a dozen times waiting for the chance. They would have known exactly the best place to be. The taxi spot was just about the worst place to be.
The graphics couldn't be of worse quality, but if you enlarge them you can make out the text and possibily some of the landscape. Ultimately, I'd like to recreate what's here with images from Google Earth.
It looks as if this had been faxed, otherwise it would be of great interest - With work, I could match up a few features, but I don’t see anything that would make that worthwhile, since I can see nothing that would mark any locations.
There are a couple of interesting things in the captions, like bad guys from the Blue car heading to an island ... the only island around is right by the location I found for BlueCarMeets Taxi.jpg
I’ll send you some things, but I don’t see anything worth putting up.
Strange that the White Taxi is not mentioned at all.
The enemy Killed and wounded figures don’t seem to match at all either.
I’ll send you some things, but I don’t see anything image worth posting yet.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.