Posted on 09/16/2007 4:13:45 AM PDT by RedRover
They have never before been seen by the public.
The images are presented in chronological order using the time/date stamps created by the Scan Eye recording system as the video was being made.
The video we obtained was prepared for the upcoming Article 32 hearing of Captain Lucas McConnell, formerly the company commander of Kilo Co., 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines at Haditha in 2005. McConnell was relieved of command in April, 2006 for alleged dereliction of duty following allegations of murder by members of his infantry company during the day-long battle in Haditha that left 24 Iraqis and one Marine dead, and 11 Marines wounded.
This presentation is intended to refute allegations made in Time magazine and other media outlets which claimed the Marines massacred the Iraqi civilians in a fit of rage following the death of LCpl Miguel “T.J.” Terrazas, one of Kilo Company’s Marines. The cable television network CNN also obtained a copy of this video presentation but for reason best known to its producers elected to disregard most of the exculpatory images contained in it.
[NOTE: Video images with enhancement boxes were altered by selecting the area and brightening it with a Photoshop tool for clarity.
The rectangular white box on each image is the camera target area, designated by the Scan Eagle operator.]
____________________________________________________
Nat Helms is a Contributing Editor to Defend Our Marines. He is a Vietnam vet, journalist, combat reporter, and, most recently, author of My Men Are My Heroes: The Brad Kasal Story (Meredith Books, 2007).
Part one: The ambush site: 0759
Part two: Insurgents regroup: 0814 - 0910
Part three: The last battle: 0913 – 1544
Thanks to Nat Helms as well. The pics are so obvious as to what happened.
This is a “told you so” to those who didn’t believe the Haditha Marines.
Great shots of the insurgents regrouping. Is there any sense from this video series how far south the house that the Scan Eagle focussed on as the trigger house was from houses 1 and 2? Houses 1 and 2 seemed like they were directly south of the IED site. House 1 seemed 200 ft south, house 2, about 350 feet south. Does the video give any clear shots of these two houses?
The Scan Eagle operator wasn't interested in houses 1 and 2 because they had already been cleared. So it's difficult to tell if houses 1 and 2 were on the video. From the air, every house in Haditha pretty much looks the same.
We might be able to do a match-up via Google Earth. I think cobra found the coordinates of the ambush site. The Washington Post also posted an aerial view of the ambush site which could be used for matching purposes.
If anyone wants to pitch in, we can use all the help we can get.
The suspected trigger house was 250 meters south of the ambush site (meaning where the IED exploded) and houses 1 and 2 were also south of the ambush site.
That might be wrong and the Taxi guys were possibly the lookouts.
Here is a guess of the positions, remember that all the action took place within a mile radius.
Great stuff. Thank you.
At the moment, Nat's off spearing catfish in the Ozarks, but when he's back, we might be able to refine the distances and positions around the ambush site.
As said elsewhere, I'm also looking forward to getting all the rest of the surveillance material. What's here is just a fraction of the total recorded on that day.
You’re very welcome, ant. It’s amazing how far dedicated volunteerism can take you. And it’s pitiful that the media, (with all its resources, staff, budget) won’t budge outside its own narrow agenda.
They are the enemy within.
This is a GREAT opportunity for media bloggers to show EXACTLY what CNN suppressed, and whose side they are on. There was not a single identifiable insurgent in the segments they broadcast.
CNN showed the courier on the motorcycle, and the blue car, without any context.
And CNN showed the bombs hitting the safe house without showing the insurgents throwing grenades off the roof.
But leaving out so much, CNN left the impression that we still couldn’t be sure what had happened.
I agree. Let’s put the MSM in its death throes as well. They are as culpable as anyone for this fiasco.
That is a good guess. Are you saying the trigger house that was suspected by the Marines and investigated at the time is where the two lines intersect?
The bottom of the V is 250 meters from where the IED was, this is my best guess of which house they suspected the Insurgents used to trigger the blast.
Gotcha, usmcobra. I got confused with the grey box on the side. Red, I have never read if the Marines determined where the IED was triggered from. Do you know?
Back in business!
Whoo Hoo! Thanks, freema, and thanks to the Mod who cleared it up.
The trigger house, as far as I know, is still undetermined. Actually, it is still undetermined if there even WAS a trigger house (as opposed to some guys sitting in a car, for instance).
We do know that Dela Cruz took prisoners in a house and the IED might have been set off from there. Nothing at all has been written about Dela Cruz’s actions (aside from the what car) or what, if anything, was learned from the detainees.
Or it’s possible that the four Iraqis who tried to shoot LCpl Sharratt and SSgt Wuterich were the triggermen.
This is just one of the questions I wish a Corps briefing on Haditha would address.
Actually, Nat did the heavy lifting. My job is to hang around on Free Republic with all the hot babes.
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