Posted on 05/27/2006 4:37:13 AM PDT by billorites
SAN DIEGO — Marines from Camp Pendleton wantonly killed unarmed Iraqi civilians, including women and children, and then tried to cover up the slayings in the insurgent stronghold of Haditha, military investigations have found.
Officials who have seen the findings of the investigations said the filing of criminal charges, including some murder counts, was expected, which would make the Nov. 19 incident the most serious case of alleged U.S. war crimes in Iraq.
An administrative inquiry overseen by Army Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell found that several infantry Marines fatally shot as many as 24 Iraqis and that other Marines either failed to stop them or filed misleading or blatantly false reports.
The report concludes that a dozen Marines acted improperly after a roadside bomb explosion killed a fellow Marine, Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas.
Looking for insurgents, the Marines entered several homes and began firing their weapons, according to the report.
In its initial statement to the media, the Marine Corps said the Iraqi civilians were killed either by an insurgent bomb or by crossfire between Marines and insurgents.
But after Time magazine obtained pictures showing dead women and children and quoted Iraqis who said the attack was unprovoked, the Marine Corps backtracked on its explanation and called for an investigation.
The Marines, many of whom were on their third deployment to Iraq, are part of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment of the 1st Marine Division.
The battalion commander and two company commanders were relieved of duty last month because, a spokesman said, Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski, commanding general of the division, had lost confidence in their leadership.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducted a separate investigation, is expected to call for criminal charges, including murder, negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and filing a false report.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
They hide behind women who have one year olds strapped to their chests. Possibly under a burqa.
Early on in the war, they used to run vehicles up to checkpoints with women and children passengers in it that would refuse to stop and acted like it was a car bomb, just so it would be fired on and they could use the deaths of those women and children as propaganda.
The odds that a group, not just one soldier with mental problems but a GROUP, would open fire on women and children for no reason is one in a billion.
Is Janet Reno doing time?
If wrongdoing needs addressed, the military will take care of it.
Meanwhile, let's see if the media give the same fair coverage to this as they did their beloved Janet Reno and Bill Clinton.
They don't.
My nephew in Iraq initially had everyone he knew sending clothes, treats, books/pencils to the children he encountered in Iraq. No more.....these children are being used to kill American soldiers.
Whose probe?
The terrorists hide behind civilians and civilians hide the terrorists. Some civilians are bound to be caught in the crossfire. How can our forces tell whether the Iraqi in a nightgown is a civilian or a terrorists?
No way. Shoot first and let Allah sort it out.
According to the Stone-age press, innocent until proven guilty only applies to the clintons!
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
I actually looked at it as a clever effort by the military to get some of the worst of this out on a Friday afternoon before a long weekend, when most people aren't paying attention to the news.
I suspect the actual report will not be as bad as leaked reports, not good, but not as bad as the MSM would like.
Marine officials briefed members of House Armed Services about 10 days ago. In turn Murtha and Duncan Hunter held news conferences. Hunter didn't say much and Murtha did.
I said it when I first heard about the Marine briefing that someone is trying to soften the blow and I still feel that way. I believe the Commandant is in Iraq right now talking to the troops.
The timing is being driven by the fact there are two investigations going on, and both will be released in the coming days.
I think people are forgetting the impact that My Lai had on the military and the country as a whole. And, it wasn't just the massacre, it was the cover-up. If this goes higher than the Bn CO who has already been relieved, this will have a big impact too.
But if these guys are found innocent now there will be universal screams of "cover up." This is not a crime by these 5 to 15 individuals, this is a "war crime" by the United States and we've already been tried and convicted.
Hopefully, the military is leaking this report so it won't explode on the scene like Abu Ghrabib. I think the military is smarter now.
The Pentagon released complete information (minus pictures) about Abu Ghrabe at the time, but four months later some raunchy pictures (some of which proved to be fakes) were "leaked" to the press and the "scandal" broke. It didn't matter that the people involved were already under arrest and facing court martial... we were "covering up" this "war crime."
I think the media loved the pictures. It was anti-American pornography. They could show it over and over again and pretend they were doing a news story. They are pretty pathetic.
From the report in the Washington Post story this morning, the details of this incident are going to be just about as bad as they can be.
There are eyewitnesses, and Iraqi fathers begging for the lives of their children before they are shot.
Everybody on FR for the last week has been discounting press reports and saying that there was crossfire.
From the eyewitnesses, there was no crossfire. There was an out-of-control commander who methodically led 11 other men into three houses, killing every single person in those houses, save one 13 year old girl, who fainted and was thought to be dead because she had her sister's blood on her face.
This is not going to be good.
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