Given the Muslim propensity for lying, it would not be surprising if these people were killed by insurgents with weapons stolen from our guys, then they staged the whole scene to make us look bad.
And the stinking media need to slapped down and slapped down hard.
Haditha, Marine Snipers, Ansar al-Sunnah, and the Greater War
The Marines of the 3/25 Marine Reserve battalion have taken in inordinate amount of casualties in the fighting in and around Haditha the past several days. Jack details the toll taken by the Marines of 3/25 and their families. Mr. Kelly correctly points out that while the greater casualties were taken in the IED strike on the amphibious assault vehicle, the loss of the sniper teams is of greater import from a military perspective; “The death of the six concerns me more than the destruction of the amtrak. They evidently were ambushed, and had no support nearby.”
There is little information available in open source news on how the Marines snipers were lost. According to the The Dallas Morning News, six Marines were lost, and were operating as 2 separate 3 man sniper teams - comprised a sniper, a spotter and security.
Former Marine [Gunnery and sniper Sgt. Jack] Coughlin said it appeared from their number that those ambushed were operating in two two-man sniper teams with one additional Marine each for security. Though they were reservists, there was no reason to think they might have lacked the training or equipment regular Marines get, he added. "They're going to be older, more mature and professionals," Mr. Coughlin said. Most reservists who are snipers "are police officers, and some of them are SWAT team members," he added.
Ansar al-Sunnah has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Marines, and claims 8 were killed and 1 captured. Ansar al-Sunnah also released a video purportedly of the assault and subsequent capture of a dead Marine. The video is of poor quality at points, but at the end, it shows what looks to be a dead soldier, US issued weapons, sniper rifles, M-16 with -203 launchers, dogtags, ammunition, a rucksack and other equipment. If the video is accurate the captured Marine died before he could be tortured.
According to the communiqué, Ansar al-Sunnah set an ambush for the Marines, using mortar fire at a Marine encampment at the Haditha Dam as bait to draw in US forces.
Your mujahideen brothers from the Uthman bin Affan Brigade—that is deployed throughout the town of Burwanah in the northern part of the city of Haditha—succeeded in setting a well-planned ambush targeting the American forces. The men grouped in the Al-Jazirah region, which is a vast, desert-like area that is commonly used by the mujahideen to launch their rockets and Hawn mortar shells targeting the American base at the Haditha dam. The courageous mujahideen lingered in that area for nine days waiting for the American forces to arrive there because they knew that following every massive rocket or mortar bombardment, the Americans come to the area to attack the mujahideen.
Indeed, the Marine forces fell into the ambush when two Humvees approached one of the hills in that area and nine soldiers dismounted from one of the vehicles in order to set an ambush for the mujahideen. However, they fell into the ambush of the mujahideen instead… immediately after leaving the Humvee, the mujahideen surrounded them with the intention of capturing them. However, the Marine soldiers opened fire and forced the mujahideen to respond with their own heavy fire backed up with Hawn mortar shells (this occurred before American aircraft arrived on the scene). Shortly thereafter, the mujahideen attacked the soldiers using heavy weapons and managed to approach near the soldiers, some of whom were dead already. As for those who were still dying, the mujahideen killed them. There was another soldier who was wounded, however not in his head, and he kept asking for the help of the mujahideen. That soldier was captured and we have him in our custody, praise be to Allah for his blessing. Before the helicopters arrived on the scene, the mujahideen immediately seized the wounded soldier and all the crusader weapons and returned safe to their bases, praise be to Allah for his blessing
Soon we will record a video of the crusader prisoner who was captured during this operation along with all the weapons that were seized.
They are many discrepancies to be cleared up. Nine Marines dismounting from a single Humvee is highly unlikely. The lack of air support, UAV observation and the support of the vehicle from which the infantry dismounted is curious. Where did the other Humvee move to, and did they return to engage? Is it possible the weapons displayed were purchased on the black market or via other sources?
Effective propaganda includes elements of truth. Based on the video, the Department of Defense’s reaction to it, and the known fact that Marines have been killed in combat, it is likely weapons were seized and a Marine was indeed captured. Ansar al-Sunnah has good motivations to claim it killed an entire squad of Marines, for both prestige and recruitment purposes. But the method of the attack is suspect until further information becomes available.
Al Qaeda (of which Ansar al-Sunnah is a part of) is pressing hard in Haditha to eject the US Marines sitting along their ratline. Wretchard points out that the violence in Haditha is very likely part of a greater, as of yet unnamed offensive stretching the length of the Euphrates River. I concur.
Ralph Peter posits that there is another reason Haditha is the focus of operations: to sap the will of the American public. The 3/25 Marines is a reserve unit reserve from Brook Park, Ohio, and is an ideal target to place political pressure on the Bush administration to withdraw prematurely from Iraq and leave the country to the predations of the terrorists.
We must honor these fallen Marines and all those who have sacrificed in Iraq by not giving into the will of terrorists. And we must remember the very real import Iraq plays in the War on Terror. Al Qaeda is committed to the battle, and we must remain committed as well.
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:B3sOt6_lRYMJ:billroggio.com/archives/2005/08/haditha_marine.php+usmc+stolen+weapons+haditha&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=5