Marine at Haditha: 'I Can Still Smell the Blood'

ABC News ^ | May 29, 2006 | JONATHAN KARL

[Marli]

Only hours after Iraqi civilians were killed, a second team of Marines was sent in to take the victims' bodies to a local morgue.

Lance Corp. Ryan Briones was among the Marines sent in to recover the bodies, and he told the Los Angeles Times he is still haunted by what he saw, including a young girl who was shot in the head.

"[The victims] ranged from little babies to adult males and females," Briones told the newspaper. "I can still smell the blood."

Briones says he and another Marine were told to photograph the bodies. Military officials say those photos — which they say show people shot at close range in the head and chest — clearly contradict initial reports that the civilians were killed by a roadside bomb.

[Hand em their arse]

"...especially over Memorial weekend..."


that says it all for me... the disrespect the left shows toward the men and women who've sacrificed their lives for our freedoms is a disgrace... every one of them should hang their heads in shame, but then again that takes conscience... something they save for those who are trying to eliminate our freedoms...

God bless our military...

[JasonC]

Um, that'd be nice sure. But why did the unit report they were killed by the roadside bomb, if that is what happened? The false story from the unit's responsible officers, about things not easy to get wrong and despite contemporary hard evidence, suggests conscious deception.

If you delegate thousands of life and death decisions to 25 year olds, some of them will probably get some of them wrong. If and when that happens, they need to be disciplined, not whitewashed. It'd be great if you were right. But I'm not holding my breath.

[GunnyB]

I'm sick at the way the left is going to pounce on this, but there's nothing we can do about that.

How long are we going to put up with this nonsense? Nothing we can do about it? When our own media turns against our nation, we damned well better do something about it! These Marines are INNOCENT until PROVEN guilty. An article 32 investigation will serve as the basis for further legal action - if needed. That the liberals and their willing accomplices the US media, would use this as a political tool is beyond comprehension.

[JasonC]

Given the MSM and our enemies' ability to generate smoke, I don't agree with the general principle. But one fact in this case is pretty much impossible to evade. The unit initially reported the Iraqis were killed by the bomb, and that just clearly is not the case, and was known not to be the case very soon after the events. Unless that "initially reported" turns out to be "for about 5 minutes", that means somebody lied about it. And men generally don't lie to cover up what shining knights in armor they actually are, but the opposite. If that is what you mean by "too much smoke" then I agree.

[Dave S]

"I can assure you I know better than you."

So I guess the debate is over

Gee guys you start this whole thing by claiming that you know better what occured than the MSM, Rumsfeld, DOD, and the whole miltary chain of command and Sink and I say maybe you shouldnt stick your neck out so far or so deep in the sand, and you call us Murtha supporters. May be you should just keep your mouths shut until the trial is over too and then there wouldnt be any debate. I dont see anyone hear supporting Murtha.

[Dave S]

Is Murtha the GOVERNMENT or the people?

I didnt see any other post from you. Is Murtha the government, I sure hope not. I suppose you could say he is a minimal part of it (less than 1/535)but in any case I have nothing to do with Murtha so what is your point? Murtha cant initiate hearings and he cant supoena witnesses and anyone who did so before any trials were completed this Summer would be a fool. So again I ask what the hell does Murtha have to do with sqwat. Do you really think that Murtha reads these threads. You are preaching to the choir. Glad it makes you feel better.

[ez]

Susie Briones got a panicked call that day from her son, who said he did not see the shootings but was told by his supervisors to go into the houses and remove the bodies. He brought along a digital camera that his mother had given him before he left for Iraq.

So we learn of one lie...the photos were not taken by a "military photographer, but by a Lcpl with his own camera.

Nicholas Grey, a second lieutenant in the Marine Reserves based at Camp Pendleton, said the case will result in a loss of credibility for the Marines and increase Iraqi anger.

Apparently Mr. Grey believes the story as told. What do you think...the press tells these guys the killings were done by Marines and then prints their reactions in order to bolster the idea that the grunts did it?

[Dave S]

I will not render any judgment at all until the investigations are complete. To do otherwise would be naive.

Then why do you attack people who say this thing looks suspicious and I dont mean from a setup standpoint. No one here has rendered any final judgement. You guys seem to feel you are the only ones that are allowed to have an opinion. Look that word up.

[Dave S]

Do you share this confidence?

I do. Some around here will never believe, however, unless the get the verdict that they expect. They will just say that Rumsfeld hung them out to dry to be scapecoats for international pr.

[txrangerette]

Question: if it is that simple...that the incident report was deliberately falsified and so obviously, clearly wrong, and known to be wrong very quickly afterward, WHY would that have been done?? To what end?

You say a lie to cover up something wrong, indeed, horribly wrong. Did it cover up anything? Nope. Something so obviously wrong, so easily discerned, and so horrible, could not be covered up.

Somebody said, oh, it took THREE WHOLE MONTHS before it began to be looked at. They've GOT to be kidding. Three months is not long; if that is all a cover up succeeds in doing, it is useless. And anyone with even half a brain would know that. Actually, even a tiny fraction of a brain... How do you get to be a Marine if you are THAT DUMB?

There is something, something that we aren't getting yet in this story. I don't know how it will shake out, but right now it raises far more questions than it answers, no matter which version is assumed.

[Peach]

The Marine who wrote this letter to the Editor of the Washington Post was charged with premeditated murder and other war crimes in Iraq.

Autopsy evidence showed he did not do what he was charged with doing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/27/AR2006052700846.html

[txrangerette]

Yes, I followed your excellent posts on that...a good reminder for us all.

Certain FReepers are pounding away on the "falsified after-action report". Why was the initial report of what happened to these Iraqis (that they were blown up by an IED or caught in a crossfire, etc... I haven't read the report but anyway...) so blatantly false, unless it was meant as a coverup to a horrific deed by the Marines? This was the hook Jason C was using. (I could name several others who've harped on it but I'd have to ping them and don't care to).

My post was a reply to him strictly on this point. Even if true, nothing I've heard yet makes this story make sense to me.

[Peach]

And why would Marines carry bodies in their arms from the buildings? They would get body bag and stretchers.

[txrangerette]

I read part of an account...guess it was from the Time story which somebody posted on this thread...which did mention body bags, but there was some claim about the little girl's body that there was a problem with it before getting it into the bag. Before I read that, it had seemed that the story was they were removing all the bodies by carrying them without body bags. If what I read was an actual excerpt from the story, that was not what the story said.

HOWEVER...

There still are so many problems with this that you and I could pick it apart completely to pieces in a few minutes.

Maybe something bad went down there by the Marines. I don't know. But I don't trust the Media AT ALL. I most certainly don't trust Congress. I don't even trust the military chain to get it right from the get go. That's why we have TRIALS, Peach (as you've so clearly pointed out)!

[Peach]

If in the heat of the moment, in one of the most dangerous sections of Iraq, a horrible mistake was made, we will be sick about it.

In this country, we see civilian murderers given the death sentence and the leftists defend the murderers. But let the same thing occur by someone in the military, and the media is all too willing to lock up the men who may have made a mistake and over-reacted and throw away the key.

This from the Marine charged with premeditated murder and other war crimes in Iraq (he was later found innocent):

Members of the U.S. military serving in Iraq need more than Mr. Murtha's pseudo-sympathy. They need leaders to stand with them even in the hardest of times. Let the courts decide if these Marines are guilty. They haven't even been charged with a crime yet, so it is premature to presume their guilt -- unless that presumption is tied to a political motive.

ILARIO PANTANO

Jacksonville, N.C.

The writer served as a Marine enlisted man in the Persian Gulf War and most recently as a platoon commander in Iraq.

[jazusamo]

So again I ask what the hell does Murtha have to do with sqwat. Do you really think that Murtha reads these threads. You are preaching to the choir. Glad it makes you feel better.

If you don't realize by now what Murtha has to do with this, no one on any of these threads are going to be able to get it through to you now.

I'm sure Murtha doesn't read these threads but hundreds do and included are active military. I for one feel it's the honorable thing to support our military and at the very least give them the presumption of innocence in any case. They are risking their lives on a daily basis for all of us and I believe every person in America owes them that.

I'm glad it makes me feel better too to afford them the benefit of the doubt. Does it make you feel better to side with the likes of Murtha?

[brazzaville]

Good morning.
"Well if you can't grasp where the information comes from, then I can't help you."

If the Marine Times is like the Army Times, the article is probably not written by the military and is as likely to publish anti Marine articles as not. The name is misleading. It sort of reminds me of Stalin and the World Council Of Churches.

Michael Frazier

[edsheppa]

No, that probably won't happen, but there's a difference nonetheless which is this - if something like that were to happen, you'd just shrug it off as a good lesson for the wogs.

[LanaTurnerOverdrive]

This was an incident and it was not a war crime whatsover.

I'm glad to see that you have completed your investigation for the military. Clearly we can all now put this matter behind us.

[jveritas]

I think you misunderstood my post. I said "IF" big "IF" this was true and few Marines killed civilians it must not be portrayed as a war crime.