Posted on 05/29/2006 8:36:31 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
PHOTOGRAPHS taken by US military intelligence have provided crucial evidence that up to 24 Iraqis were massacred by marines in the insurgent stronghold of Haditha.
One photograph shows an Iraqi mother and young child, kneeling on the floor as if in prayer. They have both been shot dead at close range.
The pictures also show other Iraqi victims, shot execution-style in the head and chest in their ownhomes.
A US government official said the marines involved had "suffered a total breakdown in morality and leadership".
The killings are emerging as the worst known US atrocity of the Iraq war.
At least seven women and three children were among those killed in the massacre.
Witness accounts obtained by The Sunday Times suggest the number of children killed may be as high as six.
"This one is ugly," a US military official said.
In Britain, the chief of the defence staff, Air Chief Marshal Jock Stirrup, said at the weekend the "appalling" reports of the massacre could undermine British support for the war.
"This sort of accusation does make that harder to achieve," Air Chief Marshal said.
The pictures of the dead, which are being closely guarded by the US military criminal investigation service, were taken by a military photographer who is believed to have arrived on the scene moments after the shootings.
Many US forces are accompanied by photographers to gather intelligence and to shield soldiers from accusations of torture, intimidation and violence.
But the evidence in this case points to a murder rampage by the US marines.
The stain on the US military could prove harder to erase than the photographs of sadistic abuse and torture by US guards at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.
Comparisons are being made to the My Lai massacre in Vietnam in 1968, in which US troops slaughtered 500 villagers.
Up to a dozen marines may face criminal charges -- including murder, which carries the death penalty -- dereliction of duty and filing false reports.
Three marine commanders were suspended last month.
With a political storm brewing, the top US marine, General Michael Hagee, flew to Baghdad on Friday to tell his troops they must kill "only when justified".
The naval inquiry is focusing on the actions of a sergeant who may have been the leader of a four-man fire team.
Miguel Terrazas, 20, a lance-corporal from El Paso, Texas, was travelling in a convoy of four Humvees in Haditha just after 7am on November 19 last year when a roadside bomb struck his vehicle, killing him and wounding two others.
The events that followed are the subject of two military inquiries due to report soon: one into the facts of the case, the other into a cover-up.
One witness, Aws Fahmi, heard his neighbour, Yunis Salim Khafif, plead for his life in English, shouting: "I am a friend, I am good."
"But they killed him, his wife and daughters," Fahmi said.
Haditha, about 225km northwest of Baghdad, has long been considered a rebel stronghold. It is among a string of Euphrates Valley towns used by insurgents and foreign fighters to infiltrate from Syria to reach Baghdad and the Sunni heartland.
The Sunday Times, AP
1. A caller was talking about the media and mentioned Brian Ross and the exploding truck story.
2. Limbaugh went along with it but cautioned that he would want to confirm it first. And at first, it was sourced via Wikipedia, and Limbaugh went along with the caller's statement, based on that initial sourcing.
3. Later in the show after more research was done, Limbaugh said that Ross was NOT involved in this story.
But...but...I thought the original meme was that the Marines were in a rage over the death of their buddy in a roadside bomb attack, that they attacked the innocent Iraqis in an orgy of violence. They were so "stressed" by the awful demands made on them by the White House, that they "snapped" and went nuts and killed all those innocents.
Right?
Now we have people being killed "execution style." Execution style isn't a crime of passion.
So what is it?
>>Odd, a kneeling person if shot would still fall over.<<
When Muslims kneel to pray they already bend their heads down to the ground.
Thanks for the ping!
If true this is horrible. I have tremendous respect for all branches of the Armed Forces (grandfather/Army Air Corps, father/Marine, brother/Army), but if true this is madness.
Unfortunately, Al Qaeda and the insurgents don't have tribunals and military courts. Cutting the heads off innocents and raping "infidels" earns these monsters accomodations and respect. We have a system (however flawed) to deal with atrocities such as these. They do not, and will not.
If you could explain to me how that post translates to a defense of the ACLU, please do so.
Otherwise, I'll assume that you admit that your posts are inaccurate at best.
It appears that, yes a massacre did occur, but where is the evidence that the Marines did it?
Is it just possible that perhaps the terrorists did it, in the hopes of pinning it on the Marines, and terrifying the locals into testifying that the Marines did it?
I'll wait for more information to come out. And I won't take the MSM at their word.
Its sickening watching the left gloat over this, hoping against hope that Americans can be blamed for a heinous crime.
But its also distributing to see some people on the right denying anything bad happened and blaming a media conspiracy.
I find each reaction appalling. Both are looking to score political points, no matter what.
I very much agree with you.
They will use it for everything it's worth. It's absolutely disgusting. All of it.
That is correct. Not sure how that could happen.
Irregardless of where their head is when shot, they will flop around like a chicken with it's head chopped off. Ever kill a chicken?
Because you avoided any discussion of the merits of either of our posts, I'll assume that you have no defense to make.
Thanks.
>>Irregardless of where their head is when shot, they will flop around like a chicken with it's head chopped off. Ever kill a chicken?<<
You know, I don't think I want to continue with this analogy given the serious of the situation.
"I fully understand that feeling. But do you know, or have you really reflected on, what it is that these guys go through that is so destructive of their ability to judge and control their actions?
Cause living as a marine in Iraq, having IED's go off right in your face, watching your best friends die, torn to pieces, really messes up your head."
Well said! I've never served in the military, but it doesn't take the brains of a rocket scientist for me to understand what must go through the minds of our soldiers while patrolling in an urban war zone, not knowing friend from foe. From the beginning of this war, we should have cleared out the Islamofacist strongholds (such as Fallujah and Haditha) and leveled them all! Destroying the enemy and keeping them on the defensive is the only way to win this war, or any war.
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