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Pilotless plane took video of town where Iraqis died (Important)
Mercury News/WaPost ^ | 5/29/06 | Tom Ricks

Posted on 05/30/2006 10:13:00 AM PDT by pissant

WASHINGTON - Military investigators piecing together what happened in the Iraqi town of Al-Hadithah on Nov. 19, 2005 -- when Marines allegedly killed two dozen civilians -- have access to video shot by a pilotless aircraft that was circling overhead for at least part of that day, military defense attorneys familiar with the case said in interviews.

It is unclear whether the video obtained from that day's flight captured the violence, said the attorneys, who have consulted with Marines who were there. One attorney said investigators have reviewed surveillance footage taken hours after the shootings, which showed the Marines returning to the town to remove the bodies of the Iraqis.

Monday, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said charges will be issued if the evidence merits it. For now, ``it would be premature for me to judge'' the outcome of the two U.S. military investigations, Pace said on CBS's ``The Early Show.''

(snip...Please Read Carefully below)

(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: haditha; interesting; iraq; murtha; murthawatch; uav
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To: Coop

That was some entertaining intercourse you guys had there. I needed a laugh.

This "cold blooded murder" charge is inconceivable to me. I can't even come close to believing it. If it proves false, Murtha should be recalled.

Seems to me Coop is doing the honorable thing here by strongly defending our Marines. I hope he is vidicated.


241 posted on 05/30/2006 6:34:35 PM PDT by stevestras
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To: pissant
"Murtha's gross accusations of "cold blooded" murder has more than fueled the story to above the fold news across the globe. Until then it was a quiet investigation, by MSM standards."

Time broke the story. The story's got legs of it's own w/o Murtha. Murtha's irrelevant. Until Jan '06 the Marines insisted these families were killed by the roadside bomb. Until Time presented the results of their own investigation to to Colonel Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, the Marines claimed the families were killed by a roadside bomb. That resulted in a ahort probe which resulted in a change of stories by the Marines. They revised the story to- the Marines came under attack from the direction of the houses. It was determined that the families were actually killed by gunfire and were collateral damage. The Marines paid some wrongful death and injury money for all in the first 2 houses.

No firearms were found in the houses and pics of the outside show no evidence of a firefight. The firefight was onesided and occured inside both houses, not outside. That's a fact. The Marines after changing their story once already, claimed that after the first house was raided, they were placed under attack from the 2nd house. No firearms were found in the 2nd house. A man and a woman carrying a baby ran from the 2nd house. The man was shot in the back. The woman with the baby got away. Why would an unarmed man and a woman carrying a baby run from a house, leaving the other kids in there, unless they were terrified?

The real firefight occured 2 blks away, later in the day and Harriers were involved.

"This is not just a story about what happened, its a story about jumping the gun, innocence until proven guilty, quagmires, and the whole enchilada in Iraq"

The Marines would still be claiming they died in the explosion if Time hadn't looked into this. There'd also be no NCIS investigation either if they didn't push for answers after the first probe.

"Sounds to me the jihadis are overplaying their hand. "

Looks to me like some Marines falsified their field reports!

Here's the first Time article from 3/19/06. Here's the second, 5/28/06.

242 posted on 05/30/2006 6:36:56 PM PDT by spunkets
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To: pissant
If the video from the UAV proves that the US Marines acted in appropriately and in self defense, then people like John Murtha and others like him should leave their now held positions voluntarily or be charged with giving aid to the enemies of the United States.
243 posted on 05/30/2006 6:37:07 PM PDT by NY Attitude (You are responsible for your safety until the arrival of Law Enforcement Officers!)
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To: spunkets

And you believe Time is fully truthful? When did this phenom start?


244 posted on 05/30/2006 6:52:19 PM PDT by pissant
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To: NY Attitude

Agreed


245 posted on 05/30/2006 6:53:12 PM PDT by pissant
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To: pissant

I watched the video interview of her on ABC news.
God forgive me if I'm wrong, but as the mom of 2 girls, my initial impression was that this girl was not telling the truth.


246 posted on 05/30/2006 6:54:06 PM PDT by Velveeta
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To: Velveeta

Which version did she tell ABC?


247 posted on 05/30/2006 6:55:08 PM PDT by pissant
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To: sono
If Murtha got this one wrong, I say Sean Hannity should personally hand Murtha a Ruths Chris gift certificate.

Yeah, and at the same time maybe he can hand him the silk-lined box with his balls in it too.

248 posted on 05/30/2006 6:56:23 PM PDT by Fruitbat
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To: pissant
Here's an interesting thing I found, reported by CBS News' Kimberly Dozier in Match of 2005. In this story, she reports that Iraqi children in Sadr City play, not with toy guns, but "they fire real guns, loaded with blanks." They report on kids running around cities in Iraq, carrying - and firing - real guns, but still refuse to entertain the possibility that our Marines may have reacted that day to similarly armed children (and perhaps women and other "civilians").

The MSM insurgency (CBS News heading the pack) are wringing their hands, not with concern but with glee, that they may have a modern-day My Lai to report.

Dozier's reporting history at CBS, from what I have been able to read (via Google) today is typical CBS negative reporting. Sad that she was injured; but sadder that she reports the way she does/did.

249 posted on 05/30/2006 6:58:22 PM PDT by tgslTakoma
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To: tgslTakoma

CBS has been a cut above in the false reporting dept. for quite some time. And they have very stiff competition.


250 posted on 05/30/2006 7:03:46 PM PDT by pissant
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To: Coop
I'm sticking with 12. See, folks older than 12 probably understand the difference between commenting on a board about a story addressed in every national news outlet, the subject of multiple criminal investigations and multiple congressional briefings and generally of concern to the nation as a whole - on one hand - and just completely making up some juvenile bulls@#t about someone on the other hand.

Kids 12 and under - well, I can see how they might think those are exactly the same thing, and feel somehow righteously vindicated by doing the latter in an effort to point up flaws in the former.

So, yeah, I'm sticking with 12.

251 posted on 05/30/2006 7:07:38 PM PDT by lugsoul (Livin' in fear is just another way of dying before your time. - Mike Cooley)
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To: spunkets

No one wants your facts here, Louie.


252 posted on 05/30/2006 7:08:53 PM PDT by lugsoul (Livin' in fear is just another way of dying before your time. - Mike Cooley)
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To: RobRoy

Yep, the Japs prefered to behead captives, kill their own and hari kari themselves- just like the Jihadi.


253 posted on 05/30/2006 7:10:34 PM PDT by Treader (Human convenience is always on the edge of a breakthrough, or a sellout)
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To: spunkets

Time didn't "break" the story, the story was fed to Time via a human rights group and by journalism student named Taher Thabet.


254 posted on 05/30/2006 7:12:12 PM PDT by Velveeta
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To: spunkets
Looks to me like some Marines falsified their field reports!

You ought to know better than to post anything here that conflicts with the speculation. Actual information from a news source is not relevant.

255 posted on 05/30/2006 7:14:33 PM PDT by sinkspur ( Don Cheech. Vito Corleone would like to meet you......Vito Corleone.....)
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To: Velveeta
Time didn't "break" the story, the story was fed to Time via a human rights group and by journalism student named Taher Thabet.

Naval investigators didn't begin to look at the incident until TIME broke the story.

256 posted on 05/30/2006 7:16:02 PM PDT by sinkspur ( Don Cheech. Vito Corleone would like to meet you......Vito Corleone.....)
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To: Velveeta

Time broke the story. Time quized the Marines, got the answers they did and published them. The human rights group did no more than to alert them.


257 posted on 05/30/2006 7:17:07 PM PDT by spunkets
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To: lugsoul
No one wants your facts here, Louie.

An obscure Trading Places reference, nice touch.

258 posted on 05/30/2006 7:17:41 PM PDT by dfwgator (Florida Gators - 2006 NCAA Men's Basketball Champions)
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To: pissant

For the ABC video, the version is void of an exact description...just that she hid.
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/IraqCoverage/story?id=2015052&page=1&WNT=true

The marines "knocked on the door".

Doesn't make sense.


259 posted on 05/30/2006 7:18:50 PM PDT by Velveeta
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To: pissant
I am sure this incident is going to serve well with Military recruiters. Why would someone want to server a country where that government turn on its own military. Political correctness has gone too far.
260 posted on 05/30/2006 7:18:56 PM PDT by Sprite518
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