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A reporter's shock at the Haditha allegation (Was embedded with Marines - different perspective)
CNN ^ | Tuesday, May 30, 2006; Posted: 1:57 p.m | Arwa Damon

Posted on 05/30/2006 12:49:13 PM PDT by gondramB

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- It actually took me a while to put all the pieces together -- that I know these guys, the U.S. Marines at the heart of the alleged massacre of Iraqi civilians in Haditha.

I don't know why it didn't register with me until now. It was only after scrolling through the tapes that we shot in Haditha last fall, and I found footage of some of the officers that had been relieved of their command, that it hit me.

I know the Marines that were operating in western al Anbar, from Husayba all the way to Haditha. I went on countless operations in 2005 up and down the Euphrates River Valley. I was pinned on rooftops with them in Ubeydi for hours taking incoming fire, and I've seen them not fire a shot back because they did not have positive identification on a target.

I saw their horror when they thought that they finally had identified their target, fired a tank round that went through a wall and into a house filled with civilians. They then rushed to help the wounded -- remarkably no one was killed.

I was with them in Husayba as they went house to house in an area where insurgents would booby-trap doors, or lie in wait behind closed doors with an AK-47....

How they didn't fire at shadows, not knowing what was waiting in each house, I don't know. But they didn't.

And I was with them in Haditha, a month before the alleged killings last November of some 24 Iraqi civilians.

I'm told that investigators now strongly suspect a rampage by a small number of Marines who snapped after one of their own was killed by a roadside bomb.

Haditha was full of IEDs

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


TOPICS: Front Page News
KEYWORDS: arwadamon; damon; haditha; husayba; ied; ieds; iraq; oif; ubeydi; wot
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To: gondramB
We need to cordon and search the entire town and arrest anyone who might have a damned thing to do with the "insurgency."

I hope that is what we are planning on doing.

61 posted on 05/30/2006 2:42:20 PM PDT by Reactionary (The Barking of the Native Moonbat is the Sound of Moral Nitwittery)
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To: capt. norm

Urrrrrrp!


62 posted on 05/30/2006 2:43:22 PM PDT by livius
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To: pissant

"This guy can kiss his job with CNN goodbye."

Yep.

Either that or subject himself to some serious rubber room time wearing the official CNN electric hat to shock him into his senses!


63 posted on 05/30/2006 2:47:16 PM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: gondramB
story.damon.jpg
CNN's Arwa Damon

64 posted on 05/30/2006 2:47:33 PM PDT by ChadGore (VISUALIZE 62,041,268 Bush fans. We Vote.)
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To: reformedliberal
Bush has not repeated the mistake of VN, in that he lets the military commanders make the military decisions.

Yes and no. The first time the US wanted to go into Fallujah, we stopped. Was that a military decision? What about when Muqtada Al-Sadr was firing from mosques and we weren't firing back. Al-Sadr still has a pulse and still causes problems. That reason is probably not due to a military decision.

65 posted on 05/30/2006 2:50:17 PM PDT by Barney Gumble (A liberal is someone too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel - Robert Frost)
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To: KeyLargo

LOL. As their ratings continue in free-fall.


66 posted on 05/30/2006 2:53:39 PM PDT by pissant
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To: pissant

I can't make a definitive judgement with her clothes on.


67 posted on 05/30/2006 2:56:31 PM PDT by johnny7 (“And what's Fonzie like? Come on Yolanda... what's Fonzie like?!”)
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To: hamhand; gondramB
Why do I get the impression people are trying to screw over our kids who are fighting this war. It appears that Naval Investigative Service (NIS)and the JAG have a great many politically correct military lawyers who have entered the service for the purpose of damaging the war on terror by damaging the morale of our combat troops.

These are officers who sadistically seek to further their own careers and openly make the world a safer place for islamofascist terrorists by "sandbagging" our own combat troops with outrageous charges and allegations.

You're not alone in noticing this problem. Our military, as magnificent as it is, is definitely "overlawyered", and it is damaging the war effort.

That said, I wouldn't go so far as believing they're doing it out of sadistic motivations or that they're consciously attempting to aid our enemies. I do think many of them are infected with the same arrogant, stupid, politically-correct ideology which pervades the rest of our populace and which is wreaking havoc domestically as well.

The military is a microcosm of the total populace. Usually, it tends to show selection towards the better specimens, but inevitably some less than optimal individuals find their way in. This phenomenon is also replicated in the other institutions of our civil society, such as law enforcement.

I believe this trend was greatly accelerated and encouraged during the debilitating "drawdown" and "spending of the peace dividend" policies of the Clinton years, when many of the more traditional types of career officers took early retirement in disgust or were pressured-out. Their replacements naturally tended towards the more liberal PC types since they were actively recruited and rewarded with career advancement, and of course, these types would naturally skew towards the less hazardous and more prestigious (from their perspective), non-combat MOS's such as JAG.

They are still there. Most of them are sincere, and mean well, but they ARE hurting us. And, the higher they rise in rank, or in public office (just watch Lindsey Gramham-JAG in action) the more damage they can do, and the harder it is to counterract them.

68 posted on 05/30/2006 2:58:42 PM PDT by tarheelswamprat
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To: gondramB

This blog mentions the same CNN reporter as being present at past operations and totally changing the facts to suit CNN propaganda.

"CNN Despicable" - Marines Say
Posted By Blackfive

Here is one report among many that I've been getting about the media's (disinformation) operations in Iraq. It's the first one that identifies journalists at the scene. A Marine sends the following:........ read at:

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2006/01/cnn_despicable_.html


69 posted on 05/30/2006 2:58:57 PM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: johnny7
I can't make a definitive judgement with her clothes on.

You mean you haven't downloaded the latest version of "X-Ray Vision for Windows 1.8"?

70 posted on 05/30/2006 3:00:48 PM PDT by capt. norm (W.C. Fields: "Hollywood is the gold cap on a tooth that should have been pulled out years ago.")
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To: capt. norm

I'm on a Mac.


71 posted on 05/30/2006 3:04:41 PM PDT by johnny7 (“And what's Fonzie like? Come on Yolanda... what's Fonzie like?!”)
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To: johnny7

You are worse than me!


72 posted on 05/30/2006 3:06:58 PM PDT by pissant
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To: pissant

Nah... I just got my moments.


73 posted on 05/30/2006 3:10:52 PM PDT by johnny7 (“And what's Fonzie like? Come on Yolanda... what's Fonzie like?!”)
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To: johnny7
I'm on a Mac.

Believe me.....you haven't missed anything!

74 posted on 05/30/2006 3:12:00 PM PDT by capt. norm (W.C. Fields: "Hollywood is the gold cap on a tooth that should have been pulled out years ago.")
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To: SE Mom; bnelson44
Here's one for the record book...a reporter..from CNN no less.- who has (hold on to your seats) favorable things to say about this unit of Marines.

And that reporter hangs out with Jennifer Eccleston - a real cutie in my book!

75 posted on 05/30/2006 3:16:51 PM PDT by Coop (FR = a lotta talk, but little action)
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To: johnny7
You mean you haven't downloaded the latest version of "X-Ray Vision for Windows 1.8"?

You wouldn't have like the installer package anyway. One of the sample images is Helen Thomas in a wet t-shirt contest during "Spring Break".

A lot of people click on "quit" at that point.

76 posted on 05/30/2006 3:18:02 PM PDT by capt. norm (W.C. Fields: "Hollywood is the gold cap on a tooth that should have been pulled out years ago.")
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To: capt. norm
>>You mean you haven't downloaded the latest version of "X-Ray Vision for Windows 1.8"?<<

It doesn't work with Windows but Kaya Optics makes a filter for camcorders that allows vision through clothes.

It works because infra-red light refracts less and the CCD in camcorders are infrared sensitive.

Here is an example with a mannequin with lettering under her bathing suit.


77 posted on 05/30/2006 3:18:14 PM PDT by gondramB (We may have done a little bit of fightin amonst ourselves but you outside people best leave us alone)
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To: gondramB
Thank you for posting this. It is a shame that they are being tarred and feathered by the media here without any real facts. But then, real facts are not something the reporters are interested in anymore. Propaganda is their game now.
78 posted on 05/30/2006 3:19:44 PM PDT by ladyinred
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To: johnny7

I've witnessed a few of those moments. LOL


79 posted on 05/30/2006 3:20:22 PM PDT by pissant
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To: ladyinred

>>Thank you for posting this. It is a shame that they are being tarred and feathered by the media here without any real facts. But then, real facts are not something the reporters are interested in anymore. Propaganda is their game now.<<

It is staggering how quickly humans can prejudge - and its all that much quicker when its one of our own.


80 posted on 05/30/2006 3:25:21 PM PDT by gondramB (We may have done a little bit of fightin amonst ourselves but you outside people best leave us alone)
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