Posted on 05/31/2006 11:02:15 AM PDT by pissant
The father of a U.S. Marine killed by a roadside bomb in western Iraq in November believes his son's comrades did nothing wrong despite a criminal investigation into events that left more than 20 Iraqi civilians dead, including women and children.
"It's very hard for me, I don't even listen to the news," Martin Terrazas said of reports of the mass killings in Haditha, in Iraq's Anbar province. "The insurgents were hiding in there with the kids."
Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas was killed when his military convoy hit a roadside bomb in the western Iraqi city of Haditha. Initial accounts from Marines indicated that a fight with insurgents ensued and that 15 civilians and eight insurgents were killed in the explosion and subsequent firefight.
But now, separate investigations seek to determine whether the Nov. 19 killings were criminal and whether the Marines involved and their commanding officers tried to hide the truth. The Pentagon has said little publicly.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that evidence uncovered in February and March contradicts the claims made by Marines about how the Iraqis died.
Citing an unnamed senior U.S. official, the Times reported that a review of the incident by Col. Gregory Watt in Baghdad has uncovered evidence that casts doubt on initial reports by Marines involved.
"There were enough inconsistencies that things didn't add up," the unnamed official said, according to the Times. The report cites death certificates that show all the Iraqi victims had been shot, many in the head and chest.
Luis Terrazas, the uncle of the Marine killed in Nov. attack and a former Marine himself, said Marines are trained not to lose their cool under pressure.
"Jarheads don't just go out and kill because they get frustrated," said Luis Terrazas, 39. "Their training is exquisite. It just doesn't make sense."
Martin Terrazas, who said he has met with many Marines from his son's unit, said the men didn't give him many details of the attack.
"They wouldn't go into details," Martin Terrazas said. "I just needed to know if my son suffered. They just said it wasn't a pretty sight."
The Marines also told the grieving father that they did what was necessary to survive.
"Hearing my son's comrades is very hard," Martin Terrazas said. "Those Marines just did their job. Some of these kids were saying, 'We have to live with it.'"
The parents of two Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton in Calif. told The Associated Press that their sons were ordered to take pictures of the scene and help remove the bodies. The parents of Lance Cpl. Roel Ryan Briones, 21, and Lance Cpl. Andrew Wright, 20, said memories of the killings have haunted the Marines.
Briones' mother said her son did not witness the killings. Wright's parents declined to say what their son saw that day.
Miguel Terrazas was in the midst of his second tour of duty in Iraq when he was killed. His family says he knew how dangerous his duty was, having survived an ambush during his first tour.
When he came home before his second deployment, the young Marine told his family not to worry.
"He said, 'No matter what...don't worry,'" Luis Terrazas said, fighting back tears.
"They wouldn't go into details," Martin Terrazas said. "I just needed to know if my son suffered. They just said it wasn't a pretty sight."
The Marines also told the grieving father that they did what was necessary to survive.
PING
FYI
Bump!
Bump!
man, this makes it sound like the Mariens did do this...
good grief ...how in the heck did I mis-spell Marines ?
( note to self...use spellcheck)
They were probably shot by the terrorists who fled into their house. These filthy scum are not above doing something like that in an attempt to villify American troops. For that matter, they do it to each other every single day of the week simply because they hate each other, (sunnis and shiites).
It's unbelievable to me how easy it is for the media, and our own government, to cast apsersions on our own brave warriors before all the facts are known and both sides are heard.
I am a Vietnam veteran who joined the Army when many of my peers were running from it. I volunteered for service in Vietnam and I do not regret it, I am proud of it. I am equally proud of our brave service men who now fight the war on terror to keep us safe here at home. But if I were a young guy today, seeing all these prosecutions against our own troops by our own military, and being held to impossibly rigid 'rules of engagement', I can't say that I would want to join a military like that.
I am not condoning a massacre, but neither do I believe that one happened; and it would take a whole lot more than the words of some muslims who are taught to hate "infidels" from their infancy, and are taught that it's a virtue to lie to 'infidels', before I'd convict our own guys of anything. I get sick every time I read another story about the military pressing charges against our own guys. If this is how we're going to fight this war then prepare for it to last 100 years, or more. Perhaps it will never end.
BTTT
Why do you say that? Sounds like the opposite to me.
I'm increasingly getting to the point that I really don't care if these young devil dogs did what everyone and their half brother is accusing them of doing or not.
This is war, innocents die, it happens.
Now if they really want to see a shiite storm, pull the troops out and bomb every single solitary iraqi city into dust until there's nothing left but haze and blue smoke. Then whoever is left, and can negotiate an unconditional surrender, THEY can rebuild it on their own.
One reason I'll never be a politician.
>man, this makes it sound like the Mariens did do this...<
The big question is: How did there happen to be a camera man on location to film the terrible event? The lead vehicle was blown up before our eyes! Then the camera went to blood stains in the close-by houses, with acusatory narrative accompanied.
I'm sorry, but I don't blame the Marines, if they did do this. They didn't deploy to wipe noses, they deployed to fight a war, and the enemy hides behind the faces of women, children and old people as well as hooded insurgents. Much as the traitorous press argues otherwise war is war, and sometimes bad things happen in war. The press, and Congress, are so quick to judge! But, again, how come the scene happened to be filmed?
The Mariens? Isn't that an order of Catholic nuns?
If you meant Marines, then yes, the AP is playing up the typical MSM BS that shows them in the worse possible light.
Well said. And thanks for your service.
The terrorists don't wear uniforms..let's go further and say they were hiding in a house filled with purely innocent women and children, and the were firing on the Marines. What are the Marines supposed to do?..Stay there and NOT return fire, and get killed? It's the "fog of war"..it's tragic..and in every conflict...innocents will always get killed..
Oooo-rahh.
"Oooo-rahh."
Semper Fi
I agree with that. But it is only since the Ratherization of the MSM, that whole segments of the US population does not understand that.
"There were enough inconsistencies that things didn't add up," the unnamed official said, according to the Times. The report cites death certificates that show all the Iraqi victims had been shot, many in the head and chest.
The NY Times (fake but accurate) quotes unnamed sources
Pathetic.
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