Posted on 05/31/2006 4:01:53 PM PDT by Types_with_Fist
A preliminary military inquiry found evidence that U.S. Marines killed two dozen Iraqi civilians in an unprovoked attack in November, contradicting the troops’ account, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
President George W. Bush said he was troubled by news stories on the November 19 killings of men, women and children in the town of Haditha, and a general at the Pentagon said the incident could complicate the job for the 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
“Allegations such as this, regardless of how they are borne out by the facts, can have an effect on the ability of U.S. forces to continue to operate,” Army Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, deputy director for regional operations for the military’s Joint Staff, told a Pentagon briefing.
A soldier's career is affected at least once each year when he/she receives an efficiency report. In the military system, there must be near perfection in the evaluations in order to be promoted. ANYTHING negative is a discriminator that will totally derail a career.
Trust me. If POTUS puts out the word on you today, your career is effectively over by the end of today.
To acknowledge that the accusations are troubling is in NO WAY an implication of any sort.
If YOU were accused of cold-blooded murder, whether it was true or not, it would be troubling, and I'm sure you wouldn't appreciate people laughing it off.
We have to wait for the facts.
I have pinged Thunder6. T6, see if my #421 aligns with your understanding as well.
T6 has greater knowledge of this military system than do I. Perhaps it has changed since I exited service.
Thanks.
better with sarcasm tag?
Somehow, I just can't get worked up over this.
Agree with you on this one ohio; it was a cheap shot.
When is it illegal for a Marine to fight back to prevent himself or other members of his unit from being killed during an attack on them?
When it goes beyond the parameters you described, which the guy I was responding to indicated was perfectly OK.
If you really want the Marines to be as bad as Saddam's thugs with no adverse consequences, then you'd best be ready to have yourself a fun and excitingly short life when they get out and become cops in your hometown.
I join in your prayer.
You posted, on a public forum, a claim to know what goes on behind closed doors in a marriage, and then defended yourself by saying you heard it through the grapevine.
well you gotta realize the president knows a lot more about this incident than anyone on FR does. With a political hot potato like this that has larger implications you can bet one of his staff is being briefed on the general status of the investigation regularly, or another channel of direct communcation from USMC/WH exists. If he is making noises like this, it means his info indicates that that is the correct mode to be in based on what will come out later.
some of the posters here are realizing that all the noise from people in the military and the WH indicates that there is a real problem, not just a media fabrication. the fact the media want this to be true doesn't enter into it, they want everything bad to be true. It is the administration's reaction/handling that is of interest.
Or do you think the white house will know absolutely nothing about the investigation's findings until the corp releases them?
Thanks for the link. That is a fine family and Marine.
The post regarded the bombing of cities. You know the Marines don't do that. They bomb specific enemy targets.
Like the ports issue and the immigration debate, this is an MSM-generated controversy with precious little hard fact but enough detail to get the GOP faithful all riled up and at odds with each other -- all to the benefit of the MSM's Liberal masters. At this point, I feel like I did during the ports debate when some enterprising FReepers were DESPERATELY trying to get across that it was CHUCK SCHUMER fanning the flames that were dividing Conservatives.
Here, we have complete hysteria, some of it engendered by a "combat photographer" who reported to the press he took pictures of atrocities that, er, somehow ended up getting erased. He then returned to the States, where the night after he arrived back home he stole a truck and drunkenly crashed it into a house.
The President is absolutely correct in saying he's concerned about the allegations -- who wouldn't be? -- but they are allegations, after all, not proof, despite what that addled tub of lard Murtha might say.
This controversy, like our other recent brouhahas, is a simple attempt by the Liberal media to quickly report juicy charges before actual testimony, evidence and investigation renders the charges less juicy.
Conservatives have to stop buying into these manufactured frenzies. Stories like this are being reported by Liberals, for Liberals, in hopes that Liberal votes in November are the result.
So now Marines are as bad as Saddam's thugs in your eyes if they try to defend themselves.
War is by any reasonable contention, extra-legal, meaning of course that acts done in war would be unlawful at any other time, take for instance the act of killing an enemy, or the act of defending yourself with deadly force where ever you happen to be, in any other case outside of a war you would be hard pressed to prove those were legal acts even in such cases as self defence.
Oh I comprehend it alright, but do you really comprehend what constitues murder by definition in combat, or what constitues murder during combat as described by the UCMJ?
It is very well defined.
"... it still leaves a residue of general suspicion,..."
Well said. Your point becomes more obvious when one considers the flip- side of this whole propoganda effort. That is, that there have been 150,000 troops fighting for over three years and very few such incidents upon civilians. Even a half-way unbiased report would give them the benefit of the doubt. Not to mention the countless efforts of troops to protect civilians at their own risk, which of course never see print.
I fear the next presidential election will see the MSM reach new heights (or should I say lows) of unscrupulous efforts to bring down the conservative cause.
You can't lobby a judicial process... sorry
I think that's close, but an incomplete story. I think the terrorists gave some short bursts of fire from inside the houses, or from cover nearby and then they split. The Marines advanced on the houses and assaulted the place thinking the Terrorists were inside. The other shots, thought to come from the 2nd house probably came from the 4th, house or nearby.
Any any rate none of the stories written pan out. They're based on the original Time article. Time never quizzed the Marines about the incident at all. Their claims about the Marines changing their story regarding the incident are bogus.
And Reuters knows these people weren't shot by local terrorists BEFORE the IED explosion..........how?
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