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Probe Finds Haditha Killings Unprovoked
Reuters ^ | 5-31-06 | Will Dunham

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.

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TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: drivebymedia; haditha; iraq; murthawatch; waronterror
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To: Cobra64
Some caller on Hugh Hewitt who spoke Arabic said even the little girl witness said she knew the IED was going to explode and covered her ears.

These civilians KNEW there was a bomb there

501 posted on 06/01/2006 9:48:42 AM PDT by GeronL
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To: rodguy911

"what do you do in a situation like that?"

I don't know. Nobody knows unless you are there. That's why we need to give them the benefit of the doubt. I mean, we have females martyring themselves. Just because you are female doesn't give you a pass on ROE. We have to take a deep breath, and hope for rationality, rather than hysteria.


502 posted on 06/01/2006 9:55:40 AM PDT by Tulsa Ramjet ("If not now, when?")
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To: GeronL
I would suppose it is just as possible there are "innocent civilians" in Iraq --- as it is possible there are "moderate Muslims"...

Should one ask some other mother's son to risk his life on those presumptions or slim possibilities in the midst of responding to an attack which killed a member of their patrol?

Would you ask your own?

In future -- perhaps America should refuse to send other mother's sons into the ENEMY's HOMELAND before key areas have been reduced to rubble too small to hide within or behind........which by the way -- also kills ALL the former residents, including women, children, infants, grandparents and lunatics.....

Would that approach -- the Dresden or Hiroshima approach -- make killing the "innocent" any less horrible than having them killed by adrenalin charged and enraged or frighten 19 year old warriors, responding to an attack that killed one of their own?

If so -- please explain...

In ALL "modern" wars -- far more "innocent civilians" were killed than armed combatants. Iraq is proving to be no different....
Wars, once initiated by the insane -- must be fought to win -- and preferably with the enemy doing most if not all of the dying.... Wars involve a lot of folks dying -- it is NOT a Hollywood script with a guaranteed happy ending..

Semper Fi
503 posted on 06/01/2006 11:05:08 AM PDT by river rat (You may turn the other cheek, but I prefer to look into my enemy's vacant dead eyes.)
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To: river rat

we still don't know what happened. No, I don't think we should carpet bomb cities unless we have no intention of sending in ground troops afterwards. Of course they're already in the country.


504 posted on 06/01/2006 11:12:09 AM PDT by GeronL (Bush lost his mojo??)
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To: GeronL
"we still don't know what happened"

Exactly....Not much has changed in the Corps -- and the high level attention they're giving this is smelling like the story will not be pretty.

"Carpet Bombing"

I do support laying waste to large areas of "insurgent" sanctuary or support. That is OUR strength....we have withheld it and the enemy is NOT bleeding or dying enough to dissuade him from taking the fight to our forces that are "just down the block"...

But I mentioned Dresden and Hiroshima to make the point that there were mostly INNOCENT CIVILIANS killed -- by the hundreds of thousands, yet we have today's media screaming bloody murder over the Haditha scenario....

What it tells me - is America will accept the large scale murder of the enemy's "innocent" population if that killing is done by "impersonal" pilots at 15,000 feet....rather than the Grunt who is there in the enemy's face -- eyeball to eyeball...

Hell, the same reaction met the bombing of civilian positions in Yugoslavia -- where we killed "innocent CHRISTIANS" to "save Muslims" from an over hyped exaggerated "genocide".

Americans need to decide only one thing about waging war.
Do they wish to survive? To survive, they must not lose.

All else should be confined to a classrooms in "ethics"..
Our enemy is little concerned about the "issues" that torment us.

Semper Fi

505 posted on 06/01/2006 11:40:28 AM PDT by river rat (You may turn the other cheek, but I prefer to look into my enemy's vacant dead eyes.)
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To: floriduh voter

I agree that you have the right to speak your mind. I'm not a lock-step person myself, as you might have seen in other threads regarding the border and the budget, so I know it's not right to squash an opinion merely because it differs.

It's certainly your right to bring up a story you may think is true about the President and the First Lady's relationship with each other. But its also our right to tell you that it's not always the best thing to bring up "secrets" if they are about personal dealings (even about famous people) and especially if they are unverified, and really especially if it could be hurtful. To me, that's gossip, I don't do it. That's how I was raised. That's all I'm saying.


506 posted on 06/01/2006 11:43:51 AM PDT by VictoryGal (Never give up, never surrender!)
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To: river rat

Now if we had no intention of invading an enemy and just level their cities... I'm fine with that


507 posted on 06/01/2006 11:46:41 AM PDT by GeronL (Bush lost his mojo??)
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To: airborne
A Rueters story quoting anonymous sources and Amnesty International. Now why would I be suspicious of the truth of this compost pile

Be careful what you say or Reuters might e mail you a death threat as they did to Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs.

They're not known as a terrorist supporting website for nothing

508 posted on 06/01/2006 12:07:58 PM PDT by Stepan12
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To: Stepan12
If you knew me, you'd know that death threats do not influence me.

Close the borders first!

509 posted on 06/01/2006 12:18:30 PM PDT by airborne (Satan's greatest trick was convincing people he doesn't exist.)
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To: BeHoldAPaleHorse
I don't know why anyone responds to any of your posts on the issue.

You have bought every story from the start, a simple query on your post history can reveal the dozens of comments defending the various haditha stories over the past week.

Not that its anything nefarious or anything wrong with that, but it seems highly unproductive to engage you at all on this topic which you are, and have been, so committed in your POV since the start.
510 posted on 06/01/2006 12:47:46 PM PDT by FreedomNeocon (Success is not final; Failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts -- Churchill)
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To: FreedomNeocon
Sorry, it's the cop reflex. When the witness gets caught changing his story, he graduates to "suspect." And the word at Camp Pendleton is that this whole question arose because the after-action report had some serious discrepancies with other reports.

This has been under investigation for three months. Generally, investigations are either very short--a matter of days (nothing to see here, move along) or very long (which means someone's in a ton of trouble).

There are enough lawyers (prosecution and defense) showing up on the base to start a national government. (The Republic of Pendletonia?)

The final straw for me? When the defense attorney (an anti-war activist, BTW) said that HIS clients weren't the target of the probe. When that happens, it's even money that the client's getting indicted.

511 posted on 06/01/2006 1:02:57 PM PDT by BeHoldAPaleHorse ( ~()):~)>)
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To: ohioWfan

Also interesting enough the other poster she was conversing with got banned yesterday during their gossip mongering posts.

I am very sick of the attacks on the President in these anti-war, anti-troops, anti-American threads. But actually this is going on in many threads lately.

BUT to attack the marriage of the President and his lovely wife was just to much. Just where will the posters draw the line? To stay silent is giving consent and I will not stay silent.


512 posted on 06/01/2006 1:10:55 PM PDT by stopem (God Bless the U.S.A the Troops who protect her, and their Commander In Chief !)
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To: fluffy stuff

Yes, I do respect him AND the job he is doing. Even if and when I disagree on certain issues. But to say that President Bush is not doing the job he was elected to do and to attack his marriage and spread ugly gossip about him and his wife is NOT respecting him and the office of the President of the United States of America.

He is doing the job he was elected to do and doing it very well!!


513 posted on 06/01/2006 1:15:19 PM PDT by stopem (God Bless the U.S.A the Troops who protect her, and their Commander In Chief !)
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To: Jezebelle

Hey, loudmouth, I said I'd check back.

When and where?


514 posted on 06/01/2006 2:52:02 PM PDT by leadpenny
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To: Jezebelle
It's obvious you've never served in combat.

Since you know so much about my combat experience or lack there of . . .

I will stand by our troops

. . . when was it you stood AS a troop? . . . in combat?

515 posted on 06/01/2006 3:21:01 PM PDT by leadpenny
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To: leadpenny

I'm a girl, as you may have guessed by my name. My husband, dad, and both my brothers served in combat.


516 posted on 06/01/2006 3:26:46 PM PDT by Jezebelle
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To: Jezebelle

A girl . . . well that explains your hysterics and big mouth.


517 posted on 06/01/2006 3:34:44 PM PDT by leadpenny
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To: Tulsa Ramjet

Exactly, IMHO if there is doubt as to what happened you always should err on the side of the troops.


518 posted on 06/01/2006 6:23:17 PM PDT by rodguy911 (Support new Media, ticket drive-bys--America--Land of the Free because of the Brave)
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To: rodguy911
*** Flash *** (I'm sure you'll see the story in the moring)

BBC pushing a story claiming video footage that contradicts the marine account.

The "Cute" last paragraph of the piece... (their proof is after the fact footage provided by "hardline sunni forces opposing the coalition")


The video tape obtained by the BBC shows a number of dead adults and children at the site with what our world affairs editor John Simpson says were clearly gunshot wounds.

The pictures came from a hardline Sunni group opposed to coalition forces.

519 posted on 06/01/2006 7:32:02 PM PDT by FreedomNeocon (Success is not final; Failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts -- Churchill)
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To: leadpenny

What a nasty thing to say. Tsk, tsk.

You're the first person who has ever suggested that supporting our troops is a form of hysteria.


520 posted on 06/01/2006 8:28:24 PM PDT by Jezebelle
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