New 'Iraq massacre' tape emerges

BBC ^ | BBC

[Axlrose]

The BBC has uncovered new video evidence that US forces may have been responsible for the deliberate killing of 11 innocent Iraqi civilians.

The video appears to challenge the US military's account of events that took place in the town of Ishaqi in March.

The US said at the time four people died during a military operation, but Iraqi police claimed that US troops had deliberately shot the 11 people.

A spokesman for US forces in Iraq told the BBC an inquiry was under way.

The new evidence comes in the wake of the alleged massacre in Haditha, where US marines are suspected of massacring up to 24 Iraqi civilians in November 2005.

'Massacre'

The video pictures obtained by the BBC appear to contradict the US account of the events in Ishaqi, about 100km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, on 15 March 2006.

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The US authorities said they were involved in a firefight after a tip-off that an al-Qaeda supporter was visiting the house.

According to the Americans, the building collapsed under heavy fire killing four people - a suspect, two women and a child.

But a report filed by Iraqi police accused US troops of rounding up and deliberately shooting 11 people in the house, including five children and four women, before blowing up the building.

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.

It has been cross-checked with other images taken at the time of events and is believed to be genuine, the BBC's Ian Pannell in Baghdad says.

[PISANO]

Pile it on BBC........The LEFT smells blood and with Abu Gharib under their belt they are going for the Coup de Gras!!

We will survive this, but this can only serve to demoralize our troops [THEIR MAIN GOAL] and make this another Vietnam in the MINDS OF our people.

God help us AND stand by for HEAVY ROLLS!!

[GeronL]

The terrorists have faked videos before and they are not above killing innocent people to frame Marines either

[ohioWfan]

Yeah............can't even make a bomb without all the neighbors finding out.......

[eddie65]

It appears that Marines stayed with the bodies until a second group of Marines came to take them away. The second group was the ones who took the pictures, on the instructions of their superiors. So the bodies were not planted in the ground ASAP.

[R.W.Ratikal]

The BBC is right up there with the New York Times in the credibility department. Mistakes, and atrocities happen in a war where the enemy hides behind the women and children.

As Vietnam taught us, when you look at a bunch of civilians it's hard to tell combatants from non-combatants. Terrorists could not melt into the civilian population unless the population allowed them to do so.

SHI* HAPPENS. DEAL WITH IT.

[eddie65]

I guess you think Scott Peterson and OJ Simpson are innocent?

[driftdiver]

"Do these people really think American Marines shot children in the head? "

No but the people that read it do. They are the enemy and would kill us, our women, and our children in an instant if given the opportunity.

[lugsoul]

It will only tar the Administration if the Administration lets it.

IF the events in Haditha are as alleged, then the perpetrators have dishonored their uniform, and have harmed the war effort and brought disrepute upon our fine men and women in uniform. IF the facts are as alleged, no one needs to be standing behind them. They need to be dealt with harshly and swiftly, to send as strong a message as possible that we are better than that.

If they don't take this course, the civilian leadership will get their share of blame.

[NavyCanDo]

11 people? I thought it was two dozen.

[LADY J]

>So it shows that there were gunshot wounds. Problem: the first after-action report said that the decedents were all killed by shrapnel from the IED that opened the ambush.

I haven't seen anything yet that shows anybody DOING the shooting!

I was a cop before losing one of my two favorite lungs to a bullet. When a witness says "It was A," and the forensics comes back and says, "Not A at all, it was B," and A and B are extremely different, the witness gets promoted to "suspect."<

So sorry about the incident of your being shot. I hope all is well with you now.

Who did the forensic work on the bodies? I haven't heard that yet. Seems all we hear about are pictures of the bodies with bullet wounds. I'm even wondering if they are the same people!!

Maybe it's a stretch - but the first after-action report could be right - and the bodies replaced by the insurgents trying to give the Marines a bad name. From what I understand is that the Marines that came in to recover the bodies did it the next day. Am I wrong?

I just don't trust those people. Maybe it's just me!

[veronica]

My many years of following the endless false charges made against Israeli soldiers has made me very suspicious about such reports. The ME is such a snake pit, Israel excluded.

[NavyCanDo]

The 2nd to the last line tells the whole story.......

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


How do we know the dead people were not collateral damage from the IED like the Marines said they were and then this hardline Sunni group put bullets in their heads to make it look like an execution?

[driftdiver]

"IF the events in Haditha are as alleged,"

Big IF there, IMO its a war zone and they had been attacked. The rules are they search the surrounding houses and thats what they did. They were in an area known for terrorist activity and hostility towards us.

I don't condone murder but I don't think its appropiate to stand back months later and judge a split second decision made by our guys under fire. For what its worth I also don't think Abu Ghraib was a crime and our folks in jail from that are friendly fire (political) causalties.

Our enemy is known to hide behind women and children. They will kill 20 children to get to one American handing out candy. They believe its ok to rape any woman whos not muslim and wearing the burqa. These are barbarians seeking to destory our culture, our lives, and our country. I say take the gloves off and destroy them.

[narby]

I guess you think Scott Peterson and OJ Simpson are innocent?

I haven't keept close track of this thing so far. But if all they've got is a video of the aftermath of something, and the testimony of some Iraqi's in a town controlled by insurgents, then I'm not buying it. An insergent with the motivation to defeat the United States could spend 30 seconds in a house just left by Marines and kill everyone inside, and with the NYTimes help he would single handedly defeat us. It would be a perfect frame job, enabled by the fog of war and an incident that happened thousands of miles away months ago.

If there's more evidence against these marines, then fine. Send them to Ol' Sparky and I'll pull the lever. But if the above is all there is, forget it.

[Blue Scourge]

Trying to pile it on huh....

"Hardline Sunni group"...also know as Al Qaida in Iraq

[Coop]

I don't pretend to know what really occurred that day (or in the days following). The Marines could have done something horribly wrong, either premeditated or in the heat of battle. But I think it's pretty clear that, to an objective observer anyway, this "cut and dry" nonsense is just that. The story did NOT occur as Jack Murtha has tried to publicly portray it, at the expense of our military forces.

Presumption of innocence - if anyone deserves it, it's Americans laying their lives on the line for their country. If the investigation merits it - ONCE COMPLETED, Mr. Murtha - file charges and let them mount their defense.

[mystery-ak]

I don't pretend to know what really occurred that day (or in the days following). The Marines could have done something horribly wrong, either premeditated or in the heat of battle. But I think it's pretty clear that, to an objective observer anyway, this "cut and dry" nonsense is just that. The story did NOT occur as Jack Murtha has tried to publicly portray it, at the expense of our military forces. Well said and I completly agree.......when my hubby was about to go over there I told him to shoot first and ask questions later...now my son is about to leave and I have told him not to do anything stupid.....

Nothing is ever cut and dry...we do not walk in their boots day after day...I always give the trooper the benefit of the doubt.

[DCPatriot]

He lacks the balls, and thats the truth.

Don't disrespect my President, butthead.

The real enemy is the treasonous left-leaning MSM and the power-starved crazy liberal Democratic leadership.

Get the MSM out of Iraq and let them sue for peace. Any previously off-limits buildings are fair game if it's determined to be a source of aggression.

They're pulling another "Get out of Vietnam". We cannot repeat the cut n' run and witness another Pol-Pot like bloodbath from the sidelines.

Not with the stage Iran is at right now.

The insurgency is going full steam right now. A Tet Offensive, muslim style.

Let's win this one and kill these b*stards.

[DCPatriot]

Of course they didn't round them up. What kind of US Marine would do that?

God bless them and keep them safe.

[mewzilla]

A BBC-related oldie but a goodie...

Gilligan: The big lie