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Hmmmm....how does Mashdahani manage to keep his head while running around the insurgent strongholds ?

could it be that his head is not in danger of detachment ?

could Ali be "one of them" ?

very suspicious indeed

"This assertion has been repeated in almost every subsequent account. But I have never seen any confirmation of this from the US military or any named officials."

Apparently the original Marine communique from Camp Blue Diamond in Ramadi did say that the families were killed by the roadside bomb. I've been looking since Sun. When Time asked in Jan, they were still stuck with that info. I think all they had to do was to look at the original field reports and make a correction. The Marines involved don't deny they shot them, so no autopsy is needed.

A Reuters article follows. It still says they took fire immediately after the blast. The 8 dead insurgents consist of 4 from the taxi and 4 from the 4th house.

November 20, 2005

Roadside bomb kills 15 Iraqis, U.S. Marine in Haditha (excerpt)

HADITHA, Iraq (Reuters) - A roadside bomb that killed a U.S. Marine in the restive town of Haditha on Saturday also killed 15 Iraqi civilians and led to intense clashes with insurgents, the U.S. military said on Sunday. The powerful bomb detonated as a U.S. military convoy was passing through the town, a militant stronghold on the Euphrates river about 220 km northwest of Baghdad. Immediately after the blast, gunmen opened fire on the convoy, the U.S. military said in a statement. U.S. and Iraqi soldiers returned fire, killing eight insurgents and wounding another(taxi driver) in a firefight.

Here are some other items the MSM doesn't report (H/T Macsmind)

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Again, things may not be as they seem.

"SAN DIEGO - A Marine captain who was relieved of command after members of his battalion were accused of killing civilians in Haditha, Iraq, denied any role in the slayings and complained that he had become a “political casualty.”

“It makes my blood boil to see my name lumped in with this massacre, when I was in a different city not playing any role in this incident,” Capt. James Kimber told The Associated Press.

Kimber, 33, of Fountain Hills, Ariz., was one of three officers reassigned to new duties last month for what the Marines said was “a lack of confidence in their leadership abilities.” None of the three officers has been charged with wrongdoing.

Investigators are trying to determine whether the 24 killings Nov. 19 were criminal, and whether the Marines involved and their commanding officers tried to hide the truth.

Defusing an explosive situation
Kimber said he first learned about the shootings in February when he heard that a Time magazine reporter was asking questions about civilian deaths.

Kimber said he heard nothing about a civilian massacre during city council meetings and talks with local leaders.

“It would have been huge, there would have been no question it would have filtered down to us,” he said. “We reported no significant atmospheric change as a result of that day.”

Kimber said he was removed because senior commanders at California’s Camp Pendleton were scrambling to defuse an explosive situation."

Say wut? Something ain't right here. Got to do some checking.

http://macsmind.blogspot.com/2006/06/then-again-haditha.html

Haditha and now BBC's newly found video.....

What is the US Military going to do if you have these TERRORIST JOURNALISTS months after the fact keep "finding" massacre videos to attack our troops? It will be hard to prove innocence after all the evidence is buried, tampered with etc. This is not a good development and scares the heck out of me. Every week Sunni/BBCABCCBSNBCCNNetc/Human Rights Orgs can manufacture tapes and accuse our troops of massacres a la Jenin. We would be chasing our tail....