Posted on 06/01/2006 6:44:37 PM PDT by Sam Hill
You have probably heard by now that the doctor who examined the bodies of the civilians in Haditha after the alleged Marine rampage said they were shot in the chest and head and from close range.
You have probably also heard it reported that the death certificates of the deceased record that all the victims were shot. Here is an article which features the source for the quote and probably the author of the death certificates, from the terrorist supporters at Uruknet:
An image taken from footage shot on November 19, 2005 shows bodies in a morgue after an incident in Haditha.
Witnesses, video document massacre in Haditha US Marines killed Iraqi civilians in cold blood
20 May 2006
US Congressman John Murtha said on Wednesday that a Pentagon investigation into the deaths of civilians in Haditha, Iraq, last November will show that US Marines "killed innocent civilians in cold blood." Murtha (Democrat, Pennsylvania) was referring to a probe launched into a November 19 incident in which at least 23 civiliansincluding seven woman and three childrenwere gunned down by US troops. Haditha is a predominantly Sunni town 200 kilometers northwest of Baghdad in Anbar province...
Dr. Wahid, the director of the local Haditha hospital, said the Marines brought 24 bodies to his hospital around midnight November 19. He told Time the Marines claimed the victims had been killed by shrapnel, "But it was obvious to us that there were no organs slashed by shrapnel. The bullet wounds were very apparent. Most of the victims were shot in the chest and the headfrom close range."
This quote has now become an essential element in most of the articles on Haditha.
Being the highest ranking doctor on the scene, Wahid (Walid) is probably the person who filled out the death certificates, or he ordered them filled out.
What we haven't been told by our one party media is some of the background on the good doctor.
Again from Uruknet:
Iraqi Doctors Beaten and Arrested in Haditha Hospital
Sabah Ali, BRussells Tribunal
October 30, 2005
Dr. Walid Al-Obeidi, the director of Haditha General Hospital and Dr. Jamil Abdul Jabbar, the only surgeon in the Haditha area were arrested for a week, very badly beaten and threatened to face the same treatment in the future by the American troops.
Dr.Walid said "they arrested me in my house in front of my family, covered my eyes, and tied my hands to the back on Oct 5 2005 morning, during the last attack on Haditha (360 kilometers west of Baghdad). They occupied the hospital for 8 days and made it their office. The first day they beat me on my eyes, nose, back, hands, legs... My face was covered with blood .When they removed the tie I could not see. They investigated me until the afternoon. I realized later that I was arrested in the hospital store. Then they tied my hands to the front, and left me for two days. I was moved then to the pharmacy department. They accused me of treating terrorists, and asked for their names.
I told them that I treat patients regardless of their identity, according to my oath as a doctor; even if they were national guards (which we actually I did) or American soldiers. And any way, if I do not want to treat the insurgents, I have no choice, because they were armed and masked. I would do anything they tell to do. Few days later, one of the soldiers came in the room, did not say anything, kicked me again on my face and left" ...
Both doctors were threatened if they do not talk, they would receive the same treatment in the future. They were warned of passing any information of the arrest to the media. They were asked who wrote the hostile slogans against the American on the opposite wall of the hospital? What are the names of the insurgents they treated? and what are the bodies pictures in the hospital computer?
Dr.Walid said he does not know who wrote on the wall outside the hospital, what the names of the insurgents are, because they were masked. He explained that the dead bodies pictures were of unknown people whose bodies were found after the fighting. "We can not keep these bodies forever; we do not have enough cold boxes. So, after two months, we take their pictures and bury them, so that whenever some one from their families comes to ask we show the pictures of the dead bodies".
The UN, the international HR organizations, WHO, Doctors sans frontiers and all who it may concern are called upon to do some thing to help these, and other Iraqi doctors, and to prevent similar treatment in the future. Dr.Walid and Dr. Jamil believe that they may face the arrest and beating in the future. They demand that the American troops stop occupying the hospital and destroying it every time the attack Haditha. They also believe that the Iraqi authorities are incapable of protecting them.
Is it possible Dr. Walid (Wahid) has an anti-American prejudice?
I can't figure out how everyone else is supposedly shot point blank and she has shrapnel wounds.
...and the jack*** he rode in on.
He may not like President Bush as a president but he likes our military guys and police officers.
Hey, you like hate speech, you got the right radio host. And frankly, whether you trust me or not means zero to me. Nice try at using Savages favorite insult term ... you ought to try to couch it better, like he does.
The Marines being held at Pendleton are being brought up on charges for a different unrelated incident that involved 1 Iraqi. (Saw a post about this earlier on FR.)
I would go even further, Michael Savage loves those protecting our Freedom and families. He is a man of strong feelings, but that doesn't mean he's sane.
"Hey, you like hate speech, you got the right radio host. And frankly, whether you trust me or not means zero to me. Nice try at using Savages favorite insult term ... you ought to try to couch it better, like he does."
Typical leftist liberal response. Something you don't like about a person and automatically anything they say is hate speech. You just confirmed what I had already thought.
We have the Murtha ("poor Marines were stressed by the mean Bush administration and snapped.") and the far-lefty/jihadist version (the Marines calmly killed the civilans "in cold blood" and "execution style").
The two versions are not very easy to reconcile.
Again, it comes to us courtesy of the terrorist-lovers at Uruknet:
CALL FOR HELP TO STOP CRIMES AND GENOCIDES
Abdul Wahab Al Obeidi, BRussells Tribunal
December 11, 2005
A group of people representing the people of Hadeetha are calling all humanitarian NGOs to put an end to genocides and crimes practiced against them by the occupation forces and government-backed forces.Joining forces with the good people of Iraq, we, Freedom Voice, call on all NGOs and Human Rights committees - had there been such a thing as HUMAN RIGHTS in this volatile world to see for themselves the military offensives which have been waged by the US forces in collaboration with Al-Jafari government against the Iraqi town of Hadeetha. Claiming that civilian houses were used to shelter foreign fighters, arbitrary bombardments were underway. Let alone the fact that they forcibly have taken families out of their own homes, which are located in the main streets, and executed more than three families including children, elderly men, and women, alleging that landmines were planted next door.
The situation in Hadeetha is highly critical, and people are overwhelmed with anger, to them it feels like the occupation has just started. The so-called "NATIONAL GUARDS" called on people through loudspeakers announcing "once a landmine is detonated near or 500 meters away from anyones house, his house will be demolished with the families inside, and they will be executing people in public.
Details of Hadeetha massacre:
1. After a landmine went off near a US patrol Before sunrise, the US forces perpetrated a horrible massacre before sunrise on Saturday, November 19, 2005; they raided the houses near the place where they came under attack and executed 16 people of two related families including a disabled elderly man and an infant.
2. Also, the US forces, stopped a car full of university students on their way to college in Ramadi. Despite the fact that they searched the passengers and made sure that they were unarmed students, a marine lost his temper and brutally executed them all including the driver.
3. They executed four brothers who went out of their nearby house to watch the disastrous accident.
4. The latter incident was witnessed by thousands of the population of Hadeetha, who took part in the burial and funeral ceremonies. The victims were very good men, one of whom was Waleed Hameed Alhasan, the Muezzin of the main mosque of Hadeetha "Haj Abdirraheem Mosque".
5. Updating on the issue of the town of Heet, we received a letter from someone living in that area on December 1, 2005 in which he said, "Heet has been besieged since yesterday night, even pedestrians or bikers were not allowed to go out (until further notice, as they put it). The next day, they bombed the other side of the river and forced families to leave to the opposite riverbank. They arrested all youngsters (15 years of age upwards), and arrested 500 people until this very moment, detentions are underway".
A conspiracy has been plotted against this peaceful town. With this offensive, Hadeetha shares the same problem of criminal acts and massacres against humanity with other Iraqi towns such as Mosul and its outskirts, Diyala and nearby towns, Anbar and all its towns, and Baghdad particularly At-Tajee and Tarmiyya.It is worth noting that such military offensives have become more brutal than before. Iraqi towns, particularly those populated by Sunni Arabs have been besieged, no one is allowed in or out of these towns. Electricity and drinking water were deliberately cut, let alone provisions of food and medical care.
Abdul Wahab Al Obeidi
(Member of the BRussells Tribunal Committee)
And this gentleman is one of the main lynchpins of the charges against the Marines, at least so far.
"Don't trust a man who screams the president has given these soldiers up based on what the President has actually said. "
I think Savage may have been "gotten to" somehow. He attacks Republicans now with great regularity---says almost nothing good about them.
Apparently there was no autopsy done and the families have refused the exhumation of the bodies.
Hmmmmm, could the good doctor be--oh I don't know--a good liar? All in the name of jihad, of course.
I have one recurring thought throughout this process.
Insurgents kill women and children every day in Iraq. What would it take to bring a few bodies into bunker where you planned to launch an attack.
A Different kind of suicide bomber drama.
Would someone please explain to me why Marines who had just allegedly murdered civilians then bring the bodies full of close range bullet holes to doctors and then claim they were killed by shrapnel and or an IED blast?????
"I'm pretty sure I remember Pantano and Pantano's mom thanking Savage for his help. He has solicited money from his listeners. What makes you think this money didn't get donated?"
I'm suspicious of Savage in other ways, but his support of Pantano I do not question. He gave him a very long, very positive interview during the crisis.
I'm with you, and I'm surprised that even the "friendlies" (such as they are) in the media are only giving the salacious 10-second bytes to this whole stinking scenario.....they don't even hang around long enough to give it the smell test.
US Occupation of Iraq: Where is the limit?
The BRussells Tribunal Committee
BTC, March 13, 2006
The United States-led occupation continues to demolish humanitarian law with impunity in Iraq
Occupying powers have bred a culture of insecurity that destroys the lives of ordinary Iraqis
International institutions, monitoring bodies and parliaments must act or risk irrelevance
Three years have passed since the United States launched an illegal war of aggression on the sovereign Republic of Iraq. Neither were weapons of mass destruction found nor democracy or human rights advanced. Within one month, Iraqis will enter their fourth year as a people under occupation, ruled by a puppet regime that sanctions death squads and torture.
The time has long passed for this to end.
In the words of John Pace until recently head of the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq the ordinary Iraqi has absolutely no protection whatsoever from the state or from the authorities. Pace adds that, the prevalence torture is quite clearly established, that the degree of violence has increased exponentially since the invasion, and that the country has been blown apart in terms of its social structures and social fiber.
In the absence of a sovereign Iraqi government which cannot exist, by definition, under occupation the US-led Multi-National Forces in Iraq (MNF-I) are legally responsible, and imputable, for the failure to protect even the most basic of all human rights principles: the right to life. The current situation is intolerable. Workers in the morgue of Baghdad alone report that on average 1600 corpses are brought in every month. Following the criminal destruction of Al-Askari mosque in Samarra, these same workers report that 1300 dead were brought in over a period of seven days.
The US-led occupation has consciously led Iraq to the verge of disintegration. The country is being plundered. Torture and assassinations are endemic. Women and children have borne an equal share of the violence. The occupation is running out of space for prisoners. Cities have been targeted and destroyed in a programme of urbicide Fallujah, Tel Afar, Al-Qaim, Haditha. US coordinated air strikes and related military interventions are the biggest killer in Iraq. Repeated polls in Iraq have shown that Iraqis believe they would be safer if foreign troops left.
A culture of intended destruction
As the year 2006 opens, we have no other conclusion to draw except that the United States has intended destruction upon the people of Iraq. The use of depleted uranium weaponry will leave a scar on Iraq for billions of years. All public services have collapsed health, water, electricity, communications, justice and security. The occupation has done nothing to protect Iraqis. Refusing to safeguard civilians is as much a violation of international law as the criminal use of chemical agents such as white phosphorus on Fallujah and Tel Afar. Criminal inaction, especially following the Samarra atrocity the US military standing by as death squads roam the streets of Iraq has highlighted with precision the underlying rationality of the US presence in Iraq: impoverish the country, break it up, foment sectarian hatred, stand back and watch the killing fields swallow the population.
Silence is complicity
The international community has failed Iraq, and the Iraqi people. A decade of silence over murderous sanctions has been compounded with timidity as the United States overturned a century of legal regulation and waged an illegal preemptive war on a state that was already on its knees.
The BRussells Tribunal, in solidarity with the Iraqi people and its struggle to recover sovereignty, calls on all international organizations and institutions that work towards upholding international law, as well as national parliaments and regional organizations, to act now and with purpose.
International institutions, monitoring bodies and parliaments must recognize the gravity of the situation and act to protect the life and person of all Iraq civilians, condemn US policies in Iraq, demand the unconditional and immediate withdrawal of all foreign forces, demand the US and all other occupying powers pay reparations to Iraq and compensation to Iraqis for the human and material destruction wrought, restore in full Iraqi sovereignty, recognize as null and void any treaty, law or contract passed under occupation, and bring again a semblance of credibility to the legal underpinnings of international society.
When the powerful claim a state of exception to law the rights and obligations of all are undermined. The situation in Iraq is disgrace to us all. It is time for all actors in positions of authority and influence to rediscover their conscience, as well as their mandate and legal obligations, and speak up and ensure the end of this atrocity now.
Savage is an odd duck, he blows hot and cold on the same subject on different days, in the past he has said that Wolf Blitzer is a nice man and very kind, today Savage eviscerated him on the air.
Not that I give a rat's ass but I dont trust Savage, though he is excellent radio and thats why he is pulling down the bucks.
On this item though I totally support Savage, he is right in attempting to mount a defense, though I am by no means convinced that a civilian criminal defense attorney can represent the accused in a military justice proceeding.
Well there is a good deal of difference between a conservative and a republican. But then I've never listened to Savage so I don't know much of what he thinks.
Selected writings of some members (and former members) of the BRussells Tribunal
Accomplices in War Crimes
Echoes Of War
The invasion and occupation of Iraq was a premeditated murderous act of aggression
Iraq - A Criminal Process
The Crimes of US Democracy
World Disorder and the Crimes against the People of Iraq
Violent insurgency
In Less Than Three Years
Mass Starvation and Democracy Prevention
Iraq: A cluster of torture prisons
Dehumanisation of the others
The Evil Ideology - The teachings Of Islam are Peace and Equality
Death squads, Devastation and the Corporate Media
Real History and the Improvements in Iraq
Road to the Muslim Holocaust
War Crimes Committed In All Our Names
Recruiting Lies vs. Military Reality
Biopiracy and GMOs: The Fate of Iraqs Agriculture
Iraq: A cluster of torture prisons
Who is John Negroponte?
Iraqs Health Care Under the Occupation
The Resort To Torture
The Rise Of Legitimate Resistance Movement.
Iraqi Women Under Occupation
The Life And Mysterious Murder Of Margaret
Bush-Terror: The Supreme International Crime
Accomplices in War Crimes
Media Disinformation and the Nature of the Iraqi Resistance
Living Conditions in Iraq: A Criminal Tragedy
Useful Propaganda
Iraq: A colonial dictatorship
Civilization under Occupation
Iraq Elections and the Liberal Elites
The Staged Elections of 2005
Elections Aftermath
Independent Media: Enemy Target
The resort to torture
Undermining Iraqs Food Security
Colonial Violence against Women in Iraq
200 Children Die Every Day
Iraqi Women Under Occupation
US War Crimes, An International Vow of Silence
Who are the Barbarians?
Iraq: The Massacres Continue as Democracy-Building
Unmasked: The War Against Iraqi Children
IRAQ: Women suffer colonial violence
Iraq - A Colonial Dictatorship
Real History and the Improvements in Iraq
Iraqs Parliament: New Farce
The Destruction of Iraqs Educational System under US Occupation
Imperial Misadventures
What do Fallujah and Halabja have in Common?
Assumptive and Malicious Disinformation
They Saved Our Lives
Iraqi voices are drowned out in a blizzard of occupiers spin
Exit without a strategy
The elections wont change things
A fiction as powerful as WMD
Iraqis told them to go from day one
The Vietnam turnout was good as well
Behind the rising tide of resistance in Iraq
Fallujas defiance of a new empire
Collaboration wont buy Iraqs freedom
America has sown the seeds of civil war in Iraq
Theres more to Sadr than meets the eye
The true face of Iraqi resistance
Resistance to occupation will grow
Britains Trade Unions, the Occupation of Iraq and the IFTU
Iraq elections are not free
Patriots and invaders
Bring the British troops home
Whose interests at heart?
Who Are The Terrorists In Falluja
Iraqs New Marketplace of Ideas: Graffiti
The battle of posters
Death in Najaf
Iraqi elections 2005
Joy is green
All the kings horses
In our hands
Iraqs ticking time-bombs
Will they, wont they?
Post-election doldrums
As the bloodbath continues
Not our concern
Hostage hoax
Free to be like US
Kirkuks curse
The ballot and the bullet
Scorched dreams
In the rubble of Falluja
Beyond security
Bremer knew
Smoke and ashes
Poppies bloom in Iraq
Iraq: free for all
Business as usual
Woe betide Najaf
The six-month mark
Baghdad blues
Waiting for Al-Mahdi
Freedom is never a gift from above
Targeting tolerance
Third gear
Smoke and ashes
Between a rock and a hard place
Tomorrow will be ours
The only way is out Dec. 08 2005
Why the US will lose Nov. 04 2005
People not puppets Aug. 18, 2005
Professor of international law accuses Harvard of hiring War criminal (23 Nov 2004)
US as Belligerent Occupant (22 Dec 2005)
Francis Boyle offers experts analysis of Iraq war as Pure Evil (10 Jan 2006) Video
Biowarfare: Who Poses the Threat?
The National Campaign to Impeach President George W. Bush (16 June 2005)
Destroying World Order (22 June 2004)
Torture and International Human Rights (09 Jan 2005)
War Criminal as Attorney General? (18 Nov 2004)
Obliterating Fallujah: A War Crime in Real Time (15 Nov 2004)
This smells so bad, I think even they would pass out.
This has my hinky meter jumping off the charts. This doctor...I don't know about him....
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