Posted on 06/01/2006 7:53:01 PM PDT by kristinn
Criminal investigators are hoping to exhume the bodies of several Iraqi civilians allegedly gunned down by a group of U.S. Marines last year in the city of Haditha, aiming to recover potentially important forensic evidence, according to defense officials familiar with the investigation.
A source close to the inquiry said Naval Criminal Investigative Service officials have interviewed families of the dead several times and have visited the homes where the shootings allegedly occurred to collect as much evidence as possible. Exhuming the bodies could help investigators determine the distance at which shots were fired, the caliber of the bullets and the angles of the shots, possibly crucial details in determining how events unfolded and who might have been involved.
SNIP
"I think it's going to be a very difficult case for them to prove," said Vaughan Taylor, a former military prosecutor and instructor in criminal law at the Army's Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School. On balance, he said, he would rather be a defense counsel in the case than prosecute for the government.
"I think there's plenty of avenues for defense in this case -- the fact that it wasn't initially investigated, the fact that there's been plenty of time for witnesses to play with stories. There's a lot of wiggle room in there."
The gap between the incident and the beginning of the NCIS investigation is going to cause major problems in prosecuting any charges, a Marine officer familiar with the case agreed. "They have huge proof problems," he said, citing the lack of identified bodies.
"The long and the short of it is, until they prove the cause of death," they don't have anything, said one civilian defense lawyer representing a Kilo Company Marine. "Photographs won't be enough to do it. Good luck with that."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Iraqis Accounts Link Marines to the Mass Killing of Civilians
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and MONA MAHMOUD
BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 28
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In addition to Ms. Abdullah and Asmas baby, two others survived. One, 9-year-old Iman Walid Abdul Hamid, said she ran quickly, still clad in her pajamas, to hide under the bed with her younger brother, Abdul Rahman Walid Abdul Hamid, when she saw what was happening.
"We were scared and could not move for two hours. I tried to hide under the bed," she said, but both her and her brother, Abdul Rahman, were hit with shrapnel.
Abdul Rahman, 7, said very little about that day. "When they killed my father Walid, I hid in bed," he said.
Hiba Abdullah assumed the two children had died, but she said they were later found at a local hospital.
Thanks much for the info. Even though it doesn't always produce results we are looking for, the people that investigate here at FR is our strength.
Let's parse this sentence, like we had to do everything that came out of Bubba's piehole during the years of the Clinton stain.
First "Marine Corps officials" is not the same thing as "Marine Corps officers". Could these be left-behind clintonoids with GSA ratings that make them untouchable? Are they even remotely involved with the case?
Second, even assuming the statement is true, why are they providing damning statements that the defense will rightly use to claim the inability for the accused to receive a fair trial. Even worse, under UCMJ, the defense can claim "command influence", which results in a case being dismissed, if true.
Third, Mu'tha (as he was called in another thread) is either passing on lies, or is leaking confidential information, which he has no right to possess. In either case, it's not to help further the presumption of innocence of the Marines.
Finally, it smells like the persecution's (not "prosecution's") side of the case is beginning to fall apart. This is beginning to look like another crude attempt to punish innocent people, like Hillary's handling of the White House travel office.
I don't know. How exactly would you expect the White House to shut them up? If they are anonymous sources? Just wondering.
Bumping WAY to the top. Excellent post.
"forget that, no bodies of adult males need to be exhumed.
they claimed our Marines shot down unarmed women and children - dig up women and children for autopsies."
Exactly, if they want our marines executed then we have to investigate COMPLETELY. Sorry, we cant depend on politically motivated politicians, unnamed sources, insurgent journalists, rehearsed kids that change their story, and especially our MSM.
"One Haditha victim was an elderly man, close to 80 years old, killed in his wheelchair as he appeared to be holding a Koran, according to the United States defense official, who described information collected during the investigation. An elderly woman was also killed, as were a mother and a child who were "in what appeared to be a prayer position," the official said.
Some victims had single gunshot wounds to the head, and at least one home where people were shot to death had no bullet marks on the walls, inconsistent with a clearing operation that would typically leave bullet holes, the official added."
Give me a break!! Sounds like these dead people were actually tampered with to have the appearance they were praying in order to further vilify the marines. This is suck a propaganda set up!!
"One has to appreciate the irony in the "killing babies" statement."
You can say that again.
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