Regardless of where the truth ultimately is, at this point the major media’s treatment of Haditha is little more than a literate lynch mob in a rush to judgment.
bump for future reference. Thanks backhoe
'Budding journalism student', I'd like you to meet 'Lucy Ramirez'!
Bookmark
Good work Backhoe.
Delacoert is trying to keep all the Haditha stuff archived. Please Ping him when you have new stuff as well
Great work. And it is shaping up about how many of us suspected.
What gets my blood boiling is that there are so few avenues to get this information out besides places like here on FR where it's mostly just preaching to the choir.
Meanwhile the cursed MSM spews their bullsh*t to the entire world night and day.
Thanks for your hard work in bringing all this together. It truly looks like a setup and the rush to crucify these Marines is a pathetic lynch mob mentality by the MSM and Murtha.
Support Diana Irey for Congress and retire the hangman.
http://www.irey.com/
So, at what point can Americans sue the media? If this story turns out to be yet another hit job, then it is our Marine Corp they have slandered for political reasons. "Just don't watch" or "just don't buy the paper" doesn't really satisfy and does little to make them be accountable.
These media people have the capacity to do damage to our nation, our troops and to our cause yet seem to feel no compulsion to simply do their jobs and report the unbiased news. Over and over, it's the same scenario, whether it's Dan Rather or Katrina or Haditha or whatever. There is no reprisal except in their sales or ratings, but the reporter or editor doesn't take the hit. That's not right. We live in a country that's got way too many lawyers. Well, here's a golden opportunity for them to do some good!
Ping!
Thank you for posting!
Children “survivors” - Coached?
Here’s a video of an interview with several of the child “survivors”.
Thanks for gathering all this info into 1 place.
The real question IMO is: The statements by politicans indicitating the Marines are guilty will be used by the enemy as propaganda to turn people in Iraq and the Middle East against this country.
In Iraq this sort of anger could lead to the deaths of more US troops and potentially lengthing the campaign in Iraq.
If as it appears the Haditha incident is a hoax perpritrated by the terrorist, are the statements of politicans who falsly accused their fellow Americans of murder treasonous, don't these statements constitute giving AID and Comfort to the enemy?
Is it too much to hope that reports of the massacre of civilians in Haditha by U.S. Marines will turn out to be false? At the American Thinker, attorney Clarice Feldman takes a look at evidence suggesting the allegations may not be trustworthy: "Haditha: Is McGirk the new Mary Mapes?" Feldman's analysis should be supplemented by Andrew Walden's Hawaii Free Press report, cited by Feldman: "Haditha: Reasonable doubt."
Washington Post Presents Marine’s Side Of Story
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1647257/posts
Lawyer: Marine Denies Haditha Massacre
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1647142/posts
12 posted on 06/11/2006 3:20:40 PM EDT by Kaslin
How funny, the sitcom disappeared and reality TV took its place while agenda driven fiction took the place of network and media elite reporting. Manufactured news to further a left wing agenda. The media's behavior is nothing short of astounding. And it may serve a great good. This is a hard slap across the face of the American people to really look at who they choose to get their news. Who do you trust baby?
Today's Washington Post has the dope on what went down at Haditha. I am surprised they ran it. (hat tip AB)
Marine Says Rules Were Followed
Sergeant Describes Hunt for Insurgents in Haditha, Denies Coverup
A sergeant who led a squad of Marines during the incident in Haditha, Iraq, that left
as many as 24 civilians dead said his unit did not intentionally target any civilians, followed military rules of engagement and never tried to cover up the shootings, his attorney said.
Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, 26, told his attorney that several civilians were killed Nov. 19 when his squad went after insurgents who were firing at them from inside a house. The Marine said there was no vengeful massacre, but he described a house-to-house hunt that went tragically awry in the middle of a chaotic battlefield.
"It will forever be his position that everything they did that day was following their rules of engagement and to protect the lives of Marines," said Neal A. Puckett, who represents Wuterich in the ongoing investigations into the incident. "He's really upset that people believe that he and his Marines are even capable of intentionally killing innocent civilians."
Wuterich's detailed version of what happened in the Haditha neighborhood is the first public account from a Marine who was on the ground when the shootings occurred. As the leader of 1st Squad, 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, Wuterich was in the convoy of Humvees that was hit by a roadside bomb. He entered the house from which the Marines believed enemy fire was originating and made the initial radio reports to his company headquarters about what was going on, Puckett said.
Extensive blogosphere coverage (who else can you trust?) here
UPDATE: Shrinkwrappped studies the issue here;
I think we need to change the dynamic of stories like Haditha. Our enemies are exceptionally good at Information Warfare. [...]
"Our enemies use women and children as human shields, and as propaganda tools in their war against the West. Early in the fighting in Iraq our soldiers were entirely too respectful of the Mosque as sanctuary; when our soldiers began to fire on insurgents who hid within the walls of Mosques, denying them safe havens, there was no uprising from the mythical Arab street; the terrorists lost one of their most powerful weapons. Until we start treating every report of an American or Israeli "atrocity" as if it is propaganda, rather than news, they will continue to use this weapon.
I've been offline much of the weekend--a healthy thing every once in a while.
The Haditha story continues to unfold. Allah Pundit is on top of all the latest developments, blog coverage of a possible "hoax," Dem exploitation, new Marine revelations, etc.
More Haditha bookmarks:
The Greyhawk timeline.
Clarice Feldman's provocative piece at The American Thinker.
Dan Riehl's analysis of media errors.
Sweetness and Light on Time's corrections.
Previous:
The Chicago Sun-Times apologizes
A smear you can't take back
Haditha hyperventilation
The Haditha tar brush
UK Times smears our Marines
The incident at Ishaqi
Haditha Marine: Insurgents use kids
Haditha: perspective
Incident at Haditha, Pt II
Freedom is not free
Incident at Haditha
Murtha hangs the Marines
SOME CORRECTIONS FROM TIME on Haditha.
UPDATE: Here's much more from The Mudville Gazette.
And Dan Riehl has thoughts, too.
The “Haditha massacre” story continues unraveling: Marine Says Rules Were Followed.
A sergeant who led a squad of Marines during the incident in Haditha, Iraq, that left as many as 24 civilians dead said his unit did not intentionally target any civilians, followed military rules of engagement and never tried to cover up the shootings, his attorney said.
Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, 26, told his attorney that several civilians were killed Nov. 19 when his squad went after insurgents who were firing at them from inside a house. The Marine said there was no vengeful massacre, but he described a house-to-house hunt that went tragically awry in the middle of a chaotic battlefield.
“It will forever be his position that everything they did that day was following their rules of engagement and to protect the lives of Marines,” said Neal A. Puckett, who represents Wuterich in the ongoing investigations into the incident. “He’s really upset that people believe that he and his Marines are even capable of intentionally killing innocent civilians.”
Wuterich’s detailed version of what happened in the Haditha neighborhood is the first public account from a Marine who was on the ground when the shootings occurred. As the leader of 1st Squad, 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, Wuterich was in the convoy of Humvees that was hit by a roadside bomb. He entered the house from which the Marines believed enemy fire was originating and made the initial radio reports to his company headquarters about what was going on, Puckett said. ...
Wuterich’s version contradicts that of the Iraqis, who described a massacre of men, women and children after a bomb killed a Marine. Haditha residents have said that innocent civilians were executed, that some begged for their lives before being shot and that children were killed indiscriminately.
Wuterich told his attorney in initial interviews over nearly 12 hours last week that the shootings were the unfortunate result of a methodical sweep for enemies in a firefight. Two attorneys for other Marines involved in the incident said Wuterich’s account is consistent with those they had heard from their clients.
Kevin B. McDermott, who is representing Capt. Lucas M. McConnell, the Kilo Company commander, said Wuterich and other Marines informed McConnell on the day of the incident that at least 15 civilians were killed by “a mixture of small-arms fire and shrapnel as a result of grenades” after the Marines responded to an attack from a house.
Mudville Gazette has analysis of the story.
Today's Washington Post carries Josh White's page-one story reporting the account of one of the Marines directly involved in events at Haditha: "Marine says rules were followed." White's story is the first such media report, though it comes indirectly from the Marine's attorney rather than from the Marine himself. At Democracy Project, Bruce Kesler comments: "Haditha: Now let's see who drive-by media believe." At Mudville Gazette, Greyhawk comments: "Haditha: The accused speak."
Sweetness & Light, which has been all over the Haditha story, notes that Time Magazine has been discreetly backing off its Haditha coverage with a series of corrections. Time has an enormous amount of prestige invested in its Haditha "scoop." It turns out, though, that the magazine apparently misrepresented the source of the videotape that got the whole story rolling. And it has also developed that a photograph that Time described as "one of the most damning pieces of evidence investigators have in their possession" is only the subject of rumor, and may not even exist.
As a story about the Marines, the jury is out on Haditha. As a story about journalism, it's starting to look bad for Time. Based on recent history, I suppose that means the magazine is likely to get a Pulitzer.
Via InstaPundit and Power Line News.
Like most people, I was concerned the story could be true. But then I heard the brother-in-law of the home owner say that he had gone into the home after the Marines killed everyone and threw in a grenade. He described how the Americans had wrapped the bodies in carpets and bedsheets after killing them, then blowing the house to smithereens.
At that moment, I knew the Marines had not murdered anyone. Americans and Marines DO NOT wrap bodies in carpets and bedsheets. It's not part of our death custom. It is Muslim and Iraqi custom, not ours.
The Haditha story is a staged one act play for which there are innumerable versions played out many times across Iraq and Afghanistan and other places Muslims believe they can get mileage from a convienient event.