Posted on 11/24/2006 6:01:23 PM PST by RedRover
WASHINGTON COUNTY-- Parents of a marine accused in the November 2005 slayings of Iraqi civilians in Haditha are coming to their son’s defense.
Lance Corporal Justin Sharratt, 22, who lived in western Pennsylvania for a time, is one of several Marines under investigation. Now, his parents, who grew up in Washington County, say their son told them he followed the rules of engagement.
They say their son was raised a Catholic and knows the difference between right and wrong. The Sharratt’s also say they believe the Marines have abandoned those implicated in the killings.
They also blame U.S. Rep. John Murtha for prejudging the Marines allegedly involved in the incident on national television.
So far, Sharratt is not been charged.
The U.S. Marine Corp had no comment on this story.
There is video at the link.
That's "anonymous".
Thanks for the post and the ping. The pics were haunting, but the video was pretty good! Can't stomach reading the article at this time...maybe later.
Too bad. My 300-word excerpt made for good reading. The whole needs a barf alert.
I linked to it mostly so people could see what's being said in the "prestige" MSM. (And for the photos and video.) But people should only read the article with a barf bag handy.
Just looking at the pictures (will save the article for later) I can't help but think this is either makes them poster boys for alQaeda or if I turn it around my optimistic nature tells me it says, "Come and git some!"
I'll say this much with certainty:
I ddoubledogtripledog dare Kerry and Rangel to say what they've said face-to-face. Hey, I'll extend an open-ended invitation for them to come to my house and say it to me.
This excerpt is very selective and the author is not as completely supportive of the Marines as this may make it sound. In any event, it's more information (even if it's slanted toward a theme of defeat in Iraq) in one place than I've seen. Here we go...
The boom of the land mine exploding was heard throughout Haditha.... It was still barely 7:15 in the morning, the Humvee boiled with black smoke, and the possibility existed that its destruction marked the start of an ambush that would now expand into overlapping attacks with automatic fire and rocket-propelled grenades.....For the moment, the houses on both sides of the street showed no sign of activity, though certainly they contained people lying low....Among these very houses was one where the Marines had discovered a bomb factory just a few days before....
....For [Sgt.] Wuterich's squad the silence of the neighborhood was therefore less reassuring than ominous. It was the quiet before the storm, the prelude to an attack....
...[A] white Opel sedan came driving up the street....Later [the Marines] said they believed the men were associated with the land-mine explosion, and were perhaps the spotters who had pushed the button, or were following up now with a car-bomb attack....
blah, blah, blah...The car was filled with Iraqi "college students" who ended up dead...Oh, the humanity...
Within minutes the force from Sparta Base arrived. It was a squad of about the same size as Wuterich's, led by the only officer present on Route Chestnut the entire morning, a young lieutenant named William Kallop. Like other lieutenants in Kilo Company, Kallop was junior in all but rank to the senior enlisted men, to whom he naturally deferred....When the allegations against Kilo Company surfaced in the spring of 2006, his parents vigorously reacted. They hired a New York public-relations firm that specializes in legal cases, and then engaged a defense attorney who is a former Marine general and was once one of the top lawyers in the Corps. The implicit warning may have had some effect. While [Capt.] McConnell and [Lt. Col.] Chessani were humiliated and relieved of their commands, and Wuterich was fingered in public, Kallop was left untouched, though technically upon his arrival at Route Chestnut on November 19 he had become the commander on the scene....
Apparently his command didn't amount to much. For the most part he remained on the street by the Humvees with the rest of his squad and allowed Wuterich and his men to work their way through the four houses....[T]he military courts will probably have a very difficult time deciding if war crimes were committed inside the houses. The difficulty will not be due to a Marine Corps agenda. Indeed, the expedient solution for the entire U.S. military would be to treat Wuterich and his men as criminals, and to destroy McConnell and Chessani as well, thereby avoiding the alternative conclusion, that the debacle in Haditha is related to normal operations in the war. But it just does not seem plausible, as John Murtha and others have claimed, that these particular Marines, who had enjoyed a relatively low-key tour, went so berserk... that...they proceeded without specific reason or provocation to enter people's houses and execute [peaceful Iraqis]....
Wuterich may have explained it best, because he has insisted that his Marines came under AK-47 attack, and defended themselves as they had been trained to do, by returning fire and surging forward to suppress the aggressors....
Thanks for posting the excerpt.
I don't recall hearing about the bomb factory a few days earlier. The house should have been leveled that day and everyone in it taken in for questioning.
Dishonorable scum = Kerry/Rangel
Just read some of the article, barf bag close by. I found the portraits of the Marines particularly touching. The courage in their faces stood out, as well as just plain grit and determination. I couldn't look at all of them, I started tearing up. Dear God, I am so thankful for these brave men! For a scumbag politician to use them for the sake of being re-elected, to bash our military, to hang these good and decent soldiers out to dry, just makes me angry beyond belief. I will NEVER, EVER believe the evil lies Murtha has spread and pray that one day he receives just punishment for what he has done to these good men and their families.
Mega bump to that.
I felt EXACTLY the same way seeing the portraits. And I feel exactly the same way about politicians, pundits, and Leftists who defame far better men then they could ever dream of being.
Look at them again.
Look at them hard.
They are my cousins, my nephews, sons, my brothers, my friends, my father, my husband, my uncles.
They are yours, too.
At the time, Leftists were belittling the Iraqi constitution. But here is what they have to say about Haditha, some short months before the "incident"...
"A three-hour drive north from Baghdad...it is a miniature Taliban-like state. Insurgents decide who lives and dies, which salaries get paid, what people wear, what they watch and listen to....DVDs of beheadings on the bridge are distributed free in the souk. Children prefer them to cartoons. They should not watch such things," said one grandfather, but parents appeared not to object."
These are the people we give one fig about??? I haven't heard anyone talk about what the people of Haditha were truly like when our Marines met them that morning a year ago.
That's what I felt looking at those portraits, and why I had to go grab some tissues. What was said in that article that they say to each other - you are my brother by another mother? I just felt like that could be my son in that picture. That is someone's son, brother, nephew, cousin, uncle, dad, - that is my child.
I remember that piece and there were a couple more about the same time, one had pics.
Here are two threads that covered the "reporter" from Haditha and the doctor at the medical facility, they're both real losers.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1641987/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1642385/posts
The Marines are the pride of our nation. And even the likes of ex-Marine Murtha can't change that.
I wish I could do more to show my support and appreciation--particularly to those who are suffering as they wait month after month to learn of their fate.
If anyone has any ideas for action, I am all ears. In the meantime, I'll just keep doing what little I can to spread the word.
"Children prefer them to cartoons."
Careful. Children prefer to be used as sexual relief. Children prefer to have their heads smacked with knives.
Children prefer to watch beheadings over cartoons.
Ain't buyin'.
Children prefer soccer balls, candy, and friends.
Thank you so much for what you're doing now. These Marines deserve to know they have support from us. Let me know there's anything I can do.
Like you, I'm sure, I'm a patriot before I'm a Republican. If Democrats can get rid of earmarks, I'll cheer. But I'm not holding my breath!
Thank you, both. I'm going to bed. Very tired. Poopy mood. : )
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