Posted on 12/21/2006 11:03:18 AM PST by areafiftyone
US military prosecutors charged four US Marines on Thursday with murder and four others on related charges in the November 2005 deaths of 24 unarmed civilians in the western Iraq town of Haditha, according to charging documents.
The Pentagon has spent months investigating allegations that the marines, who are now based at Camp Pendleton, California, ran amok after a fellow marine was killed in a roadside bombing, and killed the Iraqis in cold blood.
The military originally claimed that the Iraqi civilians were killed by a roadside bomb. But it was forced to open a full-blown investigation after Time magazine produced evidence suggesting that the marines had killed the civilians to avenge the death of their colleague.
John Murtha, a former marine and influential Democrat in the House of Representatives, earlier this year accused the military of a cover-up by not opening an investigation until approached by Time magazine.
"One woman…was bending over her child, pleading for mercy, and they shot her in cold blood. That's the thing that is so disturbing," Mr Murtha told ABC television at the time.
The alleged massacre at Haditha, a village about 100km north of Baghdad, has raised comparisons with the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam, where US soldiers slaughtered more than 300 innocent civilians. The allegations also came to light just as the image of US soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad were starting to fade in the US. President George W. Bush earlier this year said he was "troubled" by the Haditha allegations, and added that any US troops that had broken the law would be punished. With Congress reverting to Democratic control in January, lawmakers are expected to more closely scrutinise US policy in Iraq, including investigating allegations of abuse by US troops.
The charges against the marines come at a sensitive time for Mr Bush, who is struggling to find a new Iraq policy to quell the sectarian violence that is claiming the lives of several thousand Iraqis each month.
I'm thinking it is more dangerous for our troops now that Iraq has its own government in place. Previously, we were part of the provisional government and protected by their authority. Now, it is a foreign government and we are part of the Coalition present in Iraq due to the U.N. mandate, which I understand the PM has requested be extended for another year.
At any rate, our government is now behaving in light of the long-term goal of winning (and maintaining) Iraq as an ally. Every one of these cases depends on hearsay from "Iraqi civilians" and usually, the "crime" is detected a few to several months after the alleged incidents. So, yes, I would suspect political motivations and negotiations going on.
I suggest finding scapegoats other than our honorable troops, however.
If anyone finds anything noteworthy, let me know and I'll add it. Hope it may be useful.
Corrected tagline.
Your tagline is informative, to say the least. Damn.
Okay, you guys. Here's the sitch. We're all plenty depressed but Mrs Red is hollering at me to do something! So here's my proposal. Let's think of SOMETHING we can do to show the families that Americans are behind them. Everything I've heard from the lawyers involved encourage me to think that signs of support are desperately appreciated. I'm too tired to come up with anything tonight. But help me think of something that'll make the news, okay? We can do this. Let's please talk tomorrow.
The rest of us can put our thinking caps on.
Charge II: Violation of the UCMJ, Article 134 (Soliciting Another to commit an offense) (Maximum punishment: Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 5 years)
Specification 1: did wrongfully solicit Corporal Dela Cruz to make a false official statement.
Specification 2: did wrongfully solicit Corporal Dela Cruz to make a false official statement.
How could this be charged unless there was some kind of direct testimony?
Neither Dela Cruz nor Salinas had high profile civilian attorneys. Wonder what to make of that?
Good idea!
Pendelton - 8 PING
These are the Haditha Marines, not the Pendleton 8 of Hamdania.
""...spent most of my adult life as a commissioned officer on active duty and reserves, so yeah, I am relentless. I took pride in serving my country, I am very proud to be associated with the honorable men and women serving in Iraq and who wear the same uniform I did. I don't know anyone - sailor, soldier or marine - who condones murder. If these men did what they are charged with doing then they have spit in the face of all the brave men and women who managed to perform their tour or tours without murdering anyone. And if the did if fact shoot unarmed men, women, and children then they deserve to spend the rest of their life in prison...""
Interesting. What branch of the military?
Xin Loi,Moozzi...(Gen. Nguyen Ngok Loan is my Hero)
Come on Justa, you know SandRat knows that! ;-)
You sound like you've had an interesting life. Got a book out, I'd sure like to read it. LOL!
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