Posted on 06/20/2006 9:19:26 PM PDT by Jedi Master Pikachu
The lawyer for one of the marines accused of the massacre has told the BBC that criminal charges will probably be brought soon.
And we have found that the marines were operating under some very disturbing conditions.
The accusation is that after a US marine lance corporal died in a roadside bombing in Haditha last November, his fellow marines went on a killing spree.
Twenty-four people died in the attack, including seven women and three children.
A 12-year-old girl who survived says the Americans killed them indiscriminately.
The marines said they had came under fire from the houses where the people died.
The lawyer representing one marine told us he believed they would face charges, but said they were following their rules of engagement.
"I don't think the facts will show they intentionally killed those civilians," Paul Hackett said. "It was in the heat of battle, in the heat of clearing the houses.
"That is, like it or not, that is what those marines are required to do. They are required to close with the enemy, and kill the enemy."
'Feral' conditions
But Haditha is not the only massacre that has been alleged against the US forces.
A US inquiry has cleared them of blame for the deaths of civilians in Ishaqi in March - yet leading figures in the Iraqi government are unhappy, and want a wider investigation.
Kilo company soldiers in Haditha in October 2005 Members of Kilo Company were operating in deteriorating conditions
But what happened at Haditha seems more clear-cut.
It is an intensely dangerous place for the Americans, and the battle-weary men of Kilo Company - the unit which included the marines accused of the massacre - had lost a lot of men there.
And they were operating under disturbing circumstances.
Kilo Company's headquarters were three miles north of Haditha, at a vast dam across the Euphrates. It is a big target, because it supplies power to much of southern Iraq.
Four hundred men of the First Marine regiment were based in this decaying rabbit-warren. Conditions were so disgusting, many just moved out.
They set up these unofficial shacks alongside it. Conditions at the dam have been described as "feral".
Oliver Poole is one of the few reporters to have been there, shortly after the alleged massacre. He was shocked by these strange, primitive huts, which lacked even basic hygiene.
"You walked in and the first words were 'F off', and they were ripping pieces of wood apart to feed the fire," he said. "You could see the conditions in which they lived. And they were filthy. It was disgusting."
There seemed to him to be no real discipline.
"The fact that the officers had let conditions deteriorate to the level in which where people living in such basic environment, that says something," he said. "Where were the officers keeping the standards that the US military keeps in the field?"
Blame game
The marines of Kilo Company are now back at Camp Pendleton, in California. But that question of keeping the men under proper control is essential.
The main gate at the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base in California The investigation into the alleged massacre is still ongoing
"The hardest thing is not necessarily killing someone or shooting someone; it's not killing someone or shooting someone when you're angry," said Paul Rieckhoff of the Iraqi Veterans Campaign.
"When someone in your unit is killed or wounded it's like someone attacked your family. The responsibility then is on one of the squad leaders, platoon leaders, team leaders to hold those guys back."
Up to now in the US, those against the war have blamed the people at the very top for what is happening in Iraq.
But the news that three American soldiers have been charged in connection with the deaths of three prisoners in Iraq last month - and the probable charges over Haditha - may mean that Americans will now start blaming those who are actually fighting the war as well.
Just as they did in Vietnam.
Baathist Broadcasting Corp
What a friggin load of Shiite
Should have stopped sooner, stopped reading after this. They were cleared, but let's smear them anyway.
What is your take newbie?
Also, why is there a consistent attempt to compare the iraq war to the Vietnam War (rhetorical)? iraq seems to be stabilizing, and the Americans (and other coalition forces) seem generally in control.
Now that I read the last part, I would like to kick this guy's butt. That would be the best way to hit his head. The American people never blamed their soldiers as this creep says, except for a few scumbags like John Kerry and his stoned out hippie ilk.
This article from the BBC is pure Bull Sh--! Marines do not just move out
I hate those Bast---s at the BBC.
Why do they compare Iraq and Vietnam? Because we won militarily in Vietnam as well, and the left destroyed Nixon and then abandoned our ally to the communists. They want to repeat that history in Iraq. They are insane and despicable and they want to see our allies slaughtered.
The lawyer for one of the marines..
No more needs to be read. Pathetic.
It's MARINES you BBC mindless twits.
Don't know why they bothered to print the rest of the article - this is the theme right here. And it's total crap.
In point of fact Haditha will have little or no effect on anything, whether this fleabag of trumped-up charges is made to resound throught the international media or not. Should the whole thing be shown to be a fake tomorrow - and that isn't at all unlikely - the BBC will bury that news as deeply as it can while it continues to the next story that makes the case that Iraq is Vietnam. And that's all that matters, not truth, but the theme.
Unleash the Devil Dogs - let's get this Sh*t over with.
I hope they bring in the fact that two of our best was just slaudered by these guys. I hope when they do that this just goes away.
Haditha was a haven for the enemy!!
They LIE.
They would sell the souls of their children for the death of one American.
They lie
When we give them equal credibility of the USMC,We do ourselves a grave dishonor.
They LIE!!
God have mercy on the soul of Murtha and those who feed this BS, for I have none.
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