The photo caption in Google reads: "metallsøking og metallsøkere". I can't figure out what the heck they're doing, can you?
I mean these women are gorgeous, but what's up with the red earmuffs?
Posted on 12/21/2006 11:03:18 AM PST by areafiftyone
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - A Marine Corps squad leader was charged Thursday with 13 murder counts stemming from the killings of 24 civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha last year, his attorney said.
Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich was charged with 12 counts of murdering individuals and one count of murdering six people by ordering Marines under his charge to "shoot first and ask questions later" when they entered a house, according to charging sheets released by defense attorney Neal Puckett.
As many as eight Marines could be charged in the case, the biggest U.S. criminal case to emerge from the war in Iraq in terms of people killed.
The deaths occurred on Nov. 19, 2005.
Lawyers for two Marines already have said they expect their clients will be charged and it’s believed up to six others could join them.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Is this what you had in mind? (See shout-out in post above.)
I love these interviews with the residents of Haditha, Haqlaniyah and Barwana. We've lost at least 40 to 50 troops in that neighborhood. To those in Haqlaniyah, I say you and your kin had to know what was coming down the night of 1/26/2005. There's no way that an estimated 30-60 terrorists are going to assemble and execute a well-planned ambush in such a small town without someone knowing about it. You didn't care then, why should we care now? I'd be happy to meet with you in Hell and compare notes.
That's wonderful, I was in the Army myself. Now that we have gotten the John Kerry chest thumping out of the way, I would say that you seem awfully eager to believe the worst about these marines.
I'm so torn up that I don't know what to think. I am in touch with far too many parents who lost their sons in Haditha, Haqlaniyah and Barwana, not to mention Moms whose sons fell at Fallujah while serving with the 3/1 Marines in Nov 2004. Just today I was conversing with a Mom whose son was in the 4th vehicle ahead of my son during the night of the ambush. He didn't say much except that he would tell her about it when he got back. Except he came back in a box 30 days later, from Haditha.
And you would be wrong. If I am eager to believe anything it's that they will receive a fairer trial in a general court martial than in a civilian court. If they're innocent then I am convinced they will go free. If they are guilty then they will be convicted and punished. I have never said otherwise.
Found another article, It is blocked and can not be posted on FR.
Iraq massacre: US Marines 'will point the finger of blame at senior officers'
Here is the link:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2099982.ece
There has been a trial by media since March and "anonymous DOD sources" have leaked bucketfuls to the MSM. Freepers may dismiss Time and the TV networks as the Dinosaur Media. But they are still how most people in this country get their information and opinions.
I pray justice is done at the court martial. It certainly hasn't been done anywhere else.
Local Paper for Capt. Lucas McConnell
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/state/16305933.htm?source=rss&channel=montereyherald_state
Hometown stunned by charges
San Francisco Chronicle
When news of Capt. Lucas McConnell's possible involvement in war crimes in Iraq broke in the spring of 2006, people in his hometown who had watched him grow up to become a high school football star and Marine were totally incredulous.
Dozens of letters and e-mails of support for McConnell's character and leadership qualities poured into one of the local papers, the Napa Valley Register.
This week, the town was jolted again when McConnell, 31, was charged with dereliction of duty as one of the officers responsible for the Marines who killed two dozen Iraqi civilians, including women and children, in Haditha last year after a Marine was killed in an attack by insurgents.
''When this first broke, I was upset that our armed services would take one of our best and put him through this kind of scrutiny,'' said Vintage High School football coach Les Franco.
''I know Luke. I know his parents. They're outstanding people,'' Franco said, adding that he did not coach McConnell when he played for the high school more than a decade ago. ''When politics gets involved in a war like this, it's disgusting.... It's a shame that any American soldier has to go through this after serving his country.''
McConnell's attorney, Kevin McDermott, has insisted that the charge has no merit because his client was not at the scene of the November 2005 killings and did not try to cover them up.
''We're just absolutely clueless as to what kind of dereliction of duty he could have committed,'' McDermott told the Associated Press.
McConnell is the second-highest-ranking officer charged in the Haditha case. He was commander of Kilo Company -- a unit of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division -- whose Marines were accused of killing 24 unarmed civilians in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005.
It was McConnell's first tour at war. He was relieved of his command of Kilo Company as investigators looked into the Haditha incident. He returned in March to Southern California.
McConnell's parents in Napa declined to comment.
Some of his former troops have recalled his prayers and pep talks.
Brian Miller, an enlisted Marine, wrote in an Internet posting that McConnell was his platoon commander. ''Lt. Luke is a stand-up guy. I wish him the best and believe he is innocent of all charges. This is war, people.''
Luke McConnell grew up in Napa and graduated from Vintage High School, where he was captain of the football team -- playing wide receiver and defensive back, and leading his team to a league championship in 1992.
In 1997, he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. As a commissioned officer in the Marine Corps, he joined the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion at Twentynine Palms (San Bernardino County). McConnell, who is married, was deployed to Iraq in June 2005.
''He's a great kid. Everybody loved him. He came back and spoke to our teams,'' Franco said. ''He spoke at our fundraiser for Vintage High last spring and inspired everyone in the room. He also spoke to my football team a couple of times, and the players on the field were very impressed with what he had to say. He wasn't just a gung-ho Marine. They were impressed with his character.''
Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz
Marine accused of killing 5 civilians
Chicago man, three others charged with crimes in the slayings of 24 Iraqis
December 23, 2006
By Steve Warmbir Special to the Daily Southtown
Marine Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz was the kind of young man a mother wanted to see at her door, waiting to pick up her daughter for a date, according to people who know him.
Dela Cruz, 24, was always "yes, ma'am, no, sir."
He took pride in tending the landscaping as part of a school program at Wells Community High School.
"You wish you had a classroom full of guys like him," said one of his former teachers, Ted Dallas.
So the charges this week against him and three other Marines that they took part in the slaying of 24 civilians in Iraq have left Dela Cruz's friends and colleagues reeling. The attack came after a landmine exploded, killing one of the Marine's colleagues.
Dela Cruz was charged Thursday with killing five people and lying to authorities investigating the November 2005 incident in Haditha. He faces life in prison if convicted.
He is remembered fondly at Wells, in the 900 block of North Ashland Avenue, where he was a leader in the high school ROTC program.
"That's not the boy I knew," the school's registrar, Betsy Garcia, said, of the charges against Dela Cruz. "That's not the boy I know. It's just so surreal."
Dela Cruz had long wanted to join the Marines and did just that after he graduated in 2002.
After he finished basic training, he returned to visit the school and noticed the bushes behind the building were in bad shape.
"He said, 'These plants look terrible.' I told him, 'We need you to come back to take care of them,' " Garcia said.
Dallas ran the horticulture program for the school when Dela Cruz was there. Dela Cruz never sassed him and was trusted with the keys to the equipment storage areas.
"I trusted him with everything," said Dallas, now the vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union.
Dela Cruz came to the United States as a young boy from the Philippines and lived with a female relative in Chicago.
"A lot of our kids go into the military. It's a way to get out from under and make something of yourself," Dallas said.
Teachers and staff at the school never saw a trace of violence in him.
They usually just saw a smile on his face.
"He was a guy we could count on," Dallas said.
Sorry forgot to post the link.
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/news/184025,231NWS2.article
Hiya, Pink! Lots og great stuff for tomorrow's summary.
Oh, good grief. "Lots OF great stuff".
Yes LOTS of stuff!
http://news.bostonherald.com/editorial/view.bg?articleid=173517&srvc=news
Haditha charges raise questions
By Boston Herald editorial staff
Saturday, December 23, 2006
The lodging of criminal charges against eight Marines in connection with the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians 13 months ago is a sad and absolutely necessary duty for the Marine Corps.
The charging of four officers with dereliction of duty for failure to report what they knew or failure to investigate - in effect, a coverup of what happened in three Haditha homes - is particularly important. It represents a re-affirmation of the important principle of an officer’s responsibility for what troops under his command do, something the armed forces have not always pursued with rigor in recent years.
Though 64 members of the American armed forces have been charged with killing Iraqi civilians, the Haditha incident has been the most devastating to what had been an American reputation for decent treatment of civilians.
It’s only because Time magazine began asking about the case four months after the event that charges were brought at all. The initial reports of the four enlisted men, who are charged with unpremeditated murder, claimed that they were fired on from the houses after a comrade was killed in a roadside bomb attack on their Humvee convoy. Six children and an old man in a wheelchair were among those shot to death in what the Marines claimed was a firefight. Families of and lawyers for the enlisted defendants claim they were following well-understood rules of engagement.
In military cases, prosecutors do not outline their evidence (and defendants do not plead) until a later hearing that could lead to courts-martial. But it is known that the Naval Investigative Service has videotaped interviews with survivors made by a neighbor, photos of the dead made for one of the officers charged and the results of video surveillance of the scene from a drone that flew over it after the shooting. It is a shame that no apparent use was made of those items until Time magazine came along.
OH!!!GOOD!!!
The article says it all goes to "motive"...and I have said all along that I can't imagine that they did not believe that there were terrorists mixed in with the residents.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
The motive was survival.
The photo caption in Google reads: "metallsøking og metallsøkere". I can't figure out what the heck they're doing, can you?
I mean these women are gorgeous, but what's up with the red earmuffs?
Site Institute is reporting that Ansar al-Sunnah Announces the Graduation of its Sniper Brigade in Haditha, and Claims Responsibility for Bombings Targeting Iraqi Forces .
Ansar al-Sunnah recently announced the “graduation” from training of their sniper brigade in Haditha, which took place on December 13, 2006, and this group’s sniping of three American soldiers and four “apostates”. The message indicates that this particular brigade will execute revenge operations for what was allegedly committed against them by the enemy forces. In addition, in two communiqués among the several released today, Wednesday, December 20, 2006, by Ansar al-Sunnah, the group claims responsibility for the following:
- Destroying a troop transportation vehicle of the Iraqi National Guard via a car bomb today in the city of al-Azamiya, north of Baghdad, and purportedly killing four.
- Detonating another car bombing in the city of al-Zafaraniya at a combined checkpoint of Iraqi forces and police, purportedly killing more than ten.
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