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In an exclusive story by correspondent Nat Helms, NewsMax has revealed that it was a Time magazine reporter's unsubstantiated allegations that sparked the notorious investigation into the death of civilians on November 19, 2005 in Haditha Iraq and subjected eight Marines of Kilo Company, Third battalion, 1st Marines to years of unwarranted harassment and prosecution. The NewsMax story does not identify the Time correspondent by name but Defend our Marines can report it was Time reporter Tim McGirk. The wildest of McGirk's allegations were never reported in print. Neither did McGirk inform his readers about the evident problems his sources...

On May 31, 2006, the Los Angeles Times editorially bellowed, "What happened at the Iraqi My Lai?" The charge was that on Nov. 19, 2005, the Marines of Kilo Company, Third Battalion, First Marine Regiment, had gone on a killing rampage in the town of Haditha in Anbar province. The rampage was said to be in response to the killing by IED of one of their comrades. That May, Rep. Murtha, D-Pa., vowed at a press conference an investigation would prove "our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood." As the...

When I heard the news that four U.S. Marines were charged for their alleged role in the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in the western town of Haditha in Nov. 2005, it marked the end of a personal odyssey.In Jan. 2005, at Time's heavily fortified Baghdad bureau, I was shown a video by Iraqi human rights workers. In the first segment of the video, grieving Iraqi families were collecting bodies at a morgue. The second part showed the interior of two houses whose walls were spattered with blood and pitted with bullet holes. I asked who had carried out this...

Time magazine's veteran foreign correspondent Tim McGirk has reported from postings such as Islamabad, Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Baghdad and New Delhi, and is currently in the process of moving to Jerusalem to become the magazine's bureau chief there. This past March, while in Baghdad, he was the first reporter to break the story of the alleged slaughter of Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines in the town of Haditha in November 2005. Paul McLeary: In March, Time magazine broke the story of the alleged massacre of Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines in Haditha. How did you find the story,...

From the Columbia Journalism Review site, the CJR Daily: Tim McGirk.Tim McGirk on HadithaPaul McLearyJune 16, 2006 Time magazine's veteran foreign correspondent Tim McGirk has reported from postings such as Islamabad, Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Baghdad and New Delhi, and is currently in the process of moving to Jerusalem to become the magazine's bureau chief there. This past March, while in Baghdad, he was the first reporter to break the story of the alleged slaughter of Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines in the town of Haditha in November 2005.Paul McLeary: In March, Time magazine broke the story of the...

Should Patrick Fitzgerald decide to continue to pursue the 2 counts in the Libby indictment even though the Judge has found impeaching evidence in Time’s documents, I suggest Libby may want to use this evidence of Cooper’s journalistic malfeasance to further impeach him. The Haditha Scandal’s Other Casualty With the Pentagon completing its probe into whether U.S. forces massacred civilians one November morning in Western Iraq, the damage to America’s image abroad could take a further hit By MATTHEW COOPER/WASHINGTON Posted Friday, May. 26, 2006 In the original version of this story, TIME reported that “one of the most damning...

Is the Haditha Story Falling Apart?  ( That's my take on it- read more, and be certain to use all the links, and the links within them. Read all the "comments" in the blogs. ) Clarice Feldman at The American Thinker  Haditha: Is McGirk the New Mary Mapes? (with assistance from Sweetness & Light) has put together a narrative report of what’s known so far about the Haditha incident—and the story seems to be unraveling at the edges: Haditha: Is McGirk the New Mary Mapes?"A Presbyterian minister who was an embedded reporter with his son’s U.S. Marine company, which is accused...

Evidence accumulates of a hoax in Haditha. The weblog Sweetness & Light has done an estimable service gathering together the articles which cast substantial doubt on the charge of a massacre of civilians at Haditha . Because the blog is too busy gathering and fisking the news, I offered and the publisher accepted my offer to put what he has uncovered in a narrative form. Having done so, I can tell you that the story has a whiff of yet another mediagenic scandal like the TANG memos or the Plame “outing.” While the Marines quite correctly will not comment on...

The barons of bombast allowed President George W. Bush a few minutes of air-time to commend our troops and note that they had administered "a severe blow to Al Qaeda." Then it was business as usual, bashing the administration, trashing our troops, and making sure that the words "Haditha" and "atrocity" are firmly branded in the minds of everyone with access to American media. article in full here ==================================================================== Islamist: *Me Lie* about Haditha. Your Media laps it up The story of Haditha puts national security -- the GOP's forte -- back on the front burner. Which means it's probably...