Free Republic

Haditha Statement by Murtha not holdingReuters is reporting that higher command considered an aerial bombardment in support of the ‘Haditha 8’ Marine squad because the firefight with the insurgents was so intense that day. The following statements are attributed to Maj. Sam Carrasco, who was overseeing troop movements in the area that day. [LINK] [EXCERPT:]"We saw insurgents go into a house, and we did not drop bombs on that house because we did not have (positive identification)," Carrasco told investigators. "They had engaged a previous unit and had run into a house with weapons." "We vectored the (Marine) squad and...

 They've been shackled in chains and held in solitary confinement, their defense attorneys have been denied access to key evidence of the case and now their right to request a waiver of a pre-trial hearing — known as an article 32 — has also been denied. Such has been the treatment of the men known as the Pendleton 8 in their quest to receive a fair, impartial hearing with a true presumption of innocence. The Pendleton 8 are seven Marines and a naval corpsman being held in a brig at Camp Pendleton while waiting trial on charges of kidnapping...