Bronco_Beerslug
05-20-2006, 02:54 PM
No excuse for killing unarmed civilians. This kind of thing overshadows anything that might be good happening there, if there is such a thing.
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Pentagon Investigates Alleged Massacre in Iraq
by Tom Bowman
All Things Considered, May 19, 2006 · The Pentagon is investigating an alleged Marine rampage that may have left as many as two-dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians dead last November in the Iraqi town of Haditha. The numbers are far higher than had been previously reported and have shaken the Marine hierarchy.
Investigators are still piecing together what happened on a November morning in Haditha, a Sunni stronghold northwest of Baghdad. But they have some troubling details: 24 civilians died in a hail of gunfire, including 11 women and children, a government official familiar with the investigation tells NPR.
http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/4167/marines17rz.png
The initial reports said a roadside bomb blew up one Marine and 15 Iraqi civilians. The investigation has now turned that story upside down, revealing a much more disturbing chain of events, says the official, who asked not to be identified.
It all started when four Marine Humvees entered Haditha. A roadside bomb exploded, killing a Marine and wounding two others. The Marines jumped out and set up a defensive posture. Suddenly, a taxi carrying five Iraqi men pulled up. The Marines ordered the unarmed men out of the vehicle, and the five Iraqis were killed, the official said.
The Marines quickly began a search of four houses. Most of the Iraqi civilians killed were inside their houses. Only in that final house did Marines find an Iraqi male with an assault rifle. He, too, was killed, says the government official.
http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/9814/marines23ky.png
"Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood," said Rep. John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat and former Marine. "And that's what the report is going to tell."
Murtha says this "very serious incident" shows how the long deployments and a stubborn insurgency are affecting U.S. Marines and soldiers.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld would only say that the investigation into what happened at Haditha continues. "Needless to say, we have to take seriously allegations of that type, and they're under investigation," Rumsfeld said.
The government official says the investigative file includes photos and videotape of the dead taken inside the four houses. Some of the photos and video were taken by Marines, others by Iraqis. The pictures, says the official, "are about as bad as I've ever seen."
(CONTINUED)
http://tinyurl.com/hyunv
-----------------------------------------------------------
Pentagon Investigates Alleged Massacre in Iraq
by Tom Bowman
All Things Considered, May 19, 2006 · The Pentagon is investigating an alleged Marine rampage that may have left as many as two-dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians dead last November in the Iraqi town of Haditha. The numbers are far higher than had been previously reported and have shaken the Marine hierarchy.
Investigators are still piecing together what happened on a November morning in Haditha, a Sunni stronghold northwest of Baghdad. But they have some troubling details: 24 civilians died in a hail of gunfire, including 11 women and children, a government official familiar with the investigation tells NPR.
http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/4167/marines17rz.png
The initial reports said a roadside bomb blew up one Marine and 15 Iraqi civilians. The investigation has now turned that story upside down, revealing a much more disturbing chain of events, says the official, who asked not to be identified.
It all started when four Marine Humvees entered Haditha. A roadside bomb exploded, killing a Marine and wounding two others. The Marines jumped out and set up a defensive posture. Suddenly, a taxi carrying five Iraqi men pulled up. The Marines ordered the unarmed men out of the vehicle, and the five Iraqis were killed, the official said.
The Marines quickly began a search of four houses. Most of the Iraqi civilians killed were inside their houses. Only in that final house did Marines find an Iraqi male with an assault rifle. He, too, was killed, says the government official.
http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/9814/marines23ky.png
"Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood," said Rep. John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat and former Marine. "And that's what the report is going to tell."
Murtha says this "very serious incident" shows how the long deployments and a stubborn insurgency are affecting U.S. Marines and soldiers.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld would only say that the investigation into what happened at Haditha continues. "Needless to say, we have to take seriously allegations of that type, and they're under investigation," Rumsfeld said.
The government official says the investigative file includes photos and videotape of the dead taken inside the four houses. Some of the photos and video were taken by Marines, others by Iraqis. The pictures, says the official, "are about as bad as I've ever seen."
(CONTINUED)
http://tinyurl.com/hyunv