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-- Haditha, Iraq: 21st Century My Lai
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| Originally posted by RebeL9 When I first heard about this massacre I wasn't surprised at all. I've personally seen how the americans act in Afghanistan and I can tell you that the way they treat some afghan locals is horrific. If the americans in America only knew a quarter of what crimes are being commited in the name of the big and democratic name of America they would start an uprising in the US. there is no way you can justify this kind of crimes and i wouldn't be surprised at all if the guilty soldiers are just called of the army as punishment. remember guys. in the eyes of America the americans are soldiers and all their opponent are terrorist. I just hope they'll never be able to sleep again and will hear the screams of their young victims in their dreams for the rest of their lives. |
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| Originally posted by Q5echo no! who in the hell is telling you this? do you hear voices? is there someone in the room with you right now? thank you Dr. King, but not everyone is okay with it. |
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| New Video Backs Claims of US Massacre in Ishaqi New evidence has emerged in the case of another alleged massacre of Iraqi civilians at the hands of US troops. The BBC has obtained video footage bolstering accusations first made by Iraqi police that US troops murdered eleven civilians in the town of Ishaqi in March. The dead included five children and four women and ranged in age from 6 months to 75 years old. The Pentagon has insisted only four civilians died in the incident and that they were killed when their home collapsed during a gun battle. But according to the BBC, the new video shows a number of dead adults and children with visible gunshot wounds. Democracy Now covered this story in March. We spoke with Knight Ridder reporter Matthew Schofield in Baghdad. He first obtained the Iraqi police report that accused US troops of the civilian killings. * Matthew Schofield: �We were talking with the police officer who was first on the scene earlier today. He explained the scene of arriving. He said they waited until U.S. troops had left the area and it was safe to go in. When they arrived at the house, it was in rubble. I don't know if you've seen the photos of the remains of the house, but there was very little standing. He said they expected to find bodies under the rubble. Instead, what they found was in one room of the house, in one corner of one room, there was a single man who had been shot in the head. Directly across the room from him against the other wall were ten people, ranging from his 75-year-old mother-in-law to a six-month-old child, also several three-year-olds -- a couple three-year-olds, a couple five-year-olds, and four other -- three other women. Lined up, they were covered, and they had all been shot. According to the doctor we talked to today, they had all been shot in the head, in the chest. A number of -- you know, generally, some of them were shot several times. The doctor said it's very difficult to determine exactly what kind of caliber gun they were shot with. He said the entry wounds were generally small and round, the exit wounds were generally very large. But they were lined up along one wall. There was a blanket over the top of them, and they were under the rubble, so when the police arrived, and residents came to help them start digging in, they came across the blankets. They came across the blankets. They picked the blankets up. They say, at that point, that the hands were handcuffed in front of the Iraqis. They had been handcuffed and shot.� Iraqi PM: US Killings of Iraqis �Daily Phenomenon� Meanwhile, Iraq�s Prime Minister has lashed out at the US military over what he has called the �daily phenomenon� of US attacks on Iraqi civilians. In an interview with the New York Times, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said many troops "do not respect the Iraqi people." Maliki went on to say: "They crush them with their vehicles and kill them just on suspicion. This is completely unacceptable." |
The ones that vote on PD/D polls saying that the US military should stay in Iraq but never volunteer themselves to help those already there never have anything to say when it comes to non-combatant deaths.
A shame no one steps forward to change their mind.
Change is inevitable, embrace it.
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| Originally posted by ogvh5150 Change is inevitable, embrace it. |
So we're to assume you know millions of Muslims with that statement?
To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.
Abraham Lincoln
Just where did you get that thought?
As regards the condition of the hemispheres themselves, an alert state of the nervous system is absolutely essential for the formation of a new conditioned reflex. If the dog is mostly drowsy during the experiments, the establishment of a conditioned reflex becomes a long and tedious process, and in extreme cases is impossible to accomplish. The hemispheres must, however, be free from any other nervous activity, and therefore in building up a new conditioned reflex it is important to avoid foreign stimuli which, falling upon the animal, would cause other reactions of their own. If this is not attended to, the establishment of a conditioned reflex is very difficult, if not impossible.
Conditioned Reflexes: An Investigation of the Physiological Activity of the Cerebral Cortex
Ivan P. Pavlov
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| New York Daily News Druggie marines? BY DAVE GOLDINER DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Monday, June 5th, 2006 The wife of a Marine whose unit is accused of killing Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha says the troops might have been high on illicit drugs when they carried out the alleged massacre, a new report says. "It's more than possible that these guys were totally tweaked out on speed or something when they shot those civilians in Haditha," the woman told Newsweek for its upcoming issue. She told the magazine that the unit suffered "a total breakdown" in discipline and morale after a new commander took over early in 2005. Some returning U.S. troops say alcohol and prescription drug abuse is rampant in Iraq, where extreme stress and numbing boredom are the only constants. "There were problems in Kilo Company with drugs, alcohol, hazing, you name it," said the woman, whose husband is a staff sergeant in the unit. The startling claims came as officials continued to probe the killings of 24 civilians in Haditha last Nov. 19. Iraqi witnesses say Marines shot the civilians in cold blood after one of their comrades was killed by insurgents. Marines initially claimed the Iraqis died in a roadside bombing, but they were actually killed by gunfire. "They went into one house. I heard gunfire, explosions and screams," Iraqi witness Taher Thabet told Time magazine. The massacre claim could wind up being one of the worst blows yet to the American occupation of Iraq. Many Iraqis believe that Haditha-style killings by U.S. troops happen nearly daily, and some U.S. commentators have already compared the killings with the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, which fueled popular opposition to that war. Secretary of State Rice vowed yesterday that the military would "get to the bottom" of the massacre claim and promised to stay the course in Iraq. "American forces are the solution here, not the problem," Rice said, adding that insurgents are partly to blame for "hiding" among civilians. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who was an Air Force lawyer, termed the Haditha allegations "unnerving," but said he was confident the military would conduct a thorough investigation. "If it is true that our Marines killed innocent civilians, noncombatants, out of revenge, they will be severely dealt with," he said. |
eh, why wait until we find out what REALLY happened - let's just let the liberal media be the trial and jury and you can all jump on the media hysteria!!!
Photos seem to contradict Marine version of Haditha killings
By Jamie McIntyre
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Pentagon sources say some of the most incriminating evidence against Marines under investigation in the deaths of civilians at Haditha is a set of photographs taken by another group of Marines who came along afterward and helped clean up the scene.
CNN is the first news organization to examine those images. They were snapped before an aspiring Iraq journalist videotaped the aftermath of the November 19 deaths. That video convinced Time magazine to pursue the story earlier this year.
Pentagon sources say the 30 images of men, women and children are some of the strongest evidence that, in some cases, the victims were shot inside their homes and at close range -- not killed by shrapnel from a roadside bomb or by stray bullets from a distant firefight, as Marines had claimed.
Senior Pentagon officials have said a probe into the November deaths tends to support allegations that Marines carried out an unprovoked massacre after one of their comrades was killed by a roadside bomb. The military is investigating both the deaths and a possible cover-up.
The Marines originally reported that Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas and 15 Iraqi civilians were killed by a roadside bomb in Haditha, a town on the Euphrates River in northwestern Iraq that was the scene of heavy fighting in 2005. They later added that eight insurgents were killed in an ensuing gun battle.
The Marine photographs are evidence in a criminal probe, and only investigators and a few very senior officials have access to them.
"I have seen the photographs, but they are part of the investigation and I'm not going to talk about those photographs," Marine commandant Gen. Michael Hagee told reporters Wednesday.
But a source allowed CNN to examine copies of the photographs, which a military official said match in both number and description the pictures in the possession of investigators.
The source would not allow CNN to have copies of the images out of concern over personal repercussions.
There are images of 24 bodies, each marked with red numbers. Some of numbers are written on foreheads, others on the victim's backs. A senior military official told CNN that in some cases the numbers may denote the location of bullet wounds.
Among the images:
All of the victims were wearing casual attire. Some had been shot in the head. Some were face down, others face up.
The pictures appear to show the locations of the bodies in the houses before a Marine unit loaded them into a truck and brought them to a morgue.
Pentagon officials said there are no plans to release the gruesome images, even after the criminal investigation is complete.
The Haditha photos, like the images of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib prison, would incite anti-American fervor and therefore constitute a threat to national security, they said.
In a separate incident, seven Marines and a Navy medical corpsman are being held in a brig at Camp Pendleton, California, to face possible murder charges in connection with the April killing of an Iraqi man in Hamandiya, a military officer with direct knowledge of the investigation said.
Briefing reporters Wednesday, Hagee was tight-lipped about the investigations but said Marines "absolutely know right from wrong."
Hagee flew to Iraq two weeks ago on a trip the Marine Corps said was already scheduled. But he used the time to lecture his Marines on what he called "the American way of war" amid the two probes.
Hagee said he is "gravely concerned" by the allegations and promised that the investigations now under way will be thorough and complete.
The U.S. command in Baghdad ordered an investigation into the Haditha killings in February, after Time magazine reporters presented video of the scene to American commanders.
Find this article at:
Photos seem to contradict Marine version of Haditha killings
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| Nearly Complete Haditha Probe Supports Accusations Against Marines Wednesday, August 02, 2006 WASHINGTON � Evidence collected on the deaths of 24 Iraqis in Haditha supports accusations that U.S. Marines deliberately shot the civilians, including unarmed women and children, a Pentagon official said Wednesday. Agents of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service have completed their initial work on the incident last November, but may be asked to probe further as Marine Corps and Navy prosecutors review the evidence and determine whether to recommend criminal charges, according to two Pentagon officials who discussed the matter on condition of anonymity. The decision on whether to press criminal charges ultimately will be made by the commander of the accused Marines' parent unit, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif. That currently is Lt. Gen. John Sattler, but he is scheduled to move to a Pentagon assignment soon; his successor will be Lt. Gen. James Mattis. Click here to visit FOXNews.com's Iraq center. Investigators conducted a wide range of interviews but did not obtain permission to exhume the bodies of the 24 who were killed, one official said. The case is one of several involving alleged unjustified killings of Iraqi civilians that have emerged this year, damaging the military's reputation for humane treatment of civilians and triggering calls by some Iraqi leaders to end the arrangement under which U.S. troops are immune from prosecution by Iraqi authorities. The Marines initially reported after the Nov. 19, 2005 killings at Haditha that 15 Iraqi civilians had been killed by a makeshift roadside bomb and in crossfire between Marines and insurgent attackers. Based on accounts from survivors and human rights groups, Time magazine first reported in March that the killings were deliberate acts by the Marines. A criminal investigation was then ordered by the top Marine commander in Iraq, Maj. Gen. Richard Zilmer. A parallel investigation is examining whether officers in the Marines' chain of command tried to cover up the events. The probe, which has not been made public, faults some officers for failing to pursue obvious discrepancies in the initial reports about what happened in Haditha and for not launching an early investigation. Public attention on the Haditha case grew after Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a former Marine, asserted publicly on May 17 that he had learned from Marine Corps officials that innocent Iraqis had been killed "in cold blood." (Full story) Lawyers for Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, one of the Marines under investigation, argued in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court that Murtha falsely accused Wuterich of murder and war crimes. The suit maintains that Pentagon officials "who have briefed or leaked information to Mr. Murtha deliberately provided him with inaccurate and false information" and that the congressman subsequently "has made repeated statements .... that are defamatory" to Wuterich and his fellow Marines. Among the other cases of alleged deliberate killings of Iraqi civilians, seven Marines and one Navy corpsman have been charged with premeditated murder and other criminal acts in connection with the killing of an Iraqi man in Hamdania on April 26. Also, five soldiers and a former soldier have been charged in the March 12 rape-slaying of a young Iraqi woman and the killings of her relatives in Mahmoudiya. |
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| Aug. 2, 2006, 8:30PM Marine sues congressman for defamation By KIMBERLY HEFLING Associated press Writer � 2006 The Associated Press WASHINGTON � Rep. John P. Murtha was sued for defamation Wednesday by a Marine Corps sergeant under investigation in connection with the deaths of Iraqi civilians in Haditha. ADVERTISEMENT Lawyers for Frank D. Wuterich, 26, argue in a federal lawsuit that the Pennsylvania Democrat falsely accused Wuterich of "cold-blooded murder and war crimes." But they acknowledged during a news conference that Murtha identified Wuterich's squad, but not Wuterich by name, when speaking with reporters. "His real problem is not his lawsuit against me, it's defending himself in court," Murtha told reporters Wednesday while campaigning in his hometown, Johnstown, Pa. In a statement earlier Wednesday, the 16-term congressman said he does not blame Wuterich for "lashing out." "When I spoke up about Haditha, my intention was to draw attention to the horrendous pressure put on our troops in Iraq and to the cover-up of the incident," Murtha said. The suit contends Pentagon officials "who have briefed or leaked information to Mr. Murtha deliberately provided him with inaccurate and false information" and that Murtha subsequently "has made repeated statements .... that are defamatory" to Wuterich and his fellow Marines. The suit accuses Murtha of spreading "false and malicious lies" about Wuterich and his squad that were "intended to serve his own private purpose and interests." Murtha's comments, according to the suit, "have been reproduced by countless third parties throughout the world." It says many of Murtha's comments were made outside his "scope of employment as a congressman." Murtha, a former Marine and decorated Vietnam War veteran, has been a leading proponent of withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq. The claim for libel and invasion of privacy seeks damages to be determined, but not less than $75,000. Mark Zaid, a lawyer for Wuterich, said during a news conference that the suit was not about money or politics. "This case ... is about truth, honor and accountability and Congressman Murtha, who we believe has acted out of his scope as a congressman," Zaid said. The suit details Wuterich's account of what happened on Nov. 19, 2005, in Haditha, a story he has told previously through his lawyers. Wuterich says several civilians were killed when his squad pursued insurgents, firing at them from inside a house after a roadside bomb killed one Marine. He describes a house-to-house hunt that went wrong in the midst of a confusing battlefield, but has denied through his lawyers any vengeful massacre. Wuterich and other Marines from his 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, are under investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigation Service. A parallel investigation is looking at whether officers at higher levels in the chain of command covered up the facts. No one has been charged in the case. A Pentagon official told The Associated Press on Wednesday that evidence collected on the deaths of 24 Iraqis in Haditha supports accusations that Marines deliberately shot the civilians, including unarmed women and children. ___ Associated Press writer Michael Cowden contributed to this story from Johnstown, Pa. |
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| Originally posted by RebeL9 When I first heard about this massacre I wasn't surprised at all. I've personally seen how the americans act in Afghanistan and I can tell you that the way they treat some afghan locals is horrific. If the americans in America only knew a quarter of what crimes are being commited in the name of the big and democratic name of America they would start an uprising in the US. there is no way you can justify this kind of crimes and i wouldn't be surprised at all if the guilty soldiers are just called of the army as punishment. remember guys. in the eyes of America the americans are soldiers and all their opponent are terrorist. I just hope they'll never be able to sleep again and will hear the screams of their young victims in their dreams for the rest of their lives. |
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| Originally posted by Matth3w Just wanted to let you know that I have watched one of my soldiers die almost literally in my arms fighting for your country. I sleep under an Afghan and American flag, and so did he. He woke up every day hoping to help make your country a better place to live, for all people - Afghans and American soldiers alike. |
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| It is sad that you should feel this way about thousands of people you really don't know who are fighting for your country and it's people in your place while you are hiding in Sweden. |
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| Maybe if you and your fellow critics of America spent as much time and effort fighting to help your OWN country as you do denouncing Americans and their forces fighting to help rid your country of Taliban/HiG/Al Qaeda influence, we would arrive at a conclusion to this war a bit faster. |
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| It is easy for someone (who has no part in the effort to help their own country) to post in the luxury of their home via internet (something 75% of Afghanistan only dreams of) from the safety of a different country. |
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| I suggest that rather than vehemently criticizing thousands of people helping your native country, you either: A) Pick up a rifle and help rid the place of Taliban/HiG/AQ B) Pick up a book and help teach the children C) Some other misc. country-building role (construction work, government service, etc) Because right now, the Americans you seem to hate so badly are doing more for your native country than you are. Oh, enjoy the peace of your home in Sweden tonight - We are protecting your native country for you. |
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| UN Says Taliban Poppy Ban Hits Farmers Hard (Part 1) Vienna, 24 May 2001 (RFE/RL) -- Officials at the UN Drug Control Program, or UNDCP, who recently toured Afghanistan say that the Taliban's ban on opium-poppy cultivation is in almost total effect in the areas the militia controls. The officials, who accompanied a special tour of drug experts from UN-member countries to Afghanistan last month, say they saw no signs of opium-poppy cultivation in the fertile eastern and southern areas that last year produced 75 percent of the world's opium crop. |
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| Afghan Poppy Trade Afghanistan is the world�s largest producer of opium. Because poppy plants are used to make opium, poppie growing is illegal in most countries, and only frown in highly controlled and specially designated areas. In 2002, the revenue generated by the sale of opium from Afghanistan on the world market exceeded $1 billion at the farm level � almost 5% of Afghanistan's GDP. During the 1990�s, Afghanistan poppies supplied approximately 70% of the world�s opium, but in 1999 the Taliban's fatwa prohibitted the planting of poppies and was 96% successful in eliminating the crops. However, the Taliban government allowed for the trade of opium, and taxed it heavily. Since the US invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 and the subsequent ousting of the Taliban, crop production resumed with full-force. The poppies are processd into opium, and the opium is traded throughout the region and into Western Europe. The illegal trade of poppies has created transnational disputes and directly led to the decline in civil society in the countries through which it is traded. Under the Taliban and in post-Taliban Afghanistan, the profits from opium sales have been used to fund tribal warlords and fuel armed conflict. |
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| Poppy growers happy to see Taliban gone Once the world�s largest producer of the flower pod used to make heroin Rone Tempest - Los Angeles Times KARIZ, Afghanistan - No one could be more delighted about the departure of the Taliban regime than the opium poppy growers here in eastern Afghanistan. In July 2000, the Taliban�s leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, issued an edict banning poppy cultivation across Afghanistan, then the world�s largest producer of the flower pod used to make heroin. For years, the Taliban had used taxes on drugs to finance its military. That all changed, however, with Omar�s eight-line message. According to a recent report by the U.N. Drug Control Program, the decree brought raw opium production in Afghanistan to a virtual halt, dropping from 3,276 tons to only 185 tons in just one year. But now that the Taliban has retreated to the mountains, there is an eagerness among farmers here in the irrigated lowlands south of Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province. |
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| Military grants immunity to 7 Marines in Haditha killings SAN DIEGO (AP) � Military prosecutors have granted immunity to at least seven Marines connected to an attack that killed 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha, the deadliest criminal case against U.S. troops in the Iraq war. Orders granting the immunity ensure any testimony the Marines volunteer cannot be used against them, making it highly unlikely charges will be brought against the men. They also suggest their eyewitness accounts will feature prominently in military court hearings for seven other Marines charged in the case. The orders were obtained by The Associated Press from someone involved in the case who declined to be identified because the documents are not public. Among those provided with immunity to testify are an officer who told troops to raid a house and a sergeant who took photographs of the dead but later deleted them from his camera. One of the servicemen, Lance Cpl. Humberto Manuel Mendoza, was a member of the squad that cleared several homes and killed the Iraqis in the aftermath of a Nov. 19, 2005 roadside bomb attack that killed one Marine. Mendoza, who was not charged in the case, told investigators that he shot at least two men, but did so because they were in houses declared hostile. "I was following my training that all individuals in a hostile house are to be shot," Mendoza told investigators. He was given immunity Dec. 18, just days before the Marine Corps announced murder charges against four enlisted men and dereliction of duty charges against four officers. The Marine Corps said Tuesday that it dropped all charges against one of the eight men, Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz of Chicago. Dela Cruz also has been given immunity to testify. 1st Lt. William Kallop, the first officer to arrive at the scene of the explosion, was granted immunity to talk to prosecutors April 3 as part of an order to "cooperate and truthfully answer all questions posed by investigators." He has not been charged in the case. Kallop was with a rapid-response force that arrived minutes after the bomb went off. According to investigative documents, he said squad leader Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich and Cpl. Hector Salinas heard gunfire coming from a nearby house. Kallop told investigators that he ordered the men to "take the house." In the ensuing raids on several homes, 24 Iraqis died, including women and children. Wuterich is charged with 13 counts of unpremeditated murder; Salinas has not been charged. Kallop's attorney did not return a phone call seeking comment. Two other officers and several enlisted men were also given immunity to testify. A legal expert said by giving so many people immunity, prosecutors are taking a "conservative" approach to the case, which is the biggest to have emerged against U.S. troops since the start of the war in Iraq. "These are legitimate moves by the prosecutor, who is very cautious," said Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps prosecutor and judge who teaches law of war at Georgetown University Law Center. Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Sean Gibson said he could not discuss the ongoing investigation. Preliminary hearings for the seven Marines still facing charges are expected in the coming weeks at Camp Pendleton. Aside from Wuterich, the others facing unpremeditated murder charges are Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, 22, of Canonsburg, Pa. and Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum, 25, of Edmond, Okla. Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani, 42, of Rangely, Colo., 1st Lt. Andrew A. Grayson, 25, Capt. Lucas McConnell, 31, of Napa, Calif., and Capt. Randy W. Stone, 34, face charges in connection with how the incident was investigated or reported. |
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| From the Los Angeles Times Marine says he erased photos of Haditha victims The testimony is the first evidence suggesting that any officer may have engaged in a coverup in the 2005 deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians. By Tony Perry Times Staff Writer June 8, 2007 CAMP PENDLETON � A staff sergeant testified Thursday that he was ordered to destroy grisly pictures of women and children killed by Marines so that the images would not be part of a statement being prepared for an investigative officer and a magazine reporter. The testimony by Staff Sgt. Justin Laughner, taken under a grant of immunity, is the first evidence suggesting that any Marine officer may have engaged in a coverup in the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in 2005. Other testimony has suggested that officers made only a superficial review before deciding that the deaths were combat-related and thus no war crimes investigation was required. At the Article 32 inquiry, similar to a preliminary hearing, for a former battalion commander, Laughner testified hat he felt the order to destroy the pictures, which he said was given by Lt. Andrew Grayson, amounted to obstruction of justice but that he complied and later lied when asked whether any pictures had been taken. "It was wrong," Laughner said. "Somebody was asking for them [the pictures], and we're not going to give them to them? It's not right, but I didn't say anything." Although Laughner deleted the pictures from his computer, the images remained on his digital camera and are now part of the criminal case against four officers and three enlisted Marines. Grayson is charged with dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice in the aftermath of the killings, which occurred in the Iraqi town of Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005. The three other officers � including the former commander of the Marine battalion involved, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani � are charged with dereliction of duty for not calling for a war-crimes investigation. At the inquiry on Chessani's conduct, Laughner said that he had no evidence the lieutenant colonel ever saw the photographs or knew of their existence. Laughner had taken the pictures in the hours after the killings. Three months later, when he and Grayson were preparing a statement for high-ranking officers and a Time magazine reporter, Grayson told him to delete the pictures, Laughner testified Thursday. The statement they prepared reiterated the Marines' official position that the deaths were the result of crossfire after Marines were attacked by insurgents. Laughner and Grayson were part of an intelligence team assigned to work with the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, in Haditha. Team members interview civilians and, among other things, review the scene of civilian deaths to gather information that can be helpful to Marines. Laughner arrived several hours after a roadside bomb had killed a Marine from the battalion's Kilo Company. After that blast, Marines killed five young men outside their car and, after being ordered to search for insurgents in nearby houses, killed 19 civilians. Laughner testified that Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, who led the troops involved in the shootings, told him that the men in the car had "engaged" the Marines with weapons, that Marines encountered an insurgent firing at them in one house, and that AK-47s were found in the houses. Prosecutors say all three assertions are lies. Laughner said Wuterich did not tell him that the Marines had killed women and children in the houses. But when Laughner went to the houses to look for evidence of insurgents, he found instead a young girl who was in hysterics. He said that his interpreter told him what the girl was screaming: "She said the Marines came into her house and killed her family," Laughner said. |
And yet people are in slumber.. sipping on their lattes.
...watching Linsay Lohan get fit shaced on the tele. Yep, typical wanker nonsense. Too bad blokes don't read much, they might learn a thing or two.
Browse the forum you'll see it in the form of "God, does he exist or not?", "Gay marriage, should I or shouldn't I?" or "A friend of mine believes in UFO's, what about you lads?".
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| Marine tells of order to execute Haditha women and children Aug 30, 2007 CAMP PENDLETON, California (AFP) � A US Marine was ordered to execute a room full of terrified Iraqi women and children during an alleged massacre in Haditha that left 24 people dead, a military court heard Thursday. The testimony came in the opening of a preliminary hearing for Marine Sergeant Frank Wuterich, who faces 17 counts of murder over the Haditha killings, the most serious war crimes allegations faced by US troops in Iraq. Wuterich, dressed in desert khakis, spoke confidently to confirm his name as the hearing to decide if he faces a court martial began at the Marines' Camp Pendleton base in southern California. The 27-year-old listened intently as Lance Corporal Humberto Mendoza recounted how Marines had responded after a roadside bomb attack on their convoy in Haditha on November 19, 2005 left one comrade dead. Mendoza said Marines under Wuterich's command began clearing nearby houses suspected of containing insurgents responsible for the bombing. At one house Wuterich gave an order to shoot on sight as Marines waited for a response after knocking on the door, said Mendoza. "He said 'Just wait till they open the door, then shoot,'" Mendoza said. Mendoza then said he himself shot and killed an adult male who appeared in a doorway. During a subsequent search of the house, Mendoza said he received an order from another Marine, Lance Corporal Stephen Tatum, to shoot seven women and children he had found in a rear bedroom. "When I opened the door there was just women and kids, two adults were lying down on the bed and there were three children on the bed ... two more were behind the bed," Mendoza said. "I looked at them for a few seconds. Just enough to know they were not presenting a threat ... they looked scared." After leaving the room Mendoza told Tatum what he had found. "I told him there were women and kids inside there. He said 'Well, shoot them,'" Mendoza told prosecutor Lieutenant Colonel Sean Sullivan. "And what did you say to him?" Sullivan asked. "I said 'But they're just women and children.' He didn't say nothing." Mendoza said he returned to a position at the front of the house and heard a door open behind him followed by a loud noise. Returning later that afternoon to retrieve bodies, Mendoza said he found a room full of corpses. In cross-examination, however, Major Haytham Faraj suggested a girl who survived the shootings had identified Mendoza as the gunman, sparking an angry reaction from prosecutors. "The girl in question already identified another Marine," Sullivan stormed. "This is completely unethical, inappropriate and has no basis in fact." Mendoza had given similar testimony during a preliminary hearing against Tatum earlier this year. Investigating officer Lieutenant Colonel Paul Ware, who is presiding in Wuterich's hearing, last week recommended dropping murder charges against Tatum, describing Mendoza's evidence as "too weak." Later in cross-examination Mendoza praised Wuterich's leadership. "I think he's a great Marine, sir," he said. Prosecutors allege Marines went on a killing spree in Haditha in retaliation for the death of their colleague in the bomb attack. Defense lawyers will argue that Wuterich followed established combat zone rules of engagement. A total of eight Marines were initially charged in connection with the Haditha deaths. Four were charged with murder while four senior officers were accused of failing to properly investigate the killings. Of the four Marines charged with murder, two have since had charges withdrawn, while allegations against Tatum are also expected to be dismissed. Wuterich also faces charges of making a false statement and asking another Marine to do the same. He faces a life sentence and dishonorable discharge if court-martialed. |
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| Marine Faces Charges in Haditha Killings By CHELSEA J. CARTER � 2 days ago SAN DIEGO (AP) � The highest-ranking U.S. serviceman to face court-martial involving combat since Vietnam was due to answer charges Friday of failing to investigate the killings of 24 Iraqis, including women and children. Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani was to be arraigned on charges of dereliction of duty and violation of a lawful order on allegations that he mishandled the aftermath of the Nov. 19, 2005, shootings in Haditha. Earlier that day, the squad's convoy was struck by a roadside bomb, killing one Marine and wounding another. In the aftermath, squad members killed 24 Iraqi civilians, authorities have said. Chessani was commander of the Camp Pendleton-based 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment that has been the focus of the largest prosecution of U.S. troops in the Iraq war. The decision to send Chessani to trial came after a hearing officer blasted Chessani for failing to go to the scene of the killings immediately after they occurred. "To not have made every attempt to be on scene as this action developed, or to not have at least reviewed this action in detail ... is in itself negligent," Col. Christopher Conlin wrote. At Chessani's preliminary hearing in June at Camp Pendleton, several witnesses testified that Iraqis had complained to Chessani in the days after the killings and that he promised to look into what had happened. But Chessani, of Rangely, Colo., said he never ordered a formal investigation because he believed the deaths resulted from lawful combat. If convicted on all counts, Chessani faces up to three years in prison. Chessani's civilian attorney, Brian Rooney, said the lieutenant colonel would reserve the right to enter a plea at a later date rather than at the arraignment, which is a standard practice when a case goes to court-martial. "We fully intend to enter a not guilty plea," Rooney said. Chessani is the most senior U.S. serviceman since the Vietnam War to face a court-martial for actions or decisions made in combat, said Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps prosecutor and judge who teaches law of war at Georgetown University Law Center. |
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