Marines implicated in civilian deaths (report + video- abs news)

​

​

Click here to watch the video​

​

​

For More: read posts# 2,3,6,7, 36,37 ,38 , 39 And 42​

Post#43 (Another video + report)​

Post#50 (Photos)​

______________________________________________​

Links:​

Marines Killed Iraqi Family in Cold Blood: Congressman ​

Ex-US marine Asks Iraqis for Forgiveness ​

UK Soldier Quits Over "Immoral" Conducts in Iraq​

Ex-Marine Blames Iraqi Attacks on US "Genocide"​

US Faces Charges of Two Massacres of Iraqi Civilians ​

US Troops Detained Iraqi Wives to Get Husbands: Memo ​

US Fire Kills Five Members of Iraqi family ​

Occupation Behind 37% of Iraqi deaths: Report ​

US Killing of Civilians "Fact of Life" in Iraq: Iraqis​

______________________________________________​

*Peace and love*​

​

​

Yours Sincerely,​

Cat Stevens​

​

​

 

Marines implicated in civilian deaths
​

Saturday 27 May 2006, 2:57 Makka Time, 23:57 GMT
​

​

US Marine Corps soldiers could face criminal charges, possibly including murder, for their involvement in the deaths of up to two dozen Iraqi civilians in Haditha last November, a US defence official has said.
​

​

Caption: Video footage shows bodies of civilians killed in Haditha
​

A criminal probe by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which handles criminal inquiries involving marines, has not been completed and no final decisions on charges have been made, said the official on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.The Los Angeles Times reported that investigators were expected to call for charges including murder, negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and filing a false report. The investigation involves a November 19 incident in Haditha, about 220km northwest of Baghdad. The military has said 15 civilians were killed, while a senior Republican legislator last week put the number at about 24. The Los Angeles Times reported that military investigators had concluded that a dozen marines acted improperly in an incident in which US soldiers, after a marine was killed by a roadside bomb, wantonly killed unarmed civilians, including women and children, and then tried to cover up the incident.
​

​

Pentagon press secretary Eric Ruff declined to comment on the findings or possible charges.Ruff said he believed investigators were "towards the end" of their probe, but added: "I don't think there's anything that's imminent." The defence official noted that criminal investigations into deaths could lead to murder charges, but was not more specific about possible charges. The civilian deaths came after Marine Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas, of El Paso, Texas, was killed by a roadside bomb. The military initially said the blast also killed 15 civilians. A video of people killed in the incident, given to Reuters in March by Iraq's Hammurabi Organisation for Monitoring Human Rights and Democracy, showed corpses lined up at the local morgue with bullet wounds in the head and chest.The video showed houses with bullet holes in the walls, pieces of human flesh, pools of blood, and clothes and pots scattered on floors. Residents described a rampage by marines. The marines involved were with the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment of the 1st Marine Division, based at Camp Pendleton, California.
​

​

​

Caption: Women and children were among those believed killed by marines
​

The military said in April the battalion commander and two company commanders had been relieved of duty. Lieutenant-Colonel Scott Fazekas, a Marine Corps spokesman at the Pentagon, said: "The investigations are ongoing, therefore any comment at this time would be inappropriate and could undermine the investigatory and possible legal process." Marine Corps leaders have briefed US legislators in recent days on the Haditha investigation and another into the role of several US soldiers in the death of one civilian last month west of Baghdad. Legislators have emphasised the seriousness of the incidents. Last week, Representative John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat and retired marine, said of Haditha: "Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood. And that's what the report is going to tell." There are 21,000 marines serving in Iraq in one of the most violent regions of the country; more than 700 have died since the war began in 2003. General Michael Hagee, the Marine Corps commandant, flew to Iraq on Thursday for a series of meetings with marines to emphasise the need to follow the laws of war, the Geneva Conventions and rules of engagement set by the military.
​

____________
​

Reuters
​

Source​

Link​

Marines Killed Iraqi Family in Cold Blood: Congressman
​

____________ ​

*Peace and love*
​

Yours Sincerely,
​

Cat Stevens
​

 

Probe presents evidence Marines killed Iraqi civilians
​

5/27/2006 10:00:00 AM GMT
​

Source​

​

Military investigators probing the death of 24 Iraqi civilians last November in the Iraqi city of Haditha confirmed that Marines from Camp Pendleton have unjustifiably killed unarmed civilians, including women and children, then tried to cover up the slayings.​

________________________________​

The initial findings of the investigation, launched to probe whether the Marines lied to cover up the event, which included the deaths of women and children, are expected to make the Haditha massacre the most serious case of alleged U.S. war crimes in Iraq, after the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal which broke out in April 2004 and which the American President admitted Thursday is the worst U.S. mistake of the entire war.The defense official discussed the details of the investigation, overseen by Army Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell, only on condition of anonymity since he’s not authorized to talk about it publicly.The report concludes that a dozen Marines “acted improperly after a roadside bomb explosion killed a fellow Marine, Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas” and that the killings in Haditha were unjustified, the official said.It’s to be decided next month, after the investigation is completed, whether charges of murder or other violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice should be raised.So far, three officers from 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif, the three units involved in Haditha incident, have been relieved of duty.
​

____________________________________​

"Many of our Marines have been involved in life or death combat or have witnessed the loss of their fellow Marines, and the effects of these events can be numbing," Gen. Michael W. Hagee, who flew to Iraq on Thursday, said in a statement announcing his trip. ​

"There is the risk of becoming indifferent to the loss of a human life, as well as bringing dishonor upon ourselves," he added "I can say that there are established facts that incidents of a very serious nature did take place," Sen. John Warner, chairman of the Senate panel, said.John Murtha, D-Pa., a former Marine, stated earlier this month that he was told by Corps officials that the death toll in the Haditha attack was far worse than originally reported by the U.S. military and mainstream media.He also said that the U.S. troops killed those civilians "in cold blood."
​

___________________________________​

The Marine Corps’ initial report on the incident claimed that an "insurgent" attack or crossfire between Marines and insurgents could be responsible for the killing of the Iraqi civilians.But after Time magazine, which obtained and pictures showing dead civilians, including women and children, quoted witnesses confirming that the attack was “unprovoked”, the Marine Corps backtracked on its statement and called for launching a probe into the incident.
​

___________________________________​

*Peace and love*
​

Yours Sincerely,
​

Cat Stevens
​

 

yep, if they acted inappropriately, lock em up.

And this is why we ARE better than terrorists and many countries: we DO hold people responsible...

 

link:Islam vs Muslim Terrorists [will be updated from time to time]
HUh! hold Bush then, what a joke!!!
_________________________________________________________________

The Marines and a 'massacre' in Iraq​

​

The Times- Times Investigation​

​

Source ​

​

From Ali Hamdani in al-Haditha, Ned Parker and Nick Meo in Baghdad, and Tom Baldwin in Washington​

​

*Girl tells how soldiers shot 24 civilians after road bomb ​

​

* US troops to face homicide charges amid cover-up claims​

​

_______________________________________________​

​

WITH remarkable self-assurance for a ten-year-old girl, Iman Hassan recounted how her family was killed by American troops as she cowered in terror in a corner of her living room. It happened soon after 7am on November 19 last year, she claimed in an interview with The Times. She was still in her pyjamas and preparing for school when a US military convoy rumbled down the road near her home in al-Haditha, a town on the Euphrates surrounded by date farms that has become a hotbed of insurgents. Three months earlier 20 American soldiers had been killed there. At that moment a Humvee was blown up by a roadside bomb, killing Miguel Terrazas, its 20-year-old driver from El Paso, Texas. Iman’s father was praying in the next room of her house, a basic two-storey building made of breezeblocks. Her grandparents were still in bed. The family heard shots but knew to stay indoors. ​

​

_______________________________________________​

​

What happened next is the subject of a massive inquiry by the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service. The results are expected to deal another devastating blow to America’s standing in Iraq and across the world. US Congressmen briefed on the investigation expect it to conclude that Corporal Terrazas’s fellow marines ran amok, killing as many as 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians, including women and children, in cold blood. A dozen marines face courts martial or even charges of homicide. A separate inquiry is determining whether there was a cover-up. Pentagon and military officials who have seen the findings of the investigation have said that it may be the worst case of misconduct by American ground forces in Iraq, and that includes the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse. Critics will draw comparisons with the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War, when US soldiers killed more than 500 unarmed villagers. Then it took 18 months for the truth to emerge, and changed the American public’s perception of the war.​

​

[Link:Top Ten Mistakes the Bush Administration is repeating from Vietnam ] ​

______________________________________________​

​

The investigation is also coming to a head only days after President Bush and Tony Blair hailed the creation of Iraq’s new Government of national unity as a turning point in the country’s three-year descent into mayhem. “It’s a disaster,” said Tareq al-Hashemi, Iraq’s Sunni Vice-President, who dislikes the occupation but does not want US troops to leave until the country is stable. “They are provoking all Iraqis, especially from the Arab Sunni community. They are pushing them to join the national resistance and to fight . . . Maybe some of them feel sympathetic to al-Qaeda now,” he told The Times. “The situation in western Anbar province is out of control. This happened primarily because of the behaviour of the American Army — their large-scale violation of human rights. They are killing people, hurting people, destroying towns.”​

​

​

​

​

​

_______________________________________________​

I continue in other post…​

​

*Peace and love*​

​

Yours Sincerely,​

​

Cat Stevens​

 

As Iman tells it, US marines burst into her house 15 minutes after the bomb destroyed the Humvee, apparently looking for insurgents. They shouted at her father. Then a grenade was thrown into her grandparents’ room. She saw her mother hit by shrapnel. Her aunt grabbed a baby and ran from the house. Soldiers opened fire inside the living room, where most of the family were gathered. Her uncle Rashid came downstairs, saw what was happening, then fled outside, where he was pursued by Marines and shot. “Everybody who was in the house was killed by the Americans except my brother Abdul-Rahman and me,” Iman said. “We were too scared to move and tried to hide under a pillow. I was hit by shrapnel in my leg. For two hours we didn’t dare to move. My family didn’t die immediately. We could hear them groaning.” Iman’s grandfather Abdul al-Hamid Hassan, her grandmother Khamisa, her father Walid, uncle Mujahid, her mother, uncle Rashid and cousin Abdullah, 4, had all been fatally wounded. The US military initially reported al-Haditha as just one more bloody incident. “Fifteen Iraqi civilians and a Marine were killed when a roadside bomb exploded in al-Haditha,” said Captain Jeffrey S. Pool, a Marine spokesman. It later suggested the Iraqi civilians had been caught in the crossfire of a battle between the Marines and insurgents. Lieutenant-Colonel Michelle Martin-Hing, a spokeswoman for the multinational force in Iraq, said that the insurgents “placed non-combatants in the line of fire as the Marines responded to defend themselves”.
​

_______________________________________________
​

Source
​

But a video made by a trainee Iraqi journalist was passed to Time magazine. It showed bloodstained bodies, bullet and shrapnel marks inside the Hassan family home, and walls spattered with blood. There was no evidence of a skirmish on the outside of the buildings. Doctors said that most of the victims had been shot from close range in the head or chest. Sources familiar with the investigation say that 24 Iraqis were killed that day. Seven of the victims were women and three were children. Five men were apparently shot in a taxi at a checkpoint.
​

“There was no firefight. There was no IED [improvised explosive device] that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood,” said John Murtha, a senior Democratic congressman, who has been briefed on the investigation. Mr Murtha is a former Marine colonel and vocal critic of the war. The Marines belonged to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment of the 1st Marine Division. The battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Jeffrey Chessani, and two company commanders, Captain Luke McConnell and Captain James Kimber, were suspended last month, but much worse is expected.
​

Pentagon sources say three Marines are facing criminal charges, including homicide. An additional nine Marines may also face courts martial.The investigation’s findings will be published within weeks, but the damage limitation has already begun. General Michael Hagee, the US Marine Corps Commandant, flew to Baghdad on Thursday to tell his men that they must observe international rules of war. “To most Marines, the most difficult part of courage is not the raw physical courage we have seen so often on today’s battlefield. It is rather the moral courage to do the ‘right thing’ in the face of danger or pressure from other Marines,” he said. “We use lethal force only when justifed, proportional and, more importantly, lawful.”
​

_______________________________________________
​

Zalmay Khalilzad, US Ambassador to Baghdad, said that he and the US military would strive to assure Iraqis that what happened in Haditha “does not reflect US policy, reflect US goals, reflect US values”.
​

John Warner, Republican chairman of the Senate’s Armed Services Committee, said he hoped that the public would remember “the magnificent performance” of the million other troops who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
​

Back in al-Haditha, Iman and what remains of her family have been left to pick up the pieces of their lives. The girl’s uncle, Abu Muhammad, said that there was no time to give their relatives a proper funeral. “Instead we buried three in a grave, so there were five graves for the entire family,” he said. “We buried each man with his wife and child.”
​

An American unit attended the funeral to apologise, but not before it had positioned snipers around the mourners, he added. Muhammad Abed, a cousin of Iman, said that two months ago a group of Americans returned to ask about the incident, take pictures and pay $2,500 compensation for each victim. Other Americans in civilian clothes returned to ask questions this month. After the attack Iman’s brother, Abdul Rahman, 8, refused to speak about the incident. US troops still patrol al-Haditha and raid homes. Iman says that she will never forgive them: “I hate them. They came to kill us and then they say sorry.”
​

_______________________________________________
​

Seven thousand miles away, in El Paso, Texas, there are more victims — the family of the dead Humvee driver, Corporal Terrazas. Rosario Terrazas, his aunt, said: “My nephew was very kindhearted. While he was in Iraq, he asked us to send him care packages to give to the Iraqi children.” But their grief has been compounded by the knowledge of what his colleagues allegedly did after his death. “It is difficult for us to believe they would do these terrible things,” his aunt said. “Sometimes it seems that it was because of him that an awful thing happened. Do you not realise what that is like?” Lawyers who have talked to the Marines emphasise the extreme pressure that they were facing that day. The insurgents had mounted a wave of attacks, and the town was one of the most dangerous in Iraq for US troops. Three months earlier insurgents had ambushed and killed six Marine snipers, then released a video showing the mutilated body of a dead servicemen. Later 14 Marines were killed by a bomb near the town. But the Marine Corps, which has lost 700 men in Iraq, refused to comment on the investigation. Colonel David Lapan, a spokesman, told The Times: “The investigations are ongoing, therefore any comment . . . would be inappropriate and could undermine the investigatory and possible legal process.”
​

_______________________________________________
​

​

*Peace and love*
​

Yours Sincerely,
​

Cat Stevens
​

 

have we or have we not held people responsible for abu ghraib? Have they not be charged and many of them sitting in jail?

Have we not investigated this and are charges not likely pending?

Oh wait, i know...until we lock bush up in jail, we aren't holding anyone responsible. yada yada...

 

FedUpAmerican
***** (done by Catstevens)

What a blessed tongue

*Peace and love*​

Yours Sincerely,​

Cat Stevens​

 

Most of the countries do so, this is a very normal thing :sunglasse

*Peace and love*​

Yours Sincerely,​

Cat Stevens​

 

I bear witness that this man has a blessed tongue, full stop

*Peace and love*
​

Yours Sincerely,
​

Cat Stevens​

 

FedUpAmerican

Please don't say sorry isn't your fault, may Allah bless you, Amen, nice color

*Peace and love*​

I don't have to enlarge it to someone like you ​

so...​

All *Peace and love* go to you
​

Yours Sincerely,
​

Cat Stevens​

 

hundreds of thousands? Murder by the US govt? Yeah, ok.

 

The point being, Americans have made no claim that every American is perfect. Our system allows us to penalize those who do wrong deeds. Some americans do bad things and we will punish them for that. That is why we are different than say Saddam Hussein who did not hold those of murder/rape/torture responsible.

 

Again Most of the countries do so, this is a very normal thing :sunglasse nothing new

*Peace and love*​

Yours Sincerely,​

Cat Stevens​

​

 

The people who should be held accountable for the deaths of all Iraqi's killed (by some estimates over 100,000 but certainly in the TENS OF THOUSANDS) by coalition forces is the man who ordered the invasion (guess who). Blair is also responsible because he could and would have not invaded on his own.

bush and his entire cabal are war criminals and should be held accountable for their crimes against humanity.

 

i made no claim otherwise. So what is your point?

 

one only has to look at the news over the past 2 years or so and we see a stark trend: "Suicide bomber kills 75...insurgent bomb kills 50." A very sizeable chunk of the deaths have been caused by insurgents.

The "collateral damage" deaths fall onto saddam hussein's and/or the insurgency's hands. The ones like this thread, where the marines seemingly killed without a justified reason fall on the US. A very, very, very small amount of the deaths fall on our hands.

 

​

And all those who support them by voting or whatever​

*Peace and love*​

Yours Sincerely,​

Cat Stevens​

 

what US is doing isn't something new or a favor or a GOOd thing, IT MUST BE SO and many others are doing the same.

*Peace and love*​

Yours Sincerely,​

Cat Stevens​

 

what do you think?Why there are insurgents??:H let's look at the news over the past more than 2 years and today what happened, oh...very long stories

*Peace and love*​

Yours Sincerely,​

Cat Stevens​