Pentagon probe expected to confirm that marines executed 15 civilians

[alonzomourning23]

WASHINGTON - A Pentagon probe into the death of Iraqi civilians last November in the Iraqi city of Haditha will show that U.S. Marines "killed innocent civilians in cold blood," a U.S. lawmaker said Wednesday.

From the beginning, Iraqis in the town of Haditha said U.S. Marines deliberately killed 15 unarmed Iraqi civilians, including seven women and three children.

One young Iraqi girl said the Marines killed six members of her family, including her parents. “The Americans came into the room where my father was praying,” she said, “and shot him.”

On Wednesday, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said the accounts are true.
Military officials told NBC News that the Marine Corps' own evidence appears to show Murtha is right.

A videotape taken by an Iraqi showed the aftermath of the alleged attack: a blood-smeared bedroom floor and bits of what appear to be human flesh and bullet holes on the walls.

The video, obtained by Time magazine, was broadcast a day after town residents told The Associated Press that American troops entered homes on Nov. 19 and shot dead 15 members of two families, including a 3-year-old girl, after a roadside bomb killed a U.S. Marine.

On Nov. 20, U.S. Marines spokesman Capt. Jeffrey Pool issued a statement saying that on the previous day a roadside bomb had killed 15 civilians and a Marine. In a later gunbattle, U.S. and Iraqi troops killed eight insurgents, he said.

U.S. military officials later confirmed that the version of events was wrong.

Murtha, a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq, said at a news conference Wednesday that sources within the military have told him that an internal investigation will show that "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."

Military officials say Marine Corp photos taken immediately after the incident show many of the victims were shot at close range, in the head and chest, execution-style. One photo shows a mother and young child bent over on the floor as if in prayer, shot dead, said the officials, who spoke to NBC News on condition of anonymity because the investigation hasn't been completed.

One military official says it appears the civilians were deliberately killed by the Marines, who were outraged at the death of their fellow Marine.

“This one is ugly," one official told NBC News.

Three Marine officers — commanders in Haditha — have been relieved of duty, and at least 12 Marines in all are under investigation for what would be the worst single incident involving the deliberate killing of civilians by U.S. military in Iraq.

The Marine Corps issued a statement in response to Murtha's remarks:
"There is an ongoing investigation; therefore, any comment at this time would be inappropriate and could undermine the investigatory and possible legal process. As soon as the facts are known and decisions on future actions are made, we will make that information available to the public to the fullest extent allowable."

Murtha held the news conference to mark six months since his initial call for "redeployment" of U.S. forces from Iraq.

He said U.S. forces were under undue pressure in Iraq because of poor planning and allocation of resources by the Bush administration.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12838343/

I originally posted a topic relating to two alleged executions of civilians, this is a more detailed account of what the marines were accused of in this case:

"American troops immediately cordoned off the area and raided two nearby houses, shooting at everyone inside," said Rsayef, who did not witness the events but whose 15-year-old niece says she did. "It was a massacre in every sense of the word."

Rsayef and another resident, former city councilman Imad Jawad Hamza, who spoke with hospital officials and residents, said the first house to be stormed was that of Abdul-Hamid Hassan Ali, which was near the scene of the bombing.

Ali, 76, whose left leg was amputated years ago because of diabetes, died after being shot in the stomach and chest. His wife, Khamisa, 66, was shot in the back. Ali's son, Jahid, 43, was hit in the head and chest. Son Walid, 37, was burned to death after a grenade was thrown into his room, and a third son, 28-year-old Rashid, died after he was shot in the head and chest, Rsayef and Hamza said.

Also among the dead were son Walid's wife, Asma, 32, who was shot in the head, and their son Abdullah, 4, who was shot in the chest, Rsayef and Hamza said.

Walid's 8-year-old daughter, Iman, and his 6-year-old son, Abdul-Rahman, were wounded and U.S. troops took them to Baghdad for treatment. The only person who escaped unharmed was Walid's 5-month-old daughter, Asia. The three children now live with their maternal grandparents, Rsayef and Hamza said.

Rsayef said those killed in the second house were his brother Younis, 43, who was shot in the stomach and chest, the brother's wife Aida, 40, who was shot in the neck and chest while still in bed where she was recuperating from bladder surgery. Their 8-year-old son Mohammed bled to death after being shot in the right arm, Rsayef said.

Also killed were Younis's daughters, Nour, 14, who was shot in the head; Seba, 10, who was hit in the chest; Zeinab, 5, shot in the chest and stomach; and Aisha, 3, who was shot in the chest. Hoda Yassin, a visiting relative, was also killed, Rsayef and Hamza said.

The only survivor from Younis's family was his 15-year-old daughter Safa, who pretended she was dead. She is living with her grandparents, Rsayef said.

The troops then shot and killed four brothers who were walking in the street, Rsayef and Hamza said, identifying them as the sons of Ayed Ahmed — Marwan, Qahtan, Jamal and Chaseb.

U.S. troops also shot dead five men who were in a car near the scene, Hamza and Rsayef said. They identified the five as Khaled Ayad al-Zawi and his brother Wajdi as well as Mohammed Battal Mahmoud, Akram Hamid Flayeh and Ahmad Fanni Mosleh.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,188526,00.html

This is the other allegation:

"The American forces gathered the family members in one room and executed 11 persons, including five children, four women and two men," the report said. "Then they bombed the house, burned three vehicles and killed their animals."

The report identified the dead by name, giving their ages. The two men killed were 22 and 28. Of the women, one was 22, another was 23, a third was 30 and the fourth was 75. Two of the children were 5 years old, two were 3, and the fifth was 6 months old, the document said.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002876683_civilians20.html

Though there's no video of the aftermath and it's unlikely to result in anything.

 

[XxFuRy2Xx]

Well, it was only a matter of time until something like this happened. A shame that those poor innocent people were killed.

 

[dennis_t]

....counting the minutes until someone argues that these news reports are undermining troop morale and show a lack of support for our boys and girls overseas.

 

[E-Z-B]

It's vietnam all over again.

 

[Javery]

This is unfortunate but it's what happens in the middle of a war. You don't know what was really going on...

 

[RedvsBlue]

[quote name='javeryh']This is unfortunate but it's what happens in the middle of a war. You don't know what was really going on...[/QUOTE]

Don't you dare let skepticism and logic into our hatred of Bush and the Iraq war.

 

[Quackzilla]

[quote name='javeryh']This is unfortunate but it's what happens in the middle of a war. You don't know what was really going on...[/QUOTE]
Crossfire is one thing, but pointing a gun at the head of a 3 year old girl and pulling the trigger is quite different.

 

[Drocket]

[quote name='RedvsBlue']Don't you dare let skepticism and logic into our hatred of Bush and the Iraq war.[/QUOTE]

Yes, let us me calm and rational in our acceptance of the occasional need to execute 3 year old children.

WOOHOO! One more sand nigger dead!

Um, sorry about that. As I was saying, things happen in war, and occasionally its necessary to deliberately blow the brains out of small children who pose no threat to anyone.

 

[PKRipp3r]

 

[RBM]

The American forces gathered the family members in one room and executed 11 persons, including five children, four women and two men," the report said. "Then they bombed the house, burned three vehicles and killed their animals."

Unfortunately, when a roadside bomb kills American Marines, those deaths do not drive hordes of Americans to bloodlust. We do not stampede to the nearest recruitment center & bayonet straw dummies imagining them to be Iraqi's.

It is unfortunate, because when American Marines vent their accrued anger on Iraqi civilians in this manner, it most likely does provide fodder for extremist recruitment, amongst a population already on edge from a lack of stability (no power, water, sewage, much less commerce, etc.)

As a country, we seem to be repeating an age-old mistake; we have hesitated in the very act of "strangling a cat" (if you'll pardon the use of such an unpleasant phrase, which nonetheless appears all too relevant, here.) Doing so has only multiplied the pain and misery for all involved.

A pity that our country has evolved as a 2-headed creature, with 1 head being stupid enough to consider a cat an easy victim and the other head stupid enough to believe the 1st head's assurance that we were simply petting the cat.

 

[PKRipp3r]

[quote name='RBM']
Unfortunately, when a roadside bomb kills American Marines, those deaths do not drive hordes of Americans to bloodlust. We do not stampede to the nearest recruitment center & bayonet straw dummies imagining them to be Iraqi's.

It is unfortunate, because when American Marines vent their accrued anger on Iraqi civilians in this manner, it most likely does provide fodder for extremist recruitment, amongst a population already on edge from a lack of stability (no power, water, sewage, much less commerce, etc.)

[size=+3]As a country, we seem to be repeating an age-old mistake; we have hesitated in the very act of "strangling a cat" (if you'll pardon the use of such an unpleasant phrase, which nonetheless appears all too relevant, here.) Doing so has only multiplied the pain and misery for all involved.

A pity that our country has evolved as a 2-headed creature, with 1 head being stupid enough to consider a cat an easy victim and the other head stupid enough to believe the 1st head's assurance that we were simply petting the cat.
[/SIZE][/QUOTE]

agree
and this administration was informed that they were repeating an old mistake

they declined to listen

rewind the film, boys... we're gonna watch this one again...

 

[Skelah]

this is discusting those people should have to sit in iraqi prisons so they can be treated like utter garbage for life.