Lance Cpl. Briones told his mother he saw the bodies of 23 dead Iraqis.
Susie Briones got a panicked call that day from her son, who said he did not see the shootings but was told by his supervisors to go into the houses and remove the bodies. He brought along a digital camera that his mother had given him before he left for Iraq.
One of the bodies was a little girl who had been shot in the head, Susie Briones said.
"He had to carry that little girl's body," she said, "and her head was blown off and her brain splattered on his boots."
Briones' best friend, Lance Cpl. Miguel "T.J." Terrazas, had been killed earlier that day by the roadside bomb. He was still grieving when he was sent in to clean up the bodies of the Iraqi civilians, his mother said.
Ryan Briones told the Los Angeles Times that he'd been interrogated twice by Navy investigators while in Iraq. He turned over his digital camera but did not know what happened to it after that.
"They wanted to know if the bodies had been moved or tampered with," said Briones, who has not been interviewed by Navy investigators since he returned from Iraq in April
...
On Monday, both Marines were back at Camp Pendleton, near Oceanside, where base officials said several members of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division were being confined during the investigations.
Lt. Lawton King, a Camp Pendleton spokesman, declined to comment Monday, but another Marine there reflected on the damage the reports have done.
Nicholas Grey, a second lieutenant in the Marine Reserves based at Camp Pendleton, said the case will result in a loss of credibility for the Marines and increase Iraqi anger.
"It will make it a lot harder for the Marines who want to go through the streets," he said.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/14690460.htm
The left wants Marines to be killed walking on the streets.....hence this "story".
"and her head was blown off and her brain splattered on his boots"
How did he know it was SHOT OFF by a U.S. Marine? Just read folks.. he said it was blown off.
No proof that I heard yet? Anyone? Proof?
John Kerry? Come on... maybe you can get elected on some lies... oh, you tried that already.
So his boots happened to be in the room at the time her brains splattered out of the hole in her skull? This statement is obviously a LIE.
So we learn of one lie...the photos were not taken by a "military photographer, but by a Lcpl with his own camera.
Nicholas Grey, a second lieutenant in the Marine Reserves based at Camp Pendleton, said the case will result in a loss of credibility for the Marines and increase Iraqi anger.
Apparently Mr. Grey believes the story as told. What do you think...the press tells these guys the killings were done by Marines and then prints their reactions in order to bolster the idea that the grunts did it?
If our guys "removed the bodies", why do all the videos from the "Iraqi Human Rights Group" show them being removed by locals?