Posted on 01/06/2007 12:25:56 AM PST by Aussie Dasher
AN investigative report compiled by the US military indicates that US marines gunned down five unarmed Iraqis who stumbled onto the scene of a 2005 roadside bombing in Haditha, Iraq, The Washington Post reported today.
Citing the document obtained by the newspaper, the account said that Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, the squad's leader, shot the men one by one after marines ordered them out of a white taxi in the moments following the explosion, which killed one marine and injured two others.
Another marine fired rounds into their bodies as they lay on the ground, the paper said, citing the military report.
"The taxi's five occupants exited the vehicle and according to US and Iraqi witnesses, were shot by Wuterich as they stood, unarmed, next to the vehicle approximately ten feet in front of him,'' The Post quotes the report by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service as saying.
One of the witnesses, Sergeant Asad Amer Mashoot, a 26-year-old Iraqi soldier who was in the marine convoy, told investigators he watched in horror as the four students and the taxi driver fell.
"They didn't even try to run away,'' the report quotes him as saying. "We were afraid from marines and we saw them behaving like crazy. They were yelling and screaming.''
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
Ping~
Shiite!!!!! Is right. I don't condone killing unarmed people but I think our guys have had enough. They don't know who is friend or foe anymore or who is armed and who isn't.... Prayers for them as I can see this being a big story now. To be honest if I were a soldier I don't think I would be a good one because I would have most likely be shooting anyone I thought was after me. I guess seeing your fellow Marine or soldier dead from a bomb might set you off . Such a shame and very sad......
Absolutely, 100% what you said.
The pressures and restrictions that the U.S. forces are under seem intolerable. Historically, soldiers in their situation would simply unleash total destruction and neutralize any possible opposition, presenting the surviving population with a new reality. It seems to me ironic that the U.S. is vilified as "imperial" when we are so consipicuously unwilling to exert the overwhelming force that deserves this name, especially since it would be so easy for us to do.
Had I been there, I would have riddled them with bullets, too.
Semper fidelis,
LH
This, of course, makes no sense on the face of it.
After all you read, you'd think these are real demons in our military. Military people are generally good people and deserve better than this. They weren't trained to do this sort of thing. Americans should have more compassion for them- they are sometimes treated worse than the terrorists.
I say pardon all of our troops in situations like this.
I'm with you!
Put in the same situation, what would any of us do?
Does "unarmed" mean "only cellphones were found"?
"In the moments following the explosion" which killed a Marine - - and while, by the way, the surviving Marines determined that they were being shot at by small arms fire - - a taxi full of Iraqis "stumbled onto the scene"?? Even if I buy that, I don't care if they are armed or not, because I ain't checking. I am unloading my clip. War is hell.
Regards,
LH
Of course it's obviously true, these accusations. I mean, why doubt such unimpeachable sources as those listed...umm... what are the sources again?
Sadly, it won't be seen that way.
The left will have a field day!
"The descriptions of events provided to The Post by witnesses in Haditha could not be independently verified, although their accounts of the number of casualties and their identities were corroborated by death certificates."
"Aws Fahmi, a Haditha resident who said he watched and listened from his home..."
"The final victims of the day happened upon the scene inadvertently, witnesses said...A Haditha taxi driver, Ahmed Khidher, was bringing them home, Fahmi said.
According to Fahmi, the young men and their driver turned onto the street and saw the wrecked Humvee and the Marines. Khidher threw the car into reverse, trying to back away at full speed, Fahmi said, and the Marines opened fire from about 30 yards away, killing all the men inside the taxi."
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Kinda different from the article, no?
Has anybody ever heard of Shock?
You are close to an explosion that took out yopur friends, The explosion and the shock have an effect. You dont think right. It is probably 5 minutes before your body adjusts.
You shoot,you dont think.
If you are going to prosecute these men for being human and being victims of shock then bring them home. If not then leave them alone and get on with the war.
I back the latter course of action.
Sadly, the new 'Rat Congress won't!!!
There's also the oft neglected possibility that every bit of this "evidence" against these Marines was manufactured by insurgents and their supporters and flogged around by enemy sympathiser journos until someone weak enough in a JAGoff(ice) decided to make his "bones" on the bodies of these Marines and set himself up for a nice partnership once he got done "doing the uniform thing".
The simple act of asking them to produce their ID card before shooting will prevent any of this from happening again.
An additional safety feature would be trigger locks activated by a magnetic strip on these enemy ID cards to prevent accidental shooting of innocent citizens.
I'm sure that our liberals in Washington would really like this idea.
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