This image of shrouded bodies is from a video made by an Iraqi journalism student in Haditha, Iraq. Iraqis say Marines stormed their homes Nov. 19, killing 15 civilians
Posted on 03/21/2006 5:15:50 AM PST by yankeedame
Updated: 05:27 AM EST
Videotape Leads to Pentagon Probe of Iraqi Deaths
Military Investigates Marines' Role in Incident That Killed 15 Civilians
[*The title of this thread is the AOL title.
The title of actual article is above.]
By JONATHAN KARL, ABCNews.com
WASHINGTON (March 20) -- A bloody videotape shot by a local Iraqi journalism student has prompted the Pentagon to launch a criminal investigation into an incident that left at least 15 Iraqi civilians dead in the city of Haditha.
This image of shrouded bodies is from a video made by an Iraqi journalism student in Haditha, Iraq. Iraqis say Marines stormed their homes Nov. 19, killing 15 civilians
Haditha residents accuse U.S. troops of going on a rampage after a roadside bomb killed a Marine.
Marines attend a Nov. 29 memorial service for Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, the U.S. serviceman killed in the Nov. 19 roadside bombing that triggered raids in Haditha
The U.S. military initially said the bombing also killed the Iraqis, but officials now say the civilians were killed in crossfire as U.S. Marines stormed homes. Source: ABC
The details of what happened four months ago in Haditha are just now coming to light with the release of the videotape by an Iraqi organization called Hammurabi Human Rights.
The tape shows the bloodied and bullet-marked homes that had been allegedly stormed by the Marines, and includes comments by local residents.
"This is my father," a boy says on the tape. "He didn't do anything wrong. Why did they kill him?"
'These Are Children'
The video shows the bodies of some of the dead, including one of three children killed.
"These are children," one man on the tape says. "Are you telling me these are terrorists?"
It all started Nov. 19 when a roadside bomb hit a convoy of 12 Marines in Haditha, killing 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas.
The official press release said simply: "A U.S. Marine and 15 Iraqi civilians were killed yesterday from the blast of a roadside bomb."
Prompted by Magazine
What They Said
''First, [U.S. Marines] went into my father's room, where he was reading the Koran, and we heard shots. ...I watched them shoot my grandfather, first in the chest and then in the head. Then they killed my granny.''
-- Eman Waleed, 9, who says she saw U.S. troops kill seven members of her family Nov. 19 in Haditha, Iraq
1/6 Sources: TIME, ABC News, AP
Military officials now acknowledge the Iraqis were not killed by the bomb -- but, they now say, by crossfire as U.S. Marines stormed the surrounding homes.
The military did not launch an investigation until two months after the incident, when Time magazine showed officials the video and eyewitness testimony.
"We launched an investigation of our own with the help of a human rights group," said Aparisim Ghosh, a writer for Time. "We spoke to some eyewitnesses. And it turns out all the people killed were killed by the Marines in small arms fire and, in a few instances, by an explosive that was tossed into the home by the Marines themselves."
Senior Pentagon officials would not comment on the details of the case but said they take the allegations very seriously, which is why they've launched the criminal investigation.
It still is not clear the Marines used excessive force, but the locals seem to have made up their minds.
"They came and started shooting all of a sudden," one local said. "They didn't even knock on the door. They killed them wholesale."
According to a military spokesman, the Marines involved still are deployed in Iraq.
03-20-06 16:33 EST
Copyright 2006 ABCNEWS.com
Here we go again. MSM orchestrating the continued trashing of our military.
My Lai massacre redux from the Vietnam war playbook.
I'm suspicious.
And I HIGHLY doubt that US Marines would purposely open fire WITHOUT someone firing at them first; after the uproar over Abhu graihb prison, it's just not likely.
.
I think I'll wait for more information ... Time Mag. has a history
So am I .. and this guy just happened to be there with a video camera??
I'd wait for more info on this because it doesn't smell right
Agreed. When your religion tells you that it is okay to lie to infidels because they are infidels, I am going to be very suspicious of what these witnesses say until more information comes out. Kind of reminds me of everyone who has been released from Gitmo. They have all claimed to have been tortured. Hmmm...
Racak Redux!
Do they have a picture of a bomb...when it should be a missle?
The media loves to fail to mention that this is not an insurgent war, but a terror war, and that civilians of all kinds are used as shields or directly participate in shielding or fighting for terrorists in civilian clothing.
I saw a tape of Iraqi kids sent by parents to throw rocks at US truck convoys, & it is simply unacceptable to use cherub faces to launder a criminal genocidal war violating all Geneva conventions & that human rights groups do not go after such laundering of illegitimate warfare & crimes against humanity & exploitation of children... but so it is that provocations are made & a problem will happen one day & America will be blamed again.
This is however the weapons of mass destruction culture mentality of terrorists, use some cult, weapon or war doctrine that involves everyone on a mass scale in killing & getting killed, this is the hallmark of the leftist revolution.
and they wonder why recruitment is down.
Oh yes, I'm sure he was just being a good illiterate muslim reading an Arabic koran when he can't even read Arabic or speak it. They speak farsi.
What to say this isn't another Islamic propaganda stunt where they shoot their own then parade them around for western media to gobble up.
I say B.S. to it all.
I don't disagree that it's propaganda but let's at least get our facts straight.
Farsi isn't the dominant language in Iraq.
Arabic is the only "official" language arabs acknowledge for the Koran. All who convert are taught some basics like saying the shihaada in Arabic. Whether or not he was reading it at the time, the language of his culture is irrelevant to his ability to read the Koran.
Iraqis (except Kurds) speak Arabic. Iranians speak Farsi.
Most Iraqi's speak Arabic? News to me. Every one i ever met spoke farsi
The koran isn't read. It's chanted from memory. You can hold it upside down and they wouldn't know the difference.
That's why this story is B.S. It's not like this guy was sitting in his room reading the bible, which is the impression they are trying to make, and us dumb westerners buy it.
And unless this was right in baghdad, I doubt these people could read Arabic at all. Haditha is where, more north nearer the kurds?
I'm sure these "nasty marines" would shoot this girls father and grandmother right in front of her, going from room to room while she watched. And then let her live to tell everyone about it. And it just so happened to be a Times reporter, who did his own "investigation".
We've seen these frauds before, the stories are too unbelievable to be even remotely true. I spent 23 years in the army, Nobody, especially a whole squad, would do anything like this. You could see one soldier snaping and going beserk, but nothing like this.
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