Posted on 06/02/2006 9:13:25 AM PDT by kellynla
U.S. Marine Corps headquarters in Washington did not learn of the killing of Iraqi civilians by Marines in Haditha until early March, a timeline that appears to exonerate the highest ranks of the Marine Corps from any cover-up or failure to act.
The U.S. military command in Baghdad learned of the civilian killings in February and began two investigations: one criminal and one administrative.
The administrative probe by Army Brig. Gen. Eldon Bargewell is focusing on whether any information was covered up along the Marine Corps chain of command. This is because the 2nd Marine Division issued a press release Nov. 20 saying Iraqi civilians had been killed in Haditha the previous day by an improvised explosive device (IED) and in a firefight with insurgents.
Officials now acknowledge that the statement was inaccurate. Evidence shows the civilians were killed deliberately by Marines' gunfire during sweeps after an IED killed one of their battlemates.
One key question is: Did senior Marine Corps officers hear of the accusations and fail to act between the time of the Nov. 19 incident and February, when a Time magazine reporter brought the charges to the attention of the Baghdad command?
A timeline that the Marines provided yesterday to The Washington Times would appear to exonerate Gen. Michael W. Hagee, the Marine Corps commandant, and his staff.
Col. David Lapan, a Marine Corps headquarters spokesman, said the commandant and his staff were apprised in early March by Marine commanders in Iraq. He said Gen. Hagee subsequently received briefings on the criminal probe and then dedicated a tour of Iraq to telling Marines the importance of ethical conduct and the rules of war.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
Would you like to be on the Irey/Murtha ping list?
And I was right, this from a CNN story:
Investigators in Haditha are hoping to exhume victims' bodies to look for forensic evidence that may explain how 24 Iraqi civilians were fatally shot on November 19, according to a senior U.S. military official with knowledge of the probe.
The families of the Haditha victims are refusing the exhumation request, contributing to a delay in the Naval Criminal Investigative Service's investigation into the deaths, the military said Friday. They clearlly do not want the truth to com out. "They" are not necessarily the families themselves, the terrorists could be threatening the families, which we know they do all the time.
But good news in the long run.
This thing will go the way of Tailwind, which the Military hating portion of the MSM (most of it) never speak of since it was shown to be not only false, but inaccurate. Stinking bastards.
Bump
Somehow I just KNEW that the MSM was the instigator of this whole damn mess.
Be interesting to trace Murtha's timeline as to when
he found out about it.???
My guess is about 15 minutes before that disgraceful EX-Marine sprinted to the nearest television camera.
The only evidence I've heard about is the statements of some villagers and the doctor who said that the Marines brought the bodies to the hospital. He said that the Marines told him that the people had been killed by the IED, but the doctor claimed that they had been shot at close range. As far as I know, his word is what is being taken as truth here, and anything said to the contrary by the military is considered lies.
Another thing not being considered by the media is that the bodies may have been in two groups. One group of villagers killed by the IED, and another group of people held hostage in their homes by the terrorists who could have killed them on their way out the back running from the Marines who survived the attack.
Why on earth would you expect that kelly? Those pimples on the backside of humanity will probably publish it alright, but it'll be a 1/2 inch item on page 52.
Now how bad does a Time reporter have to be not to have noticed that little factoid? And just how bad is an editor who didn't even bother to ask questions before printing a report that besmirched the honor of our Marines?
I agree.
I also have an idea.
Advertising dollars is what motivates the MSM, smalltime media, any media -- or at least the suits that run the business.
So, how bout a bunch of freepers pool a $20 spot apiece, and buy ad space in some of those newspapers.
I heard Michelle Malkin say today on TV that the media was "hyproventilating,(sp)" over this.
Be neat if we could turn these bottom feeders against each other, where they eat their own. And I guarantee you, the ad department and editorial department feed on each other regularly, but the money rules in the end
BTTT
When in doubt, cut and run." Jack Murtha
Awesome : )
Did you know him?
From day one everyone in Kilo Co., the mayor, the hospital all knew the 15 were killed by the squad after they came under fire from the area of the first house. The mayor and the local chiefs discussed the matter with Capt. Luke McConnell, Kilo Co. commander. Attached intel determined these 15 to be non-combatants. Major Deanna Hyatt, acting on the intel personels' determination, paid $38K for the deaths.
In Nov and Dec everyone in the town, including a Time reporter that had been at the scene shortly after the incident, knew they were killed by the Marines. That includes the Irqi reporter that worked on the Time article.
The Marines had taken harassing fire from the area of the 1st house. They may have been in the house, or left and fired from outside. The terrorists retreated as the Marines advanced. That left the family inside and the Marines outside thinking they were advancing on a terrorist stronghold. They assaulted it and hit it hard. Twords the end of that, either the terrorists in the 4th house, or those that retreated fired again. The Marines thought it came from the 2nd house. They hit it hard.
This is essentially what the Marines told Col Gregory Watt (USA) the prlim investagator. This is what Kilo Co. knew. For some reason a false version of the events was issued from Camp Blue Diamond. When the Time staff went to discuss the matter with Lt Col Barry Johnson, all Johnson had to go on was the false press release. Time though knew what had occured already. It was common knowledge back in Haditha.
This whole thing originated, because back in Haditha, the reporters knew and they had dicovered the false press statement. The Iraqis put 2+2 together and created this scam of ignorance. The American reporter Tim McGirk went right along with the Iraqi's pretend ingnorance to give meat to the murder and coverup claims. Had the press report been good, they'd of had a real hard time claiming what they did in Jan.
I'd like to ping Murtha....with a ballpeen hammer!!
That's right as far as any charges concerning the action itself goes. The problem with the false press release is another matter. I don't know of any sensible reason the problem would have arisen within the company at this point. ABC is attributing the source to Staff Sgt Frank Wuterich himself, that would mean Capt McConnel is complicit. I doubt this very much. I think the screwup was above the company level and the "pentagon annonymous tip" ABC printed is bogus.
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