Posted on 05/26/2006 1:44:24 PM PDT by rocksblues
WASHINGTON (AP) - Military investigators probing the deaths last November of about two dozen Iraqi civilians have evidence that points toward unprovoked murders by Marines, a senior defense official said Friday.
The Marine Corps initially reported 15 deaths and said they were caused by a roadside bomb and an ensuing firefight with insurgents. A separate investigation is aimed at determining if Marines lied to cover up the events, which included the deaths of women and children.
If confirmed as unjustified killings, the episode could be the most serious case of criminal misconduct by U.S. troops during three years of combat in Iraq. Until now the most infamous occurrence was the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse involving Army soldiers, which came to light in April 2004 and which President Bush said Thursday he considered to be the worst U.S. mistake of the entire war.
The defense official discussed the matter Friday only on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly about the investigation. He said the evidence found thus far strongly indicated the killings in the insurgent-plagued city of Haditha in the western province of Anbar were unjustified. He cautioned that the probe was not finished.
(AP) In this Dec. 14, 2004, file photo, Gen. Michael W. Hagee, the U.S. Marine Corps Commandant, second... Full Image Once the investigation is completed, perhaps in June, it will be up to a senior Marine commander in Iraq to decide whether to press charges of murder or other violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Three officers from the unit involved - 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif. - have been relieved of duty, although officials have not explicitly linked them to the criminal investigation.
In an indication of how concerned the Marines are about the implications of the Haditha case, their top officer, Gen. Michael W. Hagee, flew to Iraq on Thursday. He was to reinforce what the military said was a need to adhere to Marine values and standards of behavior and to avoid the use of excess force.
"Many of our Marines have been involved in life or death combat or have witnessed the loss of their fellow Marines, and the effects of these events can be numbing," Hagee said a statement announcing his trip. "There is the risk of becoming indifferent to the loss of a human life, as well as bringing dishonor upon ourselves."
A spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters in the Pentagon, Lt. Col. Scott Fazekas, declined to comment on the status of the Haditha investigation. He said no information would be provided until the probe was completed.
(AP) In this Dec. 14, 2004, file photo, Gen. Michael W. Hagee, the U.S. Marine Corps Commandant, meets... Full Image According to a congressional aide, lawmakers were told in a briefing Thursday that it appears as many as two dozen civilians were killed in the episode at Haditha. And they were told that the investigation will find that "it will be clear that this was not the result of an accident or a normal combat situation."
Another congressional official said lawmakers were told it would be about 30 days before a report would be issued by the investigating agency, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Both the House and Senate armed services committees plan to hold hearings on the matter.
The New York Times reported on Friday that the civilians killed at Haditha included five men who had been traveling in a taxi and others in two nearby houses. The newspaper quoted an unidentified official as saying it was a sustained operation over as long as five hours.
Hagee met with top lawmakers from those panels this week to bring them up to date on the investigation.
(AP) In this Dec. 14, 2004, file photo, Gen. Michael W. Hagee, the U.S. Marine Corps Commandant, listens... Full Image "I can say that there are established facts that incidents of a very serious nature did take place," Sen. John Warner, chairman of the Senate panel, said Thursday. He would not provide details or confirm reports that about 24 civilians were killed. He told reporters he had "no basis to believe" the military engaged in a cover-up.
Separately, the Marines announced this week that a criminal investigation was under way in connection with an alleged killing on April 26 of an Iraqi civilian by Marines in Hamandiyah, west of Baghdad. No details about that case have been made public.
In the Haditha case, videotape aired by an Arab television station showed images purportedly taken in the aftermath of the encounter: a bloody bedroom floor, walls with bullet holes and bodies of women and children. An Iraqi human rights group called for an investigation of what it described as a deadly mistake that had harmed civilians.
On May 17, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a former Marine, said Corps officials told him the toll in the Haditha attack was far worse than originally reported and that U.S. troops killed innocent women and children "in cold blood." He said that nearly twice as many people were killed as first reported and maintained that U.S. forces were "overstretched and overstressed" by the war in Iraq.
Pentagon spokesman Eric Ruff said Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was being kept apprised. Ruff said he did not expect any announcements in the next few days
So the Marines took five hours to kill 2 dozen civilians?
We should have gone in, gone roman and been out of there by now. This is what happens when politicans and military Yes men run ops.
IF this truly happened, and I have serious doubts, then the marines involved should be charged with murder. But we'd better be darn sure it happened, and not just gloss over it to soothe the towel-heads.
If this aside in the article is true, my vote is Not Guilty!
It's about time that some of these Defense Department officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk about the investigation be found and a cell door slammed behind them.
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All insurgents are civilians. They fight under no official national flag or uniform.
I agree. But our men who put their lives on the line everyday must be able to recognize the bad guys or else. /S
Tell that to the Marines who are facing prison for doing their job!
Well, we'll see if the Bush Administration has gotten any smarter. We know how the media will play this. They need to counter this story.
And this is what is wrong with using the military to "nation build." These brave young men go out day after day. They watch their friends being killed by unseen thugs who are being smuggly supported by the very people they are purportedly in the country to "liberate." All the while being bound by increasingly more complicated and political "rules of engagement." I really can't say what I might do under such impossible circumstances.
Tell that to the Marines who are facing prison for doing their job!
As LOUD as I can yell.
Semper-Phi
This story will lead "All Things Considered" on NPR for the next month.
Funny, how an exemplary military operation, probably one of the most efficient in saving lives and reaching objectives in the history of the world, continues to be undermined by the so-called "conduct" of our troops... Abu Gharab (however the h*ll way you spell it) and now this.
Exactly. It's boiling down to police regulations being imposed on a combat force. The only problem is that these guys have to dial it up (full blown heavy firefight) and down (simple patrolling) constantly. Something most police won't encounter in their lifetimes on a civilian force. I'm waiting for Miranda warnings to start being applied.
Noted. But kind of hard to do.
How about when the insurgents stop using them as shields?
Hey Junk Media, if you scum bag source will not go on the record it is just rumor and innuendo, NOT News. We heard this song and dance before. Remember "Flush the Koran at Gitmo" from Newsweek or "24 indictments reaching into the upper levels of the White House" promised us from Fritzmus? Just the latest in dozens and dozens of criminal level Journalistic misconducts that a High School Journalism Student would get an F for pulling. Utterly shameful.
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