By Tony Perry and Julian E. Barnes
The Los Angeles Times
Saturday 27 May 2006
Block quote start
An official involved in an investigation of Camp Pendleton Marines' actions in an Iraqi town cites "a total breakdown in morality."
Block quote end
Washington - Photographs taken by a Marine intelligence team have convinced investigators that a Marine unit killed as many as 24 unarmed Iraqis, some
of them "execution-style," in the insurgent stronghold of Haditha after a roadside bomb killed an American in November, officials close to the investigation
said Friday.
The pictures are said to show wounds to the upper bodies of the victims, who included several women and six children. Some were shot in the head and
some in the back, congressional and defense officials said.
One government official said the pictures showed that infantry Marines from Camp Pendleton "suffered a total breakdown in morality and leadership, with
tragic results."
The case may be the most serious incident of alleged war crimes in Iraq by US troops. Marine officers have long been worried that Iraq's deadly insurgency
could prompt such a reaction by combat teams.
An investigation by an Army general into the Nov. 19 incident is to be delivered soon to the top operational commander in Iraq. A separate criminal
investigation is also underway and could lead to charges ranging from dereliction of duty to murder.
Both investigations are centered on a dozen Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. The battalion was on its third
deployment to Iraq when the killings occurred.
Most of the fatal shots appear to have been fired by only a few of the Marines, possibly a four-man "fire team" led by a sergeant, said officials with
knowledge of the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The same sergeant is suspected of filing a false report downplaying the number of Iraqis killed, saying they were killed by an insurgent's bomb and
that Marines entered the Iraqis' homes in search of gunmen firing at them. All aspects of his account are contradicted by pictures, statements by Marines
to investigators and an inspection of the houses involved, officials said.
Other Marines may face criminal charges for failing to stop the killings or for failing to make accurate reports.
Of the dead Iraqis, 19 were in three to four houses that Marines stormed, officials said. Five others were killed near a vehicle.
The intelligence team took the pictures shortly after the shooting stopped. Such teams are typically assigned to collect information on insurgents after
firefights or other military engagements.
Investigators and top officers of the Camp Pendleton-based 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, which oversees Marine infantry, aviation and support units
in Iraq, have viewed the pictures.
The incident began when a roadside bomb attached to a large propane canister exploded as Marines passed through Haditha, a town on the Euphrates River.
Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, who was driving a Humvee, was killed and two other Marines were wounded.
Marines quickly determined that the bomb was a "line-of-sight" explosive that would have required someone to detonate it. Marines and Iraqi forces searched
houses and other structures in the narrow, dusty streets. Jets dropped 500-pound bombs and a drone aircraft circled overhead.
Time magazine, in a report published in March, quoted witnesses, including a 9-year-old girl, Eman Waleed, who said that she saw Marines kill her grandparents
and that other adults in the house died shielding her and her 8-year-old brother, Abdul Rahman.
An elder in Haditha later went to Marine officials at the battalion's headquarters to complain of wanton killings.
The Marines involved in the incident initially reported that they had become embroiled in a firefight with insurgents after the explosion. However,
evidence that later emerged contradicted that version.
"There wasn't a gunfight, there were no pockmarked walls," a congressional aide said.
"The wounds indicated execution-style" shootings, said a Defense Department official who had been briefed on the contents of the photos.
The Marine Corps backed off its initial explanation, and the investigations were launched after Time published its account.
Some lawmakers are asking the Marine Corps why an investigation wasn't launched earlier if the intelligence team's pictures contradicted the squad's
account. The pictures from the intelligence team would probably have been given to the battalion intelligence officer, and they should have raised questions
immediately, one congressional aide said.
The intelligence teams typically comprise Marine Corps reservists, often police officers or other law enforcement officials in civilian life who travel
with active-duty battalions or regiments.
Such questions were put to Marine Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee during a series of individual briefings over the last week. One focus of the administrative
investigation by Army Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell is to find out how high up the Marine Corps chain of command the misreporting went.
Military officials say they believe the delay in beginning the investigation was a result of the squad's initial efforts to cover up what happened.
Military and congressional sources said there was no indication that the members of the intelligence team did anything improper or delayed reporting their
findings.
"They are the guys that probably provided the conclusive, demonstrative evidence that what happened wasn't as others had described," a congressional
staffer said.
The Marine Corps apologized to the families of several of those killed and made payments to compensate them for their losses. The families have denied
permission to have the bodies exhumed for investigation.
Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), a retired Marine colonel, said there was clearly an attempt to cover up the incident by those involved. But he said he did
not think the Marine command was slow in investigating.
"There is no question that the Marines involved, those doing the shooting, they were busy in lying about it and covering it up - there is no question
about it," Kline said. "But I am confident, as soon as the command learned there might be some truth to this, they started to pursue it vigorously. I don't
have any reason now to think there was any foot dragging."
As Marines moved across the desert into Iraq on March 19, 2003, each Marine received a signed statement from then-Maj. Gen. James N. Mattis, commanding
general of the 1st Marine Division, exhorting his troops to fight vigorously but to treat noncombatants with "decency ?chivalry and soldierly compassion."
"Engage your brain before you engage your weapon," he said.
As detailed in Bing West's book "The March Up: Taking Baghdad With the 1st Marine Division," Brig. Gen. John Kelly, assistant division commander, was
concerned about instances of seemingly random firing by Marines, most of them untested in combat. Kelly is now the Marine Corps' congressional liaison
and has helped Hagee deliver briefings to legislators on the investigations into the Nov. 19 incident.
Hagee left for Iraq on Thursday to sternly remind Marines that harming noncombatants violates Marine policy and numerous laws governing warfare. He
plans to give the same message to troops at Camp Pendleton and other Marine bases when he returns.
Haditha has been a particularly difficult area for the Marines. Officers have said they lack enough troops to do an adequate job of developing intelligence
and then confronting insurgents.
A documentary shown this week on the A&E Network detailed the frustrations of a company of Marine reservists who had 23 members killed and 36 wounded
during a deployment last year in Haditha.
One Marine sergeant, in an interview after his unit had returned to Columbus, Ohio, remembered a raid in which he burst into a home and came close to
killing two women and a teenage boy out of rage for the deaths of fellow Marines.
Sgt. Guy Zierk, interviewed in the documentary, "Combat Diary: The Marines of Lima Company," said he knew at that point that he had been in Iraq too
long.
Source URL:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-marines27may27,1,1672056.story
Re: Photos Indicate Civilians Slain Execution-Style - The Los Angeles Times
One of the saddest aspects of military life. A good soldier is taught many ways to kill and is taught well. Sadly, all too often it is learned that the military forgets to teach when not to kill. Perhaps times have changed, but I remember my military days and the training was with the attitude of "kill them all, let God do the Sorting"
Training a man to be a soldier is one of the disgraces of civilization. The years wasted that could be productive and the instillation of alien beliefs that in some people are never erased.
A soldier is basicaly a tool or weapon in warfare, he is only as good as his training and the orders from his superiors. Poor training, poor officers and you have a disaster waiting to happen.
New photographs lend weight to allegations of revenge killings by US unit under attack in which 24 unarmed civilians died
Paul Harris in Washington and David Smith in Basra
Sunday May 28, 2006
The Observer
Fresh photographic evidence seen by US investigators is believed to reveal that some of the 24 unarmed Iraqis killed in the Iraqi town of Haditha after
an American died in a roadside bomb in November were in effect executed, it was reported yesterday.
According to Congressional and defence officials quoted by the Los Angeles Times, the pictures show wounds to the upper bodies of the victims, who included
several women and six children. Some were shot in the head and some in the back.
'There wasn't a gunfight, there were no pockmarked walls,' the paper reports a congressional aide as saying. And it quotes a US Defence Department official
who had been briefed on the contents of the photos as saying 'the wounds indicated execution-style' shootings.
US military investigators are probing the events of 19 November 2005, and a picture is gradually emerging of a small group of troops who lost control in
the wake of an unrelated attack on their vehicle, which left one of their comrades dead. Other soldiers then helped to cover up the atrocity.
Claims that US marines massacred Iraqi civilians threaten to undermine public support for keeping British troops in the country, the UK's most senior military
officer said yesterday. The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, said that reports of the unprovoked killing of up to two dozen
unarmed Iraqis would be 'appalling' if proved accurate. 'Our people are in Iraq and other parts of the world doing difficult and dangerous things in unpleasant
circumstances on behalf of their country and they need the support of the people in their country. This sort of accusation - and it is at the moment just
an accusation, of course - does make that harder to achieve,' he told the BBC.
Two parallel investigations are trying to piece together what happened in the incident. They were sparked by evidence first collected by Time magazine and
Iraqi human rights workers. One probe, by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is examining the killings, while another looks at any cover-up. Both
are set to conclude in the next few weeks. It is widely expected that they will end with the courts martial of several marines and possible charges of
murder.
Some top US politicians involved with defence issues have already been briefed on the issue and they have told reporters that the evidence is damaging.
'Marines over-reacted... and killed innocent civilians in cold blood,' Congressman John Murtha, a former marine, told the Washington Post. One retired
general, David Brahms, told the newspaper: 'When these investigations come out, there's going to be a firestorm. It will be worse then Abu Ghraib. Nobody
was killed at Abu Ghraib.'
The incident happened after a hidden bomb exploded as a US marine unit passed through Haditha. One marine, Miguel Terrazas, was killed. Two other marines
were also wounded in the blast.
What happened next is the focus of the investigations. Eyewitnesses and human rights groups believe the marines swept through the town in a lust for revenge.
The attack may have lasted for several hours. At the end of it, 24 Iraqi civilians had been killed. They included a 76-year-old amputee and a four-year-old
boy. In one house an entire family, including seven children, were attacked with guns and grenades. Only a 13-year-old girl survived.
British soldiers currently in Iraq said they were anxious to distance themselves from the Americans but that Iraqis did seem able to make a distinction.
One private, who did not wish to be named, said: 'We are given an education: the Americans get shown how to use a gun. The Iraqis know the difference.'
Captain Victoria Wedgwood-Jones, of 20 Armed Brigade, said: 'When the British come and say we are British, they welcome us warmly.'
Re: Photos Indicate Civilians Slain Execution-Style - The Los Angeles Times
format_quote Originally Posted by Woodrow
One of the saddest aspects of military life. A good soldier is taught many ways to kill and is taught well. Sadly, all too often it is learned that the military forgets to teach when not to kill. Perhaps times have changed, but I remember my military days and the training was with the attitude of "kill them all, let God do the Sorting"
Training a man to be a soldier is one of the disgraces of civilization. The years wasted that could be productive and the instillation of alien beliefs that in some people are never erased.
A soldier is basicaly a tool or weapon in warfare, he is only as good as his training and the orders from his superiors. Poor training, poor officers and you have a disaster waiting to happen.
Beautiful post I would rep you a thousand and one times if I could.:awesome:
Re: Photos Indicate Civilians Slain Execution-Style - The Los Angeles Times
format_quote Originally Posted by Joe98
Which part of Marine history made you think they were savages?
I do have to agree with Joe here. The US Marines have a long Proud and Honorable history. This incident should not reflect on the history of the USMC.
As I said above, this is a very sad incident. I suspect it was the result of poor training and even poorer leadership.
Hopefully someday the would will be able to resolve issues without resorting to combat. But, until we get civilized, incidents like this are always likely to repeat themselves. The Marines involved are also victims. Someday, not far in the future, they will experience the pains of what happened.
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. The only positive aspect is at least that the military is investigating this itself and those responsible will be punished.
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