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I stand with the Marines of 3/1 Company K
Posted by Raven on April 13th, 2007
It breaks my heart, and pisses me off still, to know we have 8 Marines fighting our government on charges that stem from the words of our enemies.
NORTH COUNTY —- The U.S. government’s prosecution against eight Camp Pendleton Marines in the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in the Iraqi city of Haditha in 2005 is fraught with problems, according to sources with intimate knowledge of the case.
The difficulties include conflicting statements from Iraqis whose testimony led to the charges and an incomplete forensic reconstruction of the events on Nov. 19, 2005, that have resulted in prosecutors’ delaying the start of hearings against some of the accused, the sources said.
Also at issue are interrogations of suspects conducted by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in Iraq during which agents allegedly refused to provide attorneys for some of those who asked for them and refused the men bathroom breaks, the sources contend.
“It’s a mess,” one source said of the investigation that prompted a worldwide outcry when the first came to light —- one of two Iraqi civilian-killing cases involving Camp Pendleton Marines.
Funny…how statements from the accused Marines have never changed yet the words from the Iraqi’s have consistently changed.
In January, a team of prosecutors from Camp Pendleton went to Iraq and spent several weeks in Haditha interviewing witnesses and seeing the four houses that were assaulted following the roadside bomb attack that killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas of Texas.
Part of the reason for that trip, according to several sources, was because the forensic reconstruction done by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service was considered lacking.
Unlike the Hamdania case, where the victim’s body was exhumed and examined by a forensic pathologist at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, there were no exhumations of victims in Haditha and therefore no forensic medical reports.
The investigation into the alleged crimes has been full of holes and questionable evidence; bodies have not been exhumed; blunders in forensic science have occurred repeatably.
Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, who led the enlisted men, has acknowledged ordering the shooting of five men who emerged from a car that happened upon the scene shortly after the bombing.
He also has acknowledged ordering the assault of the homes where the 19 others died. His Article 32 hearing is tentatively set to begin June 4.
Wuterich and attorneys for the other men charged with homicide contend that while the civilian deaths were regrettable, the Marines’ actions were within the military’s rules of engagement.
Wuterich told the CBS news magazine “60 Minutes” last month that he was following what he understood to be the rules of engagement when he ordered his men to assault the homes where most of the civilians died.
…and this is the heart of this issue. The Marines followed the ROE. Reporters on the scene shortly after the deaths were shocked at the fact that Marines will fight back and KILL. Time Magazine opened up a can of worms with this; the old non Marine Jack Murtha also jumped on the anti war band wagon here and declared these Marines to be cold blooded killers. Not a one of these people had seen what really happened from start to finish. Rather than stand up for our rules of engagement, our government is bowing down and making scapegoats of our Marines in this case. The government has no evidence to use against the Marines. The case will collapse as it should.
I stand with the Marines of 3/1 Company K. I always have and always will.
This post is linked to Cao’s Friday Track Back Party.
April 13th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Amen!
April 13th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Damn STRAIGHT! No one will EVAH turn me away from these Marines.
April 13th, 2007 at 9:35 pm
I was/am a Marine, and I support my Corps the same as I support my country — right or wrong — if wrong, make it right. As stated, the case is Bravo Sierra and will collapse.
AND the code of the warrior does not include killing civilians or prisoners. Our Captain in VNam made it clear that anyone who abuses prisoners has way too much fighting spirit and should go directly to ‘walking point’.
The horrible things of war ESPECIALLY require a Code. The story is told of a young Marine in VNam, whose friends had been blown away by booby traps. Enraged, he was ready to kill a old woman villager who obviously knew they were there & said nothing. The Lieutenant did not give him a lecture on ethics, he just said, “Marines don’t do that.”
April 13th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
THIS enemy uses tactics designed to elicit the exact “rage” from our leftwing co-country men…and…this enemy knows how to exploit the media into turning these things against our very own military. Sadly our liberal fellow country men chose to believe the enemy over the Marines.
It makes me so damn mad I could spit bloody bullets at them all…and if given a chance I probably would.
April 13th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
I stand with you.
These Marines should have come home to a hero’s welcome, not to charges of murder and a cover-up.
To help spread the word, I posted your piece on Free Republic at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1816928/posts.
Thank you for making my day.
April 14th, 2007 at 7:57 am
–Sadly our liberal fellow country men chose to believe the enemy over the Marines.
Just one other thing. In the Haditha case, I’m more angry that most conservatives, who should know better, also believe the enemy.
Case in point. The article in the North County Times that you blogged was a bombshell. And it went nowhere.
No one in the media is following up. Not a single conservative radio talk show host even mentioned it. Forget the likes of Chris Matthews. Why aren’t the likes of Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh talking about this case and probing this story?
April 14th, 2007 at 9:39 am
Hey Red Rover thanks for the link at Freepers.
The media in general is ignoring this so it’s important that we bloggers pick it up. And yell it. Scream it. Force it down people’s throats…to bring attention to it. The more the merrier.