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Ear to the Ground

Murtha Alleges Coverup in Haditha Massacre

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Posted on May 30, 2006
The Massacre of Haditha
From Peter Brookes / The Times (UK)

Two investigations are underway into the November killing of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines.

  • “They knew the day after this happened that it was not as they portrayed it,” Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) told CNN about the military’s response to the November killings of 24 unarmed civilians by U.S. Marines. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said it would be “premature” to judge what actually transpired.
  • Meanwhile, Iraq’s prime minister said that his patience was wearing thin on America’s excuse that it kills civilians by “mistake.”
  • Also, a CNN reporter who had been embedded with military units accused in the killings recalls that they usually took great pains to avoid civilian casualties. However, she was told that “investigators now strongly suspect a rampage by a small number of Marines who snapped after one of their own was killed by a roadside bomb.”
  • AFP:

    US lawmaker John Murtha renewed his explosive charge that US soldiers killed unarmed civilians in Haditha, Iraq and the US military tried to cover it up.

    “This is what worries me. We’re fighting a war about America’s ideals and democracy’s ideas and something like this happens, they try to cover it up,” Pennsylvania Representative John Murtha (news, bio, voting record) told CNN television.

    “It is as bad as Abu Ghraib, if not worse,” Murtha stressed.

    Two separate US military investigations are under way into the killings in November of some 24 unarmed civilians in Haditha.

    “They knew the day after this happened that it was not as they portrayed it. They knew that they went into the rooms, they killed the people in the taxi. There was no firing at all. And this comes from the highest authority in the Marine Corps, so there’s no question in my mind,” he added.

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    By William Day, May 31, 2006 at 10:36 am #
    (Unregistered commenter)

    REFERENCE: Post by: Comment #10678 by shawn on 5/30 at 7:25 pm

    This is about the most idiotic post I have seen regarding this incident! What in the hell did 9/11 have to do with what’s going on in Iraq.  In case you haven’t paid attention, it has been thoroughly documented that there was/is no connection to Iraq and 9/11. Get some help to correct your cock-eyed view of things.

    Report this

    By Tammie, May 31, 2006 at 8:30 am #
    (Unregistered commenter)

    shawn Said: over 2400 of ours have been massacred.

    get over it.

    Wow. Just like that, huh? Get. Over. It. If only it were that easy. So two wrongs make a right? So several wrongs make justice?
    First and foremost - our troops shouldn’t be over there at all, and if they were not, they would not be target practice for the fed up populace.
    Secondly - We are *supposed* to be better than that, better than the terrorists. We are supposed to be hitting military targets - not killing children. Maybe you are the one who needs to get over it.
    Remember, the terrorists who hit the WTC and Pentagon where not doing so in the name of Iraq. They were doing it for a small faction of zealots - a faction that makes more sense by the day to the people living in squalor and under the threat of the heavily armed US military - Our troops are there in the name of the US, representing all of us, you included.  Is that how you want to be remembered? Is that the legacy you want us to pass to the next generation? Yeah, “Get Over It”, Indeed.

    Report this

    By JP, May 31, 2006 at 4:06 am #
    (Unregistered commenter)

    Hannity is a tart for suggesting Murtha’s comments hurt our troops.  The actions hurt them, not Murtha’s words!

    Report this

    By shawn, May 30, 2006 at 6:25 pm #
    (Unregistered commenter)

    does anyone remember the massacre that happened in new york on Sept. 11 ? 

    does anyone remember the almost daily massacre of marines and other soldiers (road side bombs, rpg’s, etc) ?

    over 2400 of ours have been massacred. 

    get over it.

    Report this

    By Hilding Lindquist, May 30, 2006 at 2:14 pm #
    (Unregistered commenter)

    Anybody remember that we forgot about Fallujah?

    http://blog.newstandardnews.net/iraqdispatches/archive s/000162.html

    Reports have quoted the Marine snipers in that battle calling it a “turkey shoot”.

    It appears that the institutional accountability of our military has eroded past a rational understanding of right and wrong.

    Abu Gharib?

    http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040510fa_fact

    Chris Floyd asks, “What happened in the village of Abu Sif (Isahaqi), north of Baghdad, on Ides of March?”

    http://www.chris-floyd.com/march/

    And that’s not all by a long shot ...

    Report this

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