"Report to Show Marines Shot Iraqis" (Updated, bumped) Contributed by Bill Faith
WASHINGTON — Evidence collected on the deaths of 24 Iraqis in the western town of Haditha supports accusations that U.S. Marines deliberately shot Iraqi civilians, including unarmed women and children, a Defense Department official said Wednesday.
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Innocent until proven guilty ... unless you're an American warrior.
*** Update and bump
Bracing For the Reports on Haditha As the military gears up for the first official word on the killings of 24 Iraqis last November, one of the Marines present that day launches a legal counterattack to defend his reputation
Almost nine months since 24 Iraqis, including women and children, were killed in the Iraqi town of Haditha and three months since Congressman John Murtha claimed they had been murdered "in cold blood" by U.S. Marines, what really happened on that fateful morning is still unclear. In fact, as the two separate investigations into the events on November 19, 2005 near completion, the only thing certain about Haditha, which was first brought to light by TIME in March, is that the military at the highest levels is bracing for the findings.
DOD officials tell TIME that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recently set up a Pentagon task force, which meets once a week, to track Haditha and prepare for the eventual release of the investigations' results. But a Pentagon source familiar with the criminal investigation says that contrary to the suggestions of some media reports Wednesday, there have been no conclusions that the Marines deliberately killed unarmed civilians. This source also says that the bodies of those killed at Haditha have not been exhumed, which makes proving murder 'very challenging.'
[Read on . H/T: . Emphasis mine.]
Contributed by Bill Faith on August 2, 2006 at 10:06 PM in , , , |