| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| Get ready for My Lai part 2 |
| 2006-05-24 |
| If this happens as described in this article, it's going to make the Abu Grahib coverage look positively staid by comparison. Marines will face criminal charges for a Nov. 19 incident that left 24 Iraqi civilians dead, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Michael W. Hagee confirmed Wednesday to Marine Corps Times. While not revealing who will be charged, or the severity of the charges, Hagee said the investigation shows mistakes were made that will result in courts-martial. Hagee’s comments came after a late-in-the-day briefing with Sens. John W. Warner, R-Va., and Carl Levin, D-Mich., the chairman and ranking Democrat of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Expect Levin, Murtha, and Teddy the K He was visiting Capitol Hill in anticipation of the release of two investigative reports, which are expected to show that among the 24 civilians killed in Hadithah, 125 miles northwest of Baghdad, five of the victims — all unarmed — were shot in a car with no warning, according to Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who received a briefing earlier in the afternoon. At least seven of the victims were women and three were children. Hagee would not say when the reports, one on administrative issues and the other on criminal charges, would be completed. He would only say that parallel investigations, which have been under way for six months, “are ongoing.” Congressional members said, however, that the administrative report by Multi-National Forces Iraq is expected before the end of the week, and the criminal investigation report by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is due in June. Warner and Levin deferred to Hagee for comment on what could happen to the Marines allegedly involved, who are with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif. And Hagee said no sweeping decisions would be made. “Each individual will be looked at as an individual,” he said. “Once the investigations are complete, we will follow the same legal procedures that we always do.” Murtha, however, said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if a dozen Marines faced courts-martial for the incident. An outspoken war critic and retired Marine colonel, Murtha has maintained for several weeks that the reality of the Hadithah incident was far more violent than the original reports suggested. “They originally said a lot of things. I don’t even know how they tried to cover that up,” he said. These statements are grotesquely irresponsible. They are also a foretaste of what we can expect. This matter is going to become a campaign issue, which means that there is no way justice can be properly served. The Marine Corps originally said a convoy from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, hit a roadside bomb Nov. 19, which killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, 20, of El Paso, Texas. Marine officials initially said 15 Iraqi civilians also were killed in the blast, but later reported that the civilians were killed in a firefight that took place after the explosion. But a 10-week investigation by Time magazine resulted in a March 27 report that included claims by an Iraqi civil rights group that the Marines barged into houses near the bombing site in retaliation, throwing grenades and shooting civilians, who were cowering in fear. Three officers from the 3/1, including battalion commander Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, were relieved April 7 for “lack of confidence in their leadership abilities stemming from their performance during a recent deployment to Iraq.” The two other Marines who were relieved, Capts. Luke McConnell and James Kimber, were company commanders in the battalion. Officials would not explicitly connect the firings to the Hadithah investigation. While no charges have been filed yet, defense attorneys who handle military cases are bracing for what could fast become a busy summer season in the courtroom. “It looks like it’s coming,” said one San Diego area-based civilian defense attorney who has handled other cases of assault and manslaughter and has gotten a sort of “warning order” about potential new cases. “I think there’s a lot of pressure to do something,” the civilian attorney said. “It’s going to be extraordinarily difficult for them to find enough defense counsel,” one Marine Corps attorney said. That's one problem; another problem is that if this becomes a political football, one of two bad things could happen: They will either be railroaded, or else the Corps will rally around its own, potentially giving only a slap on the wrist for what is a war crime. If a massacre really took place, those responsible should be prosecuted to the full extent of military law. Unfortunately, there is no way we can get a real, fair trial when the antiwar forces are using this as a propaganda tool and the administration and the Corps feel like they're under siege. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, who was also briefed on the reports, said his committee will hold hearings on the incident after lawmakers return from their Memorial Day recess. Hunter was matter-of-fact about the reports’ contents. “It is not good,” he said. “Let the chips fall where they may.” The massacre at My Lai was bad enough, but the attempted coverup and the slap on the wrist for the officers involved made it worse. If a massacre took place in this instance, military law must be brought into full force. On the other hand, if there's more here than meets the eye, clowns like Murtha are going to be guilty of poisoning the trials of these Marines. It's a lose/lose proposition. And don't even get me started on the news coverage. |
| Posted by:Jonathan |
| #1 The sad reality of this, no matter iff these Marines are ever found guilty or not, one or more American Hiroshima event or events will automat prove Dubya's folly for the Left-MSM. Any nuclearized new 9-11(s) will be used to show mainstream America + World that how the US fought and Democrats lost America's war in Vietnam was nothing compared to POTUS Dubya's-GOP's Male Brute, Fascist, decadent Americanski Capitalist Materialist Imperialist warmongering follies. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-05-24 22:31 |