01/17 Update: An attorney for the leader of a group of U.S. Marines accused of murdering 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq, said on Wednesday that Pentagon officials intentionally misled or deceived the public about the case. Mark Zaid, attorney for Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, said the original 2006 investigation report, obtained by Reuters, fully cleared his client and other Marines of wrongdoing. Read more here.
NPR has reported on another way that wounded combat veterans are cut loose.
US Marines 'will blame senior officers' over Haditha
Monday December 25, 2006 By Andrew Gumbel
LOS ANGELES - Lawyers for eight Marines charged with involvement in the massacre of Iraqi civilians in Haditha 13 months ago have warned that they will point the finger much further up the chain of command if it means preventing their clients from being scapegoated.
"We're going to drag every single, two-star and full-bird colonel and general into this thing," said Kevin McDermott, a California-based lawyer representing Captain Lucas McConnell, the commander of Kilo Company, which carried out the Haditha killings. The defence lawyers say their clients were following official policy on the rules of engagement. ...
Responding to the charges against his client, Mr McDermott said the top brass was well aware of what had happened, but condemned it only after it became glaringly public.
"A lot of lieutenant colonels and colonels and generals knew what happened that day, and nobody said, 'let's do a thorough investigation of what happened'," he said. "By the end of the day, [my client's] superiors recognised the situation was so significant that they brought in air support.
"There were Harriers dropping 500lb bombs on buildings. If they're dropping 500lb bombs without knocking on the door first, how can you argue the troops on the ground did anything wrong?" Read more here.
I find this situation to be reminiscent of the gutless Colonel Jessup in the movie "A Few Good Men". That guy played so great by Jack Nicholson had hung a corporal and a private out to dry when things got rough. I smell that same stench in this situation in Haditha. I guess time will tell.
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Every war has it's My Lai and a Lt. Calley some have a way of hiding it better than others.
ReplyDeleteNever saw the movie. But the clip is pretty amazing.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the current events goes, I can only say that I wasn't there, but what evedence has been leaked doesn't look good.
I don't see anything good coming out of this situation. Innocent people are dead, no matter what the rationalization.