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'As Bad As Haditha'
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ShareMay 09, 2007 9:18 AM
The U.S. military took the extraordinary step of apologizing for the deadly shooting in Afghanistan earlier this year by Marines that left 19 civilians dead and another 50 wounded.
One senior official who has seen the results of the preliminary investigation into the incident says it was "as bad as Haditha," a reference to the 2005 shooting deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians that resulted in three Marines being charged with murder.
Like Haditha, the incident was triggered by an explosion targeting a Marine convoy.
Witnesses allege the Marines then fired upon civilians gathered at a roadside bazaar and continued to fire on vehicles on the road for an additional 10 miles. According to the senior official, "The Marines were out of control."
The investigation into the shootings continues. A dozen investigators from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service are in Afghanistan interviewing more than 100 witnesses as they try to determine the day's events.
Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.
The investigators have not been given access to the victims' bodies but are working on obtaining permission for autopsies to be performed.
Seven Marines involved in the incident have been returned to their home base at Camp Lejeune as the investigation proceeds.
Col. John Nicholson told Pentagon reporters Tuesday that he had apologized for the shootings for what he termed "a terrible, terrible mistake" that "is a stain on our honor and on the memory of the many Americans who have died defending Afghanistan and the Afghan people."
Nicholson also announced that victims families had been given solace payments, as much as $2,000 for the families of those killed in the incident. The military still doesn't have a good handle on how many of the civilians were killed by the initial blast and the subsequent Marine fire. Either way, a military official says the decision was made not to differentiate and provide the payments to all the victims' families.
May 9, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (6)
Do people realize that when soldiers return to the US they will have changed into people with extremely short fuses?
I doubt SERIOUSLY that these soldiers are going to get the required therapy to successfully reintegrate them into accepted modes of behavior.
What domestic incident is going to escalate into a family murder, or a mass murder/suicide in the general population?
The phrase "Going Postal" is going to change into "Going Soldier"
THINK!!!!
Posted by: Marta Barbosa | May 9, 2007 8:14:16 PM
Do you remember when this "incident" happened, the US marines deleted the images of the reporters who took pictures that day? And the US officials instead being angry at the criminal behavior of those who did this, came out and supported them?
This is a systematic behavior by the US forces which is supported by the high ranking officials, this is not a single incident. Those who tried to hide this crime must be tried as well to make sure this kind of criminal behavior is not tolerated or approved by the Pentagon.
/Farhad
Posted by: Farhad Abdolian | May 10, 2007 9:26:24 AM
Wow. They gave the Iraqi's in Haditha $2500 and only $2000 in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Daniel J. Graeber | May 10, 2007 10:27:02 AM
This is the 100,000th unintended consequence of this whole mess.
Posted by: Jerome Stoll | May 10, 2007 3:27:11 PM
When you attack a platoon of Marines on patrol, you are going to get the area "cleared", secured, cleaned and contained. What the hell do you liberal fools expect? As a former peactetime Marine, I fully support and totally understand the actions of these American fighting men. Dont' (F) with them and nothing will happen to you. You (F) with them.....you should get the area cleared of all possible combatants/insurgents. Do it qyuickly and efficiently. or else another American dies and guess what liberal's.... I've about had enough of that. We tried to do a noble thing in Iraq. We at least tried. You American haters can kiss my American ass if you don't think we are a great and generous people. C-ya.
Posted by: Mitch | May 12, 2007 1:32:54 PM
Let me enlighten some of you folks in the media and those of you in the public who do not bother to educate yourselves on issues such as these before you speak. As we are finding out with the Haditha "incident", it is turning out that a good number of the 24 "innocent civilians" were indeed terroists or part of the Taliban armed thugary. In addition, further investigations are proving that the statements given by "witnesses" are not proving out to be true.
I for one am willing to give our soldiers and Marines the benefit of the doubt. When attacked, fight back. Civilian casualties are a sad fact in war. To you hate-America-First pusedo-Americans, I say that instead of venting your anger at our brave forces, why not hold your own liberal politicians who voted to send them there in the first place accountable! I guess that is too hard for your own hypocracy to undertake.
Posted by: J Lopez | May 16, 2007 4:01:17 PM
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