A 'Well Aimed' Cover-up

I saw a movie in 2002 called The Pianist. It was based on the memoir of the Polish pianist Wlyadyslaw Szpilman and his survival of the holocaust. There was one scene in particular that I found to be the most execrable. Szpilman helplessly watches in shock as the German Army storms a neighbor's apartment in Warsaw. He sees the German Army proceed to kill off the entire family: the men, women, children and finally a wheelchair ridden grandfather.

On November 19th, 2005, 4 marines stormed civilian homes on the Euphrates River in the town of Haditha. In the end, the marines had killed 24 Iraqis, including 4 women, 6 children (ages 3-14), a man using a cane and an elderly man in a wheelchair.

The marines had been traveling in a convoy of 4 Humvees. An IED detonated under the 4th vehicle, killing an occupant: 20 year-old Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas. This death has been stated as the catalyst for the bloodbath in Haditha.

In today's New York Times, John Broder reports on the massacre in Haditha and based on the first report from the investigator, he demonstrates the substantial contradictions between the marines themselves and the civilians who witnessed the massacre.

The Taxi
According to the investigator's report, after the IED exploded, and the marines established a perimeter, they noticed a taxi containing four young male passengers. They suspected they were responsible for the IED attack. According the marine's account of that day: several marines approached the taxi, ordering the occupants to get out of the vehicle. They state that the men jumped out of the car and disobeyed orders to stop. The marines shot and killed all 4 men. According to one of the defense attorneys, the marine sergeant and his men "believed their rules of engagement permitted them to shoot men of military age running away from the site of an improvised explosive device."

The 1st House
A common thread through the Marine's account is that they believed they were under a consistent attack from a house. The marines proceeded to enter that house and 'cleared' it. "Clearing by fire" involves the rolling of a grenade and a spraying of bullets. Broder reports that this clearing resulted in "7 civilian deaths, including 2 women and a 4-year-old boy. 2 children survived the attack by hiding under a bed, the children told reporters later. Another child and a woman escaped."

The 2nd House
The hysteria infused massacre continued as "marines saw a back door open...and believed themselves to be in 'hot pursuit' of an insurgent gunman. They burst into a second house, using assault rifles and grenades to clear a room, killing another 8 civilians, including 2 women and 5 children ages 3 to 14."

After this second round of blinded killing, their sergeant "'realized there had been a significant number of civilian deaths, and reported to the platoon's operations center that there had been 'collateral damage' from the operations, according to his lawyer. He estimated the dead as 12 to 15 Iraqis. " Yet, the killing did not stop, nor was it ordered to stop.

The 3rd House
4 more men were killed by the marines in the third house. 1 of the men was armed with an AK-47. Another man was killed, the marines thought he had a weapon, that weapon was a walking cane. At the end of the carnage, the killings were so substantial that "groups of marines came to the scene throughout the day to evacuate the wounded and bundle up the dead."

The Well Aimed Cover-up
Investigators have found evidence that the men in the taxi were not fleeing, as the marines have told military officials. Witnesses claim they were pulled from the taxi, ordered to lie face down, and then executed by the marines. "One Defense Department official said photographs indicated that the positions of those corpses and the pooling of their blood can be viewed as sharply inconsistent with the marines' version that the Iraqi men were shot as they fled...We may not know for sure what happened, but it doesn't look like there was any running involved."

As for the Iraqis murdered in their homes, the morgue director found that their wounds were not consistent with "attacks by fragmentation grenades and indiscriminate rifle fire". The death certificates of these Iraqis read: "well-aimed shots to the head and chest".

On November 20th, the Marines press release stated that 15 Iraqi civilians had been killed in a bombing in Haditha and that marines had killed 8 insurgents after they opened fire on Kilo Company.

That press release has not been corrected or retracted. An exit strategy has not been delivered by Bush. Armor has not been delivered. Soldiers are on their third deployment. Rumsfeld hasn't resigned. Cher is on Capitol Hill fighting for proper helmets for our soldiers. Halliburton & Blackwater count their millions. And the gates of hell are still open.