Fresh evidence of 'executions' by rogue US marines in Iraq

New photographs lend weight to allegations of revenge killings by US unit under attack in which 24 unarmed civilians
died. Fresh photographic evidence seen by US investigators is believed to reveal that some of the 24 unarmed Iraqis killed in the Iraqi town of Haditha after an American died in a roadside bomb in November were in effect executed, it was reported yesterday. According to Congressional and defence officials quoted by the Los Angeles Times, the pictures show wounds to the upper bodies of the victims, who included several women and six children. Some were shot in the head and some in the back.

'There wasn't a gunfight, there were no pockmarked walls,' the paper reports a congressional aide as saying. And it quotes a US Defence Department official who had been briefed on the contents of the photos as saying 'the wounds indicated execution-style' shootings. US military investigators are probing the events of 19 November 2005, and a picture is gradually emerging of a small group of troops who lost control in the wake of an unrelated attack on their vehicle, which left one of their comrades dead. Other soldiers then helped to cover up the atrocity.

Claims that US marines massacred Iraqi civilians threaten to undermine public support for keeping British troops in the country, the UK's most senior military officer said yesterday. The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, said that reports of the unprovoked killing of up to two dozen unarmed Iraqis would be 'appalling' if proved accurate. 'Our people are in Iraq and other parts of the world doing difficult and dangerous things in unpleasant circumstances on behalf of their country and they need the support of the people in their country. This sort of accusation - and it is at the moment just an accusation, of course - does make that harder to achieve,' he told the BBC.


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Some top US politicians involved with defence issues have already been briefed on the issue and they have told reporters that the evidence is damaging. 'Marines over-reacted... and killed innocent civilians in cold blood,' Congressman John Murtha, a former marine, told the Washington Post. One retired general, David Brahms, told the newspaper: 'When these investigations come out, there's going to be a firestorm. It will be worse then Abu Ghraib. Nobody was killed at Abu Ghraib.' The incident happened after a hidden bomb exploded as a US marine unit passed through Haditha. One marine, Miguel Terrazas, was killed. Two other marines were also wounded in the blast.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1784705,00.html

It was ROGUE marines. Collective punishment and murder is not SOP for the U.S. military in Iraq. Just some bad apples. Nothing to see here....

Where in holy hell has he been?

He's talking out of his ass.