Editor and Publisher: U.S. Military Admits Iraq Massacre -- Months After Press Reported It
By E&P Staff
Published: May 25, 2006
NEW YORK Months after the killings were uncovered by the press, the U.S. military finally appears ready to admit that a massacre took place in an Iraqi village last November 19 and then was covered up by soldiers or officers.
"A military investigation into the deaths of two dozen Iraqis last November is expected to find that a small number of marines in western Iraq carried out extensive, unprovoked killings of civilians," Congressional, military and Pentagon officials confirm, The New York Times reports Friday. "Two lawyers involved in discussions about individual marines' defenses said they thought the investigation could result in charges of murder, a capital offense.
"That possibility and the emerging details of the killings have raised fears that the incident could be the gravest case involving misconduct by American ground forces in Iraq."
Time magazine first brought the murders to lights in the U.S. in March, after months of charges in the Arab press. Knight Ridder and the Associated Press followed with stories. The main evidence was a video shot by a local journalism student, plus testimony of villagers to human rights workers. It is not known why four months passed after the incident before the U.S. media covered the story, and six months until the military confirmed the episode, sparking more anger against Americans in Iraq.
"When these investigations come out, there's going to be a firestorm," retired Brig. Gen. David M. Brahms, formerly a top lawyer for the Marine Corps, told The Washignton Post for a Friday story. "It will be worse than Abu Ghraib -- nobody was killed at Abu Ghraib."...
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002576401
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