Marine says he was ordered to delete Iraq photos

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hNUaTPsL6OBHarjCDUGxJ0EYsm9AD90VL8OO1

By CHELSEA J. CARTER – 23 hours ago

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) — A Marine who took pictures of Iraqi men, women and children killed by U.S. forces testified Thursday that he deleted the photos under an officer's orders and later lied repeatedly to investigators about what happened to the images.

The testimony by Staff Sgt. Justin Laughner came during the court-martial of 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson, who is accused of helping cover up the Nov. 19, 2005, killings in Haditha, Iraq.

Laughner said he took the photos of the bodies hours after a roadside bomb hit a convoy, killing the driver of a Humvee and wounding two Marines.

After the bombing, investigators say, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich and a squad member shot five men by a car at the scene. Wuterich then allegedly ordered his men into several houses, where they cleared rooms with grenades and gunfire, killing the Iraqis. In all, 24 men, women and children died.

They come home, they start thinking, the guilt for what they have done and seen overwhelms them. There is nothing like an underlayment of guilt to turn a case of PTSD into a living hell. (Let me hasten to add that it can be treated, though. The guilt is a reason to get into treatment with a good therapist, not to stay away from help.)