by TChris

A lawyer for a Marine being held in solitary confinement at Camp Pendeton says his client and seven other members of the military could soon be charged with murder, kidnapping and conspiracy. The charges will focus on the death of an Iraqi civilian and an alleged cover-up. The incident is unrelated to the killings in Haditha.

The Iraqi man reportedly was dragged from his home west of Baghdad and shot in April. The Los Angeles Times and NBC News said troops may have planted an AK-47 and shovel near the body to make it appear the man was an insurgent burying a roadside bomb. ...

Separately, another group of five Marines in Kilo Company, including a lieutenant who commanded the platoon, are under investigation for injuring a suspect in their custody, said a defense attorney who has been contacted by the family of one of the Marines.

by TChris

The killings in Haditha are not an isolated incident, according to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.

In his comments, Mr. Maliki said violence against civilians had become a "daily phenomenon" by many troops in the American-led coalition who "do not respect the Iraqi people."

"They crush them with their vehicles and kill them just on suspicion," he said. "This is completely unacceptable." Attacks on civilians will play a role in future decisions on how long to ask American forces to remain in Iraq, the prime minister added.

The U.S. shouldn't wait to be asked to leave. The war to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi public has been lost. It's time to bring the troops home.

by TChris

Update: Cardona received a reduction in rank and a sentence of 90 days at hard labor.

original post:

Another Army dog handler has been convicted of committing military crimes at Abu Ghraib.

Sgt. Santos A. Cardona is the 11th soldier convicted of crimes stemming from the abuse of inmates at the prison in late 2003 and early 2004. Cardona, 32, of Fullerton, Calif., was convicted of dereliction of duty and aggravated assault for allowing his dog to bark within inches of a prisoner's face.

Cardona was acquitted of more serious charges, "including unlawfully having his dog bite an inmate and conspiring with another dog handler to frighten prisoners into soiling themselves." Cardona's defense counsel argued that Cardona's career depended on pleasing people who were monitoring the progress made at Abu Ghraib.

By late November, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz were said to have taken an intense interest in gathering intelligence from Abu Ghraib, even calling nightly to check on information, according to trial testimony.

by TChris

When did the president learn that Marines may have murdered civilians in Haditha?

The White House said Thursday that it took nearly a month for President Bush to learn that the military was investigating reports that Marines murdered unarmed civilians in Iraq.

How did the president learn about the deaths in Haditha?

On Tuesday, White House spokesman Tony Snow said President Bush learned of the killings only after a reporter from Time magazine asked questions.

What is the U.S. doing in response to the deaths?

The top U.S. general in Iraq on Thursday ordered American commanders to conduct ethical training on battlefield conduct following reports that Marines massacred unarmed civilians in the town of Haditha.

Nabiha Nisaif Jassim's brother was racing her to the maternity hospital in Samarra, Iraq, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. U.S. troops fired on the car because it didn't stop at a roadblock and killed her and her about to be delivered child. Her fetus died too. Her female cousin also was killed. Jassim was 35.

U.S. version:

The U.S. military said coalition troops fired at a car after it entered a clearly marked prohibited area near an observation post but failed to stop despite repeated visual and auditory warnings.

Jassim's brother's account:

``I was driving my car at full speed because I did not see any sign or warning from the Americans. It was not until they shot the two bullets that killed my sister and cousin that I stopped,'' he said. ``God take revenge on the Americans and those who brought them here. They have no regard for our lives.'' He said doctors tried but failed to save the baby after his sister was brought to the hospital.

This kind of "collateral damage" is no more acceptable than this continued war.

[hat tip Patriot Daily.]

Marines Lance Cpl. Andrew Wright, 20, and Lance Cpl. Roel Ryan Briones, 21 were sent into Haditha to recover the bodies of those killed by fellow marines. According to their families, both suffered severe trauma as a result.

Briones' best friend, Lance Cpl. Miguel "T.J." Terrazas, had been killed the day of the attack by the roadside bomb, his mother said. He was still grieving when he was sent in to clean up the bodies of the Iraqi civilians.

One was a little girl who had been shot in the head, Susie Briones said. "He had to carry that little girl's body," she said, "and her head was blown off and her brain splattered on his boots."

What awful news. A CBS cameraman, Paul Douglas and sound tech, James Brolan, both based in London, were killed by a roadside bomb in an attack on their convoy in Iraq. CBS reporter Kimberly Dozier is in critical condition.

The CBS team -- which was embedded with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division -- was reporting from outside their Humvee and they were believed to have been wearing protective gear when the blast went off, according to CBS.

More than 50 people in all were killed today in Iraq.

Lucian Reed, World Picture News Network

Here is a video of a young girl whose father and grandparents were killed Nov. 19 in Haditha by U.S. Marines who burst through their door. She not only details what happened, but shows her own shrapnel wounds from the incident.

In all, 24 civilians were killed by members of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regimen, (Kilo Company) which was brought in due to their "success" during the 2004 Fallujah raid. The Independent, Human Rights Watch and others have compared the killings to the 1968 My Lai Massacre.

The Senate Armed Forces Committee will investigate the killings.

The New York Times has interviews with additional survivors. As to who was responsible, the Times reports:

by TChris

The president who, during a presidential debate, couldn't recall making a bad decision now confesses that he made mistakes. Today's spin diverts attention from the president's poor policy choices to his poor communication skills. The folksy president regrets using colorful expressions like "bring 'em on" and "dead or alive" because "certain parts of the world" (including, presumably, the rest of it) misinterpreted his "tough talk." Could be that all the needless killing reinforced that (mis?)interpretation, but the president didn't go there.

With Tony Blair at his side, President Bush firmly reaffirmed his commitment to stay the course in Iraq, dismissing rumors of troop reductions as "speculation in the press." The policy that brought us 2,460 U.S. military deaths and chaos in Iraq won't change, but Bush has promised to explain the policy "in a more sophisticated manner" from now on. Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood.

by TChris

A group of marines "carried out extensive, unprovoked killings of civilians" in Iraq, according to congressional and Pentagon officials who have been briefed on the results of an inquiry into the deaths of two dozen Iraqis last November.

Evidence indicates that the civilians were killed during a sustained sweep by a small group of marines that lasted three to five hours and included shootings of five men standing near a taxi at a checkpoint, and killings inside at least two homes that included women and children, officials said.

The military first claimed the civilians were killed by a makeshift bomb, then announced that they were caught in a cross-fire between marines and insurgents.

A separate inquiry has begun to find whether the events were deliberately covered up.

Washington Post Photo

The trial of Abu Ghraib dog handler Sgt. Santos A. Cardona opened today. He is accused of letting his dog bite a detainee, which resulted in the detainee receiving stitches. The actual charges are:

....assault, dereliction of duty, maltreatment of detainees, conspiracy to maltreat detainees and lying to investigators in late 2003 and early 2004. If convicted on all counts, he faces up to 16 1/2 years in prison.

Opening statements were held this morning.

Unbelievable.

U.S. warplanes hunting Taliban fighters bombed a religious school and mud-brick homes in southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing dozens of suspected militants and 17 civilians in one of the deadliest strikes since the American-led invasion in 2001.

Pickup trucks ferried wounded villagers to a hospital in nearby Kandahar city. One woman, cradling her injured baby, recounted seeing "dead people everywhere" after the nighttime attack.

Most of the civilians killed were women and children.