Corps sacks three commanders (under investigation - deaths of 15 Iraqis)

[sabra]

http://www.navytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1674097.php

Corps sacks three commanders
Battalion under investigation in deaths of 15 Iraqi civilians

Three officers — including an infantry battalion commander and two of his company commanders — were fired April 7 for “lack of confidence,” a Corps spokesman said. Relieved were Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, who commanded the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines; India Company commander Capt. James Kimber; and Kilo Company commander Capt. Luke McConnell, said 2nd Lt. Lawton King, a spokesman for 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton.

Officials previously have confirmed that Chessani’s battalion was under investigation for an alleged Nov. 19 rampage by the battalion’s Kilo Company Marines in the Iraqi city of Haditha that left 15 civilians dead, including seven women and three children.

The civilian deaths occurred after a roadside bomb killed one of 3/1’s Marines during a combat patrol.

The decision to relieve the three officers was made by Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski, 1st Marine Division commander, “due to lack of confidence in their leadership abilities stemming from their performance during a recent deployment to Iraq,” King said.

[President Kerry]

1. is that what happens when you authorize the murder of 15 people?

You get fired? Kinda like taking long coffee breaks at work, i guess. Still, I'm glad to see something done.

[acmavm]

2. And that's probably all that will happen to them.

I do not say that the loss of one of their own was not a tragedy, but who's fault is it? I do believe you can lay that at the feet of our chicken shit pResident AWOL and his neocon buddies. Hearts and flowers my ass.

But to go on a 'rampage' and kill 15 people, including children? Why are there not marines being charged with murder?

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

3. Getting charged with murder will happen to the

enlisted men... just wait.

[rocktivity]

4. GOOD NEWS!

The pullout of U.S. troops has unofficially begun!

:party: (This post is part of the George Bush GULF WAR GOOD NEWS initiative.)
rocknation

[me b zola]

5. NOW can we bring them all home?????

Jesus.

How many ways does it need to be illistrated that Iraq = FUBAR.

[UpInArms]

6. here's some background:

Reports from residents, videotape add to probe of Iraqi civilians' deaths

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Residents gave new details Monday about allegations that U.S. Marines killed 15 members of two families, including a 3-year-old girl, after a roadside bomb killed a Marine.

The military, which announced Friday that a dozen Marines are under investigation for possible war crimes in the Nov. 19 incident, said in a statement Monday that a videotape of the aftermath of the shootings in Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, was presented in support of the allegations.

Details of the incident were first brought forward by Time magazine, which reported this week that it obtained a videotape two months ago taken by a Haditha journalism student that shows the dead still in their nightclothes.

The magazine report mirrored what was told independently to The Associated Press by residents who described what happened as "a massacre." However, Time said the available evidence did not prove conclusively that the Marines had deliberately killed innocents.

<snip>

...more...

Iraqis killed by US troops ‘on rampage’

excerpt:

An investigation by Time established that the civilians had not been killed by the roadside bomb, but were shot in their homes after the marines rampaged through Haditha. Among the dead were seven women and three children.

One eyewitness told Time: "I watched them shoot my grandfather, first in the chest and then in the head. Then they killed my granny."

A Pentagon inquiry has reportedly confirmed that the civilians were killed by marines. But it said the deaths were the result of "collateral damage" and not, as some villagers alleged, murder by marines taking revenge for the death of their comrade. The case has been handed over to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to determine if the rules of war were broken.

In Abu Sifa last week, Khalaf’s account was corroborated by a neighbour, Hassan Kurdi Mahassen, who was also woken by the sound of helicopters and saw soldiers entering Fayez’s home after spraying it with such heavy fire that walls crumbled.

<snip>

"Women and even the children were blindfolded and their hands bound. Some of their faces were totally disfigured. A lot of blood was on the floors and the walls."

...more...

[saigon68]

7. Here are the Children