WAR: U.S. Opens Probe Into Deaths of 15 Iraqis

Originally posted by nukunuku
well you know the famous Vietnam quote: kill em all and let god sort them out

SCUM

A group of Marines headed toward the house. Eman says she "heard a lot of shooting, so none of us went outside. Besides, it was very early, and we were all wearing our nightclothes." When the Marines entered the house, they were shouting in English. "First, they went into my father's room, where he was reading the Koran," she claims, "and we heard shots."

According to Eman, the Marines then entered the living room. "I couldn't see their faces very well—only their guns sticking into the doorway. I watched them shoot my grandfather, first in the chest and then in the head. Then they killed my granny." She claims the troops started firing toward the corner of the room where she and her younger brother Abdul Rahman, 8, were hiding; the other adults shielded the children from the bullets but died in the process.

Eman says her leg was hit by a piece of metal and Abdul Rahman was shot near his shoulder. "We were lying there, bleeding, and it hurt so much. Afterward, some Iraqi soldiers came. They carried us in their arms. I was crying, shouting 'Why did you do this to our family?' And one Iraqi soldier tells me, 'We didn't do it. The Americans did.'"

US troops investigated over Iraqi massacres

Independent Online
By Patrick Cockburn in Arbil
Published: 22 March 2006

Snip
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US troops have been notorious among Iraqis for their willingness to shoot any Iraqi they see in the aftermath of an insurgent attack. But it is only now that convincing and detailed information is becoming available about the killings.

In the most recent incident, in the town of Ishaqi north of Baghdad last week, Iraqi police said that US troops had shot 11 people, including five children, in their home. The local police chief, Colonel Farouq Hussein, said that all the dead had been shot in the head, according to autopsies. "It's a clear and perfect crime," he said. In an incident in the town of Haditha in western Iraq on 19 November last year, US soldiers went on a rampage in a village after a bomb attack and killed at least 15 civilians, according to witnesses and local officials cited by Time magazine in an investigation.

The US military first claimed a roadside bomb had killed a US Marine, Miguel Tarrazas, along with 15 Iraqi civilians caught in the blast. Later, a military statement said "gunmen attacked the convoy with small-arms fire" and in returning fire the Marines killed eight insurgents.

But after Time presented the US military with what Iraqis said had happened, an official investigation found that 15 of the civilians had been deliberately killed by US soldiers.

Originally posted by soficrow
...I read a report this morning but didn't save it. US troops herded a group of Iraqi civilians into a room and executed them all - including a 90 year old woman and a 6 month old baby.

Originally posted by soficrow
...I read a report this morning but didn't save it. US troops herded a group of Iraqi civilians into a room and executed them all - including a 90 year old woman and a 6 month old baby.

Soldier who killed Iraqi girl in 2004 discharged; no criminal charges filed

The Army has discharged without criminal charges a Schofield Barracks soldier who was involved in the 2004 killing of a 13-year-old girl and wounding of her sister and mother in Iraq.

...

The investigation found that Waruch, who was with the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, did not act in a negligent or unlawful manner in the Feb. 18, 2004 shootings and that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute, the Army said.

...

as the three ran from a roadside bomb attack on a U.S. convoy, 13-year-old Intisar Saleh was shot in the head from a distance of about 200 feet. Her mother was hit and lost a leg, and Intisar's 15-year-old sister was shot in the leg.

US troops defend raid, say Iraqis faked "massacre"

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. commanders in Iraq on Monday accused powerful Shi'ite groups of moving the corpses of gunmen killed in battle to encourage accusations that U.S.-led troops massacred unarmed worshippers in a mosque.

"After the fact, someone went in and made the scene look different from what it was. There's been huge misinformation," Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, the second-ranking U.S. commander in Iraq, said.

He rejected the accusations of a massacre that prompted the Shi'ite-led government to demand U.S. forces cede control of security but declined to spell out which group he believed moved the bodies.

More...

"It's a clear and perfect crime,"

US marines may face death penalty for "massacre" of civilians in Iraq

May 26, 2006


According to the New York Times "Congressional, military and Pentagon officials" said Thursday that it is expected that an investigation will find that the deaths of more than 20 civilians in Iraq was a war crime. According to NYT source a group of US Marines "carried out extensive, unprovoked killings of civilians" and the killings were "methodical in nature."

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is expected to call for criminal charges, including murder, negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and filing a false report. Lawyers involved in discussions thought it could lead to charges of murder, an offense carrying the death penalty.