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May 18, 2006
Haditha is Arabic for My Lai
Perhaps you might remember the name. Maybe you read it here a few months ago, Haditha, a small town somewhere in Iraq. Maybe you saw the original article in Time magazine.
I hope it will be a name we remember, now that the facts of the case have become even more clear, even more substantiated. I hope we won't brush over this one too.
Here's another snapshot from the latest newsstory:
After CNN broke the news of the initial investigation in March, military officials told Knight Ridder that the civilians were killed not in the initial blast but were apparently caught in the crossfire of a subsequent gun battle as 12 to 15 Marines fought insurgents from house to house over the next five hours. At that time, military officials told Knight Ridder that four of the civilians killed were women and five were children.Subsequent reporting from Haditha by Time and Knight Ridder revealed a still different account of events, with survivors describing Marines breaking down the door of a house and indiscriminately shooting the building's occupants.
Twenty-three people were killed in the incident, relatives of the dead told Knight Ridder.
The uncle of one survivor, a 13-year-old girl, told Knight Ridder that the girl had watched the Marines open fire on her family and that she had held her 5-year-old brother in her arms as he died. The girl shook visibly as her uncle relayed her account, too traumatized to recount what happened herself.
"I understand the investigation shows that in fact there was no firefight, there was no explosion that killed the civilians on a bus," Murtha said. "There was no bus. There was no shrapnel. There was only bullet holes inside the house where the Marines had gone in. So it's a very serious incident, unfortunately. It shows the tremendous pressure these guys are under every day when they're out in combat and the stress and consequences."
Murtha, who retired as a colonel after 37 years in the Marine Corps, said nothing indicates that the Iraqis killed in the incident were at fault.
"One man was killed with an IED," Murtha said, referring to a Marine killed by the roadside bomb. "And after that, they actually went into the houses and killed women and children."
No firefight. No bus. No crossfire. Women and children, killed in cold blood. Not a single charge filed, yet.
I hope Haditha becomes a household name, a place where America confronted the reality of what it is doing. All that would be a good start but I don't know what we can ever say to Eman:
Seven members of her family were killed, some of them while trying to shield he so that she too would not become one of these litle corpses:
Posted by zeynep at May 18, 2006 09:12 PM
Comments
Unfortunately, this is not newsworthy for us, righteous, kind, Americans, who seem to never do any wrong --perhaps, a few mishaps here and there like Guatamato, secret prisons, retaliatory killings, but nothing really serious. We are the envy of the world! There is no match for our moral fiber!
Posted by: Dimitria at May 19, 2006 11:08 AM
I took the liberty of linking to your post on this article. I hope you don't mind. Your article was one of the best and most well written, concise articles I could find on the subject. Thank you for helping share what is really goind on in Iraq. The American public and the world need more warriors for truth like you.
This whole thing disgusts me and I like you am trying to share the truth of the situation, without media bias, and without neo-con spin.
Thanks again.
To view my article here is the permalink.
Posted by: Static Brain at May 21, 2006 06:41 AM
Haditha was not some brutal anomaly; it is the norm. This war is a horror.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13155.htm
Posted by: Realrealgone at May 23, 2006 12:22 PM
Bah! You call this horrifying? Zeynep, you lack ambition! If you are looking for a REAL warcrime such paltry efforts do no justice. Howzabout TWENTY FIVE MILLION DEAD FROM CANCER...CAUSED BY THE RELEASE OF DEADLY DEPLETED URANIUM PARTICULATE? Interested? Well, in Iraq (in a hoarse whisper), the USA uses DU in most bullets, bombs, armour and missiles! Forget Agent Orange, la...
Posted by: GreginOz at May 24, 2006 02:25 AM
"It shows the tremendous pressure these guys are under every day when they're out in combat and the stress and consequences."
Just like Charlie Manson was! And all those poor Hutus in Rwanda. If only someone had brought them a mocha latte and told them to relax, maybe catastrophe would have been avoided.
Posted by: saurabh at May 25, 2006 02:39 PM
Americans have no moral high ground when they think their lives are worth more than other lives. I am ashamed to be an American, and glad that the end of the American era is right around the corner.
Better to be a good world citizen than to be the richest, greediest and most arrogant. Maybe this lesson will be learned by my fellow Americans, but probably not.
Thank you for your page. Peace.
Posted by: stacey at May 27, 2006 12:58 PM