Haditha Re-Examined

Most of you recall the Haditha "slaughter" reported by NBC and Time Mag-a-rag in March 2006. Here's the pertinent quotation from Time:

According to eyewitnesses and local officials interviewed over the past 10 weeks, the civilians who died in Haditha on Nov. 19 were killed not by a roadside bomb but by the Marines themselves, who went on a rampage in the village after the attack, killing 15 unarmed Iraqis in their homes, including seven women and three children.

Since that story emerged, Time has made some corrections and amplifications which demonstrate that the story as originally published was not exactly...true.

It was good enough for Cong. Murtha, and he trumpeted the "Marines Are Killers" line loudly enough so that his own corruption as an Armed Services Committee member was placed on back-pages.

Now we come to the military trial of the Marines alluded to in the above.

The trial transcripts and testimony present a different picture than was given at the time (no surprise, of course.) Somehow this documentation has escaped the notice of the MSM.

We provide "equal time" under the "fairness doctrine."

Intelligence gathered by Marine S2 officers in advance of the events of Nov. 19th, 2005, revealed that it was known that an insurgent ambush was planned for the day.

...some important details were revealed — most importantly, that some 20 insurgents would take part, and a white car would play an important role in the ambush.

...Although the media continues to report that 24 innocent civilians were killed that day, the S2’s testimony shows that eight of the dead, including four of the five occupants in the white car killed by Wuterich, were known insurgents and the dead civilians therefore numbered 16, not 24.

The insurgents whose communications were intercepted and which revealed the planned ambush were the same two men who were the sources of the fallacious and dishonest Time magazine story, which was the source of the accusations against the Marines.

...The initial attack took place at 7:30 a.m. and the insurgent assault went on for some time. A Scan Eagle UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) came on station at about 8:30 a.m. At the time it came on station, it spent a short time on the scene of the IED, then it picked up insurgents fleeing the houses and moving east through the neighborhoods adjacent to the houses.


...The squad pulled back because of the insurgents’ strong defense, and the house was bombed again. The insurgents were observed fleeing and jumping off the roof of the house into a palm grove, where they were once again bombed. One remaining live insurgent was watched as he went from house to house seeking shelter.

The trial continues. Don't hold your breath for Time mag-a-rag coverage.

HT: Liberally Conservative

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