Haditha victims' kin outraged as Marines go free

[babylonsister]

Haditha victims' kin outraged as Marines go free
Submitted by davidswanson on Sun, 2008-06-22 14:11.

By Leila Fadel | McClatchy Newspapers



HADITHA, Iraq — Khadija Hassan still shrouds her body in black, nearly three years after the deaths of her four sons. They were killed on Nov. 19, 2005, along with 20 other people in the deadliest documented case of U.S. troops killing civilians since the Vietnam War.

Eight Marines were charged in the case, but in the intervening years, criminal charges have been dismissed against six. A seventh Marine was acquitted. The residents of Haditha, after being told they could depend on U.S. justice, feel betrayed.

"We put our hopes in the law and in the courts and one after another they are found innocent," said Yousef Aid Ahmed, the lone surviving brother in the family. "This is an organized crime."

No one disputes that Marines killed 24 men, women and children in this town in four separate shootings that morning. Relatives said the attack was a massacre of innocent civilians that followed a roadside bomb that killed one Marine and injured two. Marines say they came under fire following the bomb.

Nonetheless, military prosecutors filed charges that ranged from murder to covering up a crime. Three Marines were relieved of their duties then, and U.S. Rep. John Murtha, a former Marine, famously called the incident "murder" on television.

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[scarface2004]

1. organized crime!!

got that right brother!!

[Oregone]

2. We put our hopes in the [government that illegally invaded and occupied us]

Sometimes people are too trusting, naive, and passive for their own good. If they really took this to heart, they could collectively drive us out of that country in a matter of months, and the suffering and bloodshed would shortly stop for good thereafter.