Marines cover up massacre in Iraq

I know this is yet another "Iraq"-topic and while these are generally frowned upon in Political Palace, I think issues such as these absolutely need to be discussed:

Quote:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A preliminary military inquiry found evidence that U.S. Marines killed two dozen Iraqi civilians in an unprovoked attack in November, contradicting the troops' account, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.

President George W. Bush said he was troubled by news stories on the November 19 killings of men, women and children in the town of Haditha, and a general at the Pentagon said the incident could complicate the job for the 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

"Allegations such as this, regardless of how they are borne out by the facts, can have an effect on the ability of U.S. forces to continue to operate," Army Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, deputy director for regional operations for the military's Joint Staff, told a Pentagon briefing.

Forensic data from corpses showed victims with bullet wounds, despite earlier statements by Marines that civilians were killed by a roadside bomb that also claimed the life of a Marine from El Paso, Texas, Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, a defense official said.

"The forensics painted a different story than what the Marines had said," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The official said there were wounds that would not have been caused by an improvised explosive device. "Did someone shoot somebody just for the sake of taking him out?" the official said. "Bad things happened that day, and it appears Marines lied about it."

(...)

The incident could represent the worst-known case of misconduct by U.S. troops in Iraq, and comes at a time when opinion polls show falling U.S. public support for the 3-year-old war. Ham emphasized the importance of U.S. troops having the support of the Iraqi people and government.

(...)

Source: reuters.com

Another related article

There's absolutely no denying that things like these are happening in wars. The question arises, however, as to how much more the US government, military and public can take of this. There seems to be a high probability that this incident will turn out to be larger in scale than even Abu Ghureib. It's already put a damper on relations between the newly elected Iraqi government and the US.

So what do you make of this?

How ya doing, buddy?

Yet, the most disturbing thing about that incident was the whole cover-up.

Note that the killings took place in November 2005. I'd say everyone involved did a tremendous job at hiding this from the public eye.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Wesker

Nice to see you're all so open minded, I'm glad you are all so well informed as to know exactly what happened. God forbid we give these guys the benefit of the doubt.

Mind you, if it weren't for the videotape and an eye witness, we would all think this incident never happened. Talk about being "well-informed". Can't you see that this is what all the controversy is about?

There have been massacres like this and civilian casualties before, but the whole cover-up is what makes it all so scandalous.

Don't you think it's a little odd that you have to defend them after over half a year has passed since the event?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.