I apologize beforehand for any incoherence of this essay. I am outraged, shocked and disgusted all at once. I don’t know any other way of dealing with these feelings right now except to write. But, as cathartic as writing usually is for me, I doubt it will even come close to purging the shame and disgust that overwhelms me at this moment.
I never thought it could get this bad in Iraq. I never thought it could ever get to this point, and I certainly never thought I could feel such a deep sense of foreboding about what our troops are [being ordered to do] while supposedly protecting the Iraqi people. To think that this kind of sanctioned ghoulish behavior could EVER be attributed to our troops’ just makes me physically ill.
This type of abhorrent behavior can never be allowed again. Not under our flag. Not in our names.
Before I digress any further and go off on an enraged diatribe; here are the details of the story.
According to testimony heard by a military court on Thursday, a U.S. Marine was ordered to execute a room full of Iraqi women and children during an alleged massacre in Haditha. The massacre left a total of 24 people dead.
Marine Sergeant Frank Wuterich faces seventeen counts of murder over the Haditha killings. The charges are the most serious war crime allegations faced by our troops in Iraq since the beginning of the occupation back in March, 2003.
The AFP (subscription only) article comes courtesy of Raw Story:
The testimony came in the opening of a preliminary hearing for Marine Sergeant Frank Wuterich, who faces 17 counts of murder over the Haditha killings, the most serious war crimes allegations faced by US troops in Iraq.
Wuterich, dressed in desert khakis, spoke confidently to confirm his name as the hearing to decide if he faces a court martial began at the Marines' Camp Pendleton base in southern California.
The 27-year-old listened intently as Lance Corporal Humberto Mendoza recounted how Marines had responded after a roadside bomb attack on their convoy in Haditha on November 19, 2005 left one comrade dead.
Mendoza said Marines under Wuterich's command began clearing nearby houses suspected of containing insurgents responsible for the bombing. At one house Wuterich gave an order to shoot on sight as Marines waited for a response after knocking on the door, said:
"He said 'Just wait till they open the door, then shoot,'" Mendoza said.
The Marine continued his testimony by saying he then shot and killed an adult male who suddenly appeared in the doorway. As the troops searched the house, Mendoza testified that he received an order from another Marine, Lance Corporal Stephen Tatum, to shoot seven women and children he had found in a bedroom at the back of the house.
"When I opened the door there was just women and kids, two adults were lying down on the bed and there were three children on the bed ... two more were behind the bed," Mendoza said.
"I looked at them for a few seconds. Just enough to know they were not presenting a threat ... they looked scared."
After leaving the room Mendoza told Tatum what he had found.
"I told him there were women and kids inside there. He said 'Well, shoot them,'" Mendoza told prosecutor Lieutenant Colonel Sean Sullivan.
"And what did you say to him?" Sullivan asked.
"I said 'But they're just women and children.' He didn't say nothing."
Mendoza continued by saying he returned to a position at the front of the house and heard a door open behind him followed by a loud noise. When he returned to the house later that afternoon, the Marine testified that he found the room filled with corpses.
However, Major Haytham Faraj, during cross-examination, suggested that a girl who survived the shootings had identified Mendoza as the gunman. The suggestion sparked an angry reaction from the prosecutors.
"The girl in question already identified another Marine," Sullivan stormed. "This is completely unethical, inappropriate and has no basis in fact."
Mendoza had given similar testimony during a preliminary hearing against Tatum earlier this year.
Investigating officer Lieutenant Colonel Paul Ware, who is presiding in Wuterich's hearing, last week recommended dropping murder charges against Tatum, describing Mendoza's evidence as "too weak".
Prosecutors allege Marines went on a killing spree in Haditha; retaliation for the death of their colleague in the bomb attack.
According to sources familiar with the case, defense lawyers will argue that Wuterich followed established combat zone rules of engagement. Eight Marines were initially charged in connection with the case. Four were charged with murder and four senior officers were accused of failing to properly investigate the killings.
Of the four Marines charged with murder, two have subsequently had charges withdrawn while allegations against Tatum are also expected to be dismissed.
I pose four vexing questions:
• What happens when these troops - after being subjected to these kinds of orders; placed in these types of situations - come home from Iraq?
• Will they integrate easily back into civilian society?
• How many will turn to companies like Blackwater USA, DynCorp and Triple Canopy Inc., etc., for work?
• How many of those who go to work for the aforementioned companies and others will receive orders from their superiors similar to those described in Haditha, except now those orders will, hypothetically, be to shoot American civilians, on American soil; in American homes or during the course of street protestations or other acts of civil disobedience?
Will they follow those orders? What will they do?
I don’t know if I even want to know the answer.
Please, call Conyers. Blanket his office with letters, emails. Don’t do it once. Don’t do it twice. Do it every single day until he relents and agrees to start impeachment hearings. He seems to be on the edge. I think his constituents back in Michigan really let him have it. His speech at a town hall meeting the other night, while still sounding ambiguous, seemed like he was just looking for more justification; more public support before he defies Nancy Pelosi and begins impeachment investigative hearings.
Listen for yourselves.
We. Need. To. Stop. This. Occupation. NOW.
Peace