According to John Murtha, who maintains ties with military
commanders, a new Pentagon report reveals that the massacre of Iraqi civilians
in Haditha by US Marines in November was indeed deliberate and worse than
originally reported.
The massacre took place Nov. 19 (read below for the chilling
details), and since the military has worked to cover it up and lie about it since
then. After media exposure, a military
investigation was conducted, but so far no one has been charged with any
crimes, and the military tells us to be patient while the atrocities in Iraq continue.
In possibly the first time a Congress member has gone on the
record publicly exposing atrocities committed by the US military in Iraq,
Murtha said yesterday:
“There was no firefight. There was no IED (improvised
explosive device) that killed those innocent people. Our troops overreacted
because of the pressure on them. And they killed innocent civilians in cold
blood. That is what the report is going to tell.”
It is a good thing that this exposure is starting to come
out, and should compel you to act to stop this war and drive out the regime
waging it. On the other hand, it is
important to understand that atrocities like this are not due to ‘stress’ or ‘pressure’
on US troops as Murtha suggests, but go hand in hand with the unjust nature of
this war and the orders given by top officials of the Bush regime, from their
legal experts writing legal justifications for torture, to the authorization of
white phosphorous chemical weapons, to the ‘shock and awe’ bombing that started
this war. It’s way past time to talk
straight about this this war and this regime: the problem is not incompetence
or stress, but war crimes and crimes against humanity deliberately being carried
out by our government in our names.
That which you will
not resist and mobilize to stop, you will learn ( or be forced ( to accept.
The World Can’t Wait! Drive Out the Bush Regime!
(Source: ‘Pentagon report said to find killing of Iraqi
civilians deliberate’, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 5/17/06)
From Today’s Reason to Drive Out the Bush Regime, 3/21:
Your government, on the basis of outrageous
lies, is waging a murderous and utterly illegitimate war in Iraq, with
other countries in their sights.
Haditha, Iraq, Nov. 19, 2005, 7:15am: Families woke up to an
explosion outside their homes. The next thing they knew, US Marines
burst into their homes, guns blazing. Some were still lying in bed,
others hid in closets, praying that nothing terrible would happen.
Grandmothers, mothers, fathers, and even children as young as
two-years-old were shot to death, with no idea what was going on or why
this massacre was taking place. This is Bush’s so-called progress
in Iraq.
The full truth about this massacre is still unknown, as the military
has worked to cover it up since the day it happened. The bodies of the victims
were whisked away that day and brought to a hospital where they claimed
the deaths were from a roadside bomb. Fortunately, several brave Iraqis
have dared to speak the truth about the incident which left their loved
ones murdered.
The military has admitted that 15 of the at least 23 killed were
non-combatants, but claim that one of the three houses raided contained
insurgents with AK-47’s. This claim is widely disputed by people living
in Haditha.
The marines used the roadside bomb which killed one of their
own that morning as justification for carrying out brutal retaliation killings of Iraqi
civilians. This is the reality of the US military occupation of Iraq.
While there is debate within Congress and the media over Bush’s
so-called incompetence, rarely do we hear a peep about the murderous
nature of this war, from massacres like the one in Haditha, to chemical
weapons used on civilians in Fallujah, indiscriminate bombings, and
more. This massacre is not an aberration, but goes right along the
systematic torture that goes on not just at Abu Ghraib, and the whole
nature of this war. Living in the country whose government is carrying
out these atrocities in our names, we have a profound responsibility to
resist and mobilize to stop this disaster before it takes more innocent
lives.
The World Can’t Wait! Drive Out the Bush Regime!
(Source: “Collateral Damage or Civilian Massacre in Haditha?”, Time Magazine Online Edition, 3/19/06)