Haditha What a load of crap the MSM coverage of Haditha has been. I don't know why but I expect the MSM to actually report something, not be a propaganda arm of the jihadists. Foolish me.

Media Covered Up Full Haditha Battle Phil Brennan, NewsMax.com Monday, June 18, 2007

The media's massacre of the truth about Haditha revealed by NewsMax, included limiting reporting to the first few minutes of a furious day-long battle. The rest they deliberately ignored.

The media reported on the Nov. 19, 2005 insurgent ambush at Haditha, but they concentrated solely on the early events, namely the deaths of the passengers in a white car and the civilians who died during the initial house clearing. The media reported if these were the sole activities when in fact, they were a part of a day-long, full-scale battle between Marines and insurgents in which 11 Marines were wounded and a number of insurgents killed or captured.

Here, according to Marines who were on the scene, are the events of Nov. 19 that the media refuses to cover:

- 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. Although the prosecution has made much of the fact that the UAV did not see the initial assault, it is the aftermath that makes the case.

- The insurgents were seen fleeing from Sgt. Frank Wuterich's assault on the houses near the site of the IED explosions. They were followed through town, where they met up with other ambush squads that had also attacked the Marines. They were then followed to their safe house. Air support was called for, and the safehouse was bombed. A squad that was sent in was engaged by insurgents in rooms with machine guns and grenades.

- 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 engagement that began at 7:30 a.m. ended around at about 5:00 p.m. The media concentrated on the 24 civilians killed in the early morning, cruelly ignoring the fact that during the entire battle, 11 United States Marines were wounded; five of the cornered insurgents were killed; and two were captured along with a huge stockpile of weapons. All of this action was captured by the remotely controlled UAV.

The media's complicity in covering up the entire day's events was aided by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) which wanted to use the UAV video to prove that the portion of the video dealing with the initial events was being viewed by the battalion officers in the command center, and they were fully aware of the situation on the scene, and attempted to cover it up.

According to one intelligence officer who had viewed the entire video and who was talking to some on the defense counsel who had been shown part of it, the tape cuts off just as they see the insurgents fleeing the neighborhood — they were denied any further views of the video.

"To me, there was an obvious agenda to cover up the true nature of the day, and only focus on that piece which could be used to implicate battalion officers," he told NewsMax.com.

He added that of the hours of video shot by the UAV, the NCIS showed only a few minutes of what was filmed and acted as if that was all there was. The media eagerly picked up that fiction and ran with it, and the public was prevented from knowing the full story.

© NewsMax 2007. All rights reserved.

I heard today, but can't yet confirm, that the courtmartial verdict was innocent for the Marine NCO. I will be updating this info as soon as I can find it on the web.

I know that much will be said of this "incident" and the aftermath. Many will have pithy and "educated" remarks. However, what it really means to me is that the military, specifically the USMC, under the direction and with the consent of the Commander in Chief (the President of the United States for those in Rio Linda), prosecuted US Marines for doing what they were ordered to do. They betrayed those Marines and made clear to all soldiers, sailors, airmen and coasties that they would do the same to them.

Labels: Culture

  ¶ posted by The Editor 4:30 PM