MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

Washington Post on Haditha

• Posted by Larry on June 11th, 2006 filed in General, Iraq, Larry, Support the Troops, The War    

More news today on Haditha in the Washington Post.

On Nov. 19, Wuterich’s squad left its headquarters at Firm Base Sparta in Haditha at 7 a.m. on a daily mission to drop off Iraqi army troops at a nearby checkpoint. “It was like any other day, we just had to watch out for IEDs [improvised explosive devices] and any other activity that looked suspicious,” said Marine Cpl. James Crossan, 21, in an interview from his home in North Bend, Wash. He was riding in the four-Humvee convoy as it turned left onto Chestnut Road, heading west at 7:15 a.m.

Shortly after the turn, a bomb buried in the road ripped through the last Humvee. The blast instantly killed the driver, Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, 20. Crossan, who was in the front passenger seat, remembered hearing someone yell, “Get some morphine.” Then he passed out.

Wuterich, driving the third Humvee in the line, immediately stopped the convoy and got out, Puckett said.

Puckett said that while Wuterich was evaluating the scene, Marines noticed a white, unmarked car full of “military-aged men” lingering near the bomb site. When Marines ordered the men to stop, they ran; Puckett said it was standard procedure at the time for the Marines to shoot suspicious people fleeing a bombing, and the Marines opened fire, killing four or five men.

“The first thing he thought was it could be a vehicle-borne bomb or these guys could be ready to do a drive-by shooting,” Puckett said, explaining that the Marines were on alert for such coordinated, multi-stage attacks.

Iraqis in the Haditha neighborhood interviewed in recent weeks said the vehicle was a taxi carrying a group of students to their homes and that the driver tried to back away from the site, fleeing in fear. One account said that the Marines shot the men while they were still in the car.

Wuterich officially reported to his headquarters that there had been a makeshift bomb and called for a Quick Reaction Force, Puckett said. The first group encountered an unexploded bomb on another route — fueling concerns that insurgents were mounting an attack on the daily morning convoy — and a second force headed out. That group, including Marines with the 3rd Squad and the platoon’s leader, a young second lieutenant, arrived minutes later.

Wuterich told Puckett that no one was emotionally rattled by Terrazas’s death because everyone had a job to do, and everyone was concerned about further casualties. As Wuterich began briefing the platoon leader, Puckett said, AK-47 shots rang out from residences on the south side of the road, and the Marines ducked.

A corporal with the unit leaned over to Wuterich and said he saw the shots coming from a specific house, and after a discussion with the platoon leader, they decided to clear the house, according to Wuterich’s account.

“There’s a threat, and they went to eliminate the threat,” Puckett said.

A four-man team of Marines, including Wuterich, kicked in the door and found a series of empty rooms, noticing quickly that there was one room with a closed door and people rustling behind it, Puckett said. They then kicked in that door, tossed a fragmentation grenade into the room, and one Marine fired a series of “clearing rounds” through the dust and smoke, killing several people, Puckett said.

So far so good. My understanding of the ROEs is that you can defend yourself. If you’re taking fire from a house, you return it, or somehow reduce the threat.
I don’t know how the Post did it, but they found a Marine to comment on the interpretation of the ROEs.

Marine Reserve Lt. Jonathan Morgenstein, who served in Anbar province from August 2004 to March 2005, said that the account offered by Wuterich’s attorney surprised him a bit.

“When I was in Iraq,” Morgenstein said, “the Anbar-wide ROEs [rules of engagement] did not say we had the authority to knock down any door, throw in a hand grenade and kill everyone.” Still, he said, if someone in a house in Haditha was shooting at them, the Marines’ response may have been within procedure. “If they felt they took fire from that house, then that may be authorized.”

Who is Lt Morgenstein? I don’t know, but he did question the Marines actions. I wonder how long it took to find a Marine officer to do that.
Wait. What did the last quote from the Lt say:

“If they felt they took fire from that house, then that may be authorized.”

So, what he’s saying is that it’s a JUDGEMENT call on those who are in mortal danger. Not the press, or bloggers, who weren’t there.
I have to say I would have probably acted quickly and violently. That’s the purpose of the Marine Corps;subdue a threat through quick, violent force. The faster and more violent, the quicker things calm down. In the long run it saves lifes on both sides, and in the middle.
When Mr Z was killed this week I found an article that said an M-16 was found near him. Hmmm, I wonder how these people came to have 5.56 mm rounds in them. Sorry, conjecture. Wait a minute, maybe I should call one of the major news outlets and get a byline.
The headline of the article in the Post was, ‘Marine Says Rules Were Followed
Sergeant Describes Hunt for Insurgents in Haditha, Denies Coverup‘
Maybe it should have been, ‘Marine Says Rules Were Followed;
Reserve Lt We Got To Question Sgts Action Admits They Were Correct.’