Haditha defense seen focused on Iraq battle chaos

[Barrett808]

Haditha defense seen focused on Iraq battle chaos
By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Attorneys defending the U.S. Marines charged with murder in Haditha, Iraq, do not dispute that 24 men, women and children were killed -- but are expected to argue that the defendants have been made scapegoats for a sad reality of war: civilians sometimes die.

It is a defense theme that first emerged earlier this year, months before four Marines were charged on Thursday with murder and four others with dereliction of duty for the November 2005 killings: that the civilians weren't shot in a "massacre," but in the confusion of a frenzied battle against insurgents.

Iraqi witnesses claim that a squad of Marines opened fire on the civilians in their homes after a popular comrade, Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, was ripped in half by a roadside bomb that exploded as his convoy rolled through Haditha, some 60 miles (96 km) north of Baghdad.

Defense lawyers counter that the roadside bomb was only the beginning of a daylong battle against insurgents, who fired on the Marines in some cases from nearby houses -- possibly including one of the homes where the civilians died.

(more)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N22297558.htm

[theoldman]

1. Most of the people who die in a war are civilians.

In past wars we have killed many civilians by various means. The problem starts when it is done face to face by guns. Vietnam is a current example. The big difference in Iraq is that we are trying to win the hearts and minds of the people. You do not accomplish this by killing women and children.

[90-percent]

2. but but but

What about the 599,976 other innocent Iraqi citizen's we've managed to turn into collateral damage?

When will we have the trials for their killers?

-85% Jimmy