Reporter, Last August, Noted Worries That Haditha Marines Might "Crack"

[DeepModem Mom]

Editor & Publisher: Haditha Massacre: KR Reporter, Last August, Noted Worries There That U.S. Marines Might 'Crack'
By Greg Mitchell
Published: May 28, 2006


Knight Ridder's Baghdad correspondent Tom Lasseter

NEW YORK -- New revelations suggest that U.S. marines committed atrociities in Haditha, Iraq, last November, killing at least two dozen civilians after an American was slain by a roadside bomb. Three months before that, Tom Lasseter, longtime Baghdad correspondent for Knight Ridder, filed a report from that area noting concerns that the marines there might "crack under the pressure."

Here is that Aug. 28, 2005, story, as it appeared then. Lasseter recently won a top Overseas Press Club award for his reporting from Iraq:

HIT, Iraq -- The inability of U.S. forces to hold ground in Anbar province in western Iraq, and the cat and mouse chase that ensues, has put the Marines and soldiers there under intense physical and psychological pressure.

The sun raises temperatures to 115 degrees most days, insurgents stage ambushes daily then melt into the civilian population and American troops in Anbar find themselves in a house of mirrors in which they don't speak the language and can't tell friend from foe....Despite their overwhelming military might, they must watch every alleyway for snipers and each patch of road for mines or bombs, which can send balls of flame through their vehicles. That happened earlier this month south of Haditha, when an explosion killed 14 Marines in an amphibious assault vehicle.


***

"I tell the guys not to lose their humanity over here, because it's easy to do," said Marine Capt. James Haunty, 27, of Columbus, Ohio. "I tell them not to turn into Col. Kurtz."....a character in Joseph Conrad's novella, "Heart of Darkness." It became the basis for the Vietnam War movie "Apocalypse Now," in which Kurtz has a mental breakdown and murders suspected Vietnamese double agents....(Major Nicholas) Visconti, 35, of Brookfield, Conn., continued: "There's killing bad guys and there's murdering civilians. Let's do the first and not the second. Murderers we're not, OK?"...


http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002576997

[SeattleGirl]

1. Another warning, gone unheeded.

I am not excusing the Marines involved in what happened in Haditha; they pulled the triggers, they bear responsibility. They violated the rules of engagement. BUT SO DID GEORGE FUCKING BUSH, AND DICK FUCKING CHENEY, AND DONALD FUCKING RUMSFIELD! They bear the ultimate responsibility, because THEY sent these men over there. And THEY ignore what's going on. And THEY ignore the generals in the field who say, We need this, or There's a problem here, or whatever. "I'll listen to the generals on the ground," says Bush. BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT! George and Dick and Donald don't give a flying fuck about the real-life, flesh-and-blood men and woman over there doing THEIR dirty work. Who's gonna get punished for this? The ones who pulled the trigger (as they should be -- again, I'm not excusing their actions at ALL). But will anyone else get punished? Will BushCheneyRumsfield bear any responsiblity? HELL NO!

AND THAT IS THE GREATEST CRIME OF ALL.

[Philosoraptor]

5. Yes but Bush, Cheney & Rummy wear nice suits & ride in limos.

Men like that don't do jail.

[Bucky]

13. Damn you

you're right

[SeattleGirl]

15. I know. That is why I think it is the greater crime.

And yes, they probably won't suffer a single drop of punishment.

[HeeBGBz]

7. The date on the article was the day before Katrina hit

Probably got lost in the shuffle.

[SeattleGirl]

19. I didn't even catch that, HeeBGBz.

This is a case, then, where it is very understandable that this piece would get lost in the shuffle for most people.

However, since Bush wasn't paying attention to Katrina either, he has no excuse for not paying attention to this. Oh hell, what am I saying? Bush doesn't pay attention to anything involving the "have nots".

[wakeme2008]

2. Sounds like Vietnam to me

"The sun raises temperatures to 115 degrees most days, insurgents stage ambushes daily then melt into the civilian population and American troops in Anbar find themselves in a house of mirrors in which they don't speak the language and can't tell friend from foe...."

And we know that ending already...

[SeattleGirl]

3. My thought exactly.

Though in Iraq, there is more sand that foliage, as in Vietnam, there are so many similarities of the BAD kind.

[jbnow]

6. Though in Iraq

the troops are there for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th time. That has to be all the more crazy making, way too much to ask.

(Not that anything justifies this)

[JNelson6563]

4. I so clearly recall

the few voices we actually heard speak out against the war on TeeVee did talk about how it would be urban combat, street to street and house to house. That it would be highly dangerous and stressful. Many of us here knew it as well.

But oh my! What a surprise that after long periods of exposure to dangerous and stressful surroundings, these marines are snapping. Not.

Ugh.

Julie

[Libby2]

8. Trying not to sound selfish here,

but they will also be released into our society.

[Ron Green]

32. Unlike Vietnam, however,

these troops are ALL VOLUNTEER. That is, if they're even on the US payroll and not a private militia contractor.

Hence, there is not the healthy dissent and political argument within the ranks that was constant and pervasive during Vietnam.

Welcome to the result of the All-Volunteer Military.

[DeepModem Mom]

9. a.m. kick

[peacebaby3]

10. You should watch Combat Diaries: Marines of Lima Co. on A&E. They were in

Haditha during all of this time. Came back a short time before this happened. It is very enlightening to what was going on over there at the time. Based on this documentary, it was complete chaos.

Here's the details:

<http://www.aetv.com/listings/episode_details.do?episodeid=163325>

[DeepModem Mom]

11. Thanks for this info, peacebaby. nt

[peacebaby3]

14. You are very welcome. I highly recommend watching. You will agree with

some parts and disagree with other parts, but it is very enlightening.

[SeattleGirl]

16. I watched it twice; taped it the second time so I could watch it again

What happened to Lima Company was horrendous; so was the situation they were in.

[peacebaby3]

20. Yes it was and I think everyone should see it because this was what was

going on in Haditha and the Anabar area (hope I spelled that correctly)during the summer and early fall of 2005...just a month or so before the Haditha massacre.

[Ladyhawk]

21. Good article on massacre?

I checked out and wasn't engaged in the news for awhile. I have no TV and get all my news online, so a link would be nice.

[peacebaby3]

23. Ladyhawk, here's one...but there have been numerous threads over the last

few days about Haditha so you may find some more by just looking through the first few pp. of GD.

This is an article in TIME:

<http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1198843,00.html>

Hope this helps.

[Oak2004]

26. That's a powerful documentary

It had me in tears, muttering "I hate George Bush" to my slightly-puzzled parrot

[peacebaby3]

28. It is powerful. I haven't seen much discussion about it on the boards so I

hope others will see it.

BTW, will you be able to get you parrot to say, "I hate George Bush" ? That would be hilarious.

[Oak2004]

33. It certainly makes it clear that there were two atrocities

The first atrocity was committed by the neocons who sent those guys to Iraq to brutalize and be brutalized.

The second was committed by those guys when they snapped.

That's not to minimise the second atrocity, but rather to point the finger at the original war criminals.

As to teaching the parrot to say "I hate George Bush" -- I just tried, and the only word he repeated was "hate". Well, it's typical of him -- all the words he really likes are said with a lot of emotion and have four letters :D

[BrklynLiberal]

12. Kick. Needs more attention and discussion

[Gin]

17. Is it online anywhere? I don't get A&E

g

[DeepModem Mom]

18. Here's the link to Editor & Publisher --

the site the article appeared on:

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/index.jsp

And a link to the story:

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002576997

[peacebaby3]

24. Not that I know of. There is a short preview on A&E Club for members

of the site (which is free)but I don't think the documentary is online. Most A&E productions eventually are sold through their online store so you might check shortly after the last airing date which is next Saturday, June 3rd.

If you have a friend or relative that gets A&E and would tape it for you, I think it would be worth the trouble. It really was enlightening and I must say, very emotional on a lot of different levels.

[peacebaby3]

25. Ok, they already have it up so you can pre-order on the site. You should

get someone you know to tape it if possible though because it is $29.95 and doesn't actually come out until July 11th. Here's the link in case you are interested:

<http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=76195&browseCategoryId=&location=&parentcatid=&subcatid=>

[Swamp Rat]

22. The entire Bush administration is responsible for those deaths

They belong in prison for life, every one of them. I look forward to holding them accountable.

[CornField]

27. I heard the soldiers might be tried for 'crimes'

Yet the true criminals continue to sleep in their soft beds, ride in their air conditioned cars, and laugh themselves all the way to the bank.

In traditional courts, if you incite someone to commit a crime, you are also guilty. The same should apply here.

[peacebaby3]

29. They were certainly wrong and will have to face what they did in a

courtroom and more importantly within themselves. I agree with you completely, the worst of the criminals will never have to face what they have done - at least not publicly.

[silvertip]

30. Hiditha

    Why don't we all just wait for the results of the
investigation before screaming about what should be done and
to whom it should be done.

[peacebaby3]

34. My husband is an OIF vet with nearly 20 yrs. service so I certainly

believe in waiting for the findings of the investigation, but since some of the initial report has been discussed and some of the Marines' families have been giving interviews to the press, I believe that there will be some disturbing details that will come out.

I guess we will have even more details in 30 days or so when the final report is issued. I do hope that the mitigating circumstances are considered if they are convicted of any atrocities.

[maxsolomon]

31. Col. Kurtz wasn't that simple. He wasn't "crazy".

KURTZ
from Apocalypse Now, not the novel:

" I've seen horrors...horrors that you've seen. But you have no right to call
me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that...But
you have no right to judge me. It's impossible for words to describe what is
necessary to those who do not know what horror means.
Horror. Horror has a face...And you must make a friend of horror. Horror and
moral terrorare your friends. If they are not then they are enemies to be feared.
They are truly enemies. I remember when I was with Special Forces...Seems
a thousand centuries ago...We went into a camp to innoculate the children.
We left the camp after we had innoculated the children for Polio, and this old
man came running after us and he was crying. He couldn't see. We went
back there and they had come and hacked off every innoculated arm. There
they were in a pile...A pile of little arms. And I remember...I...I...I cried...
I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out. I didn't know what I
wanted to do. And I want to remember it. I never want to forget it. I never want
to forget. And then I realized...like I was shot...Like I was shot with a
diamond...a diamond bullet right through my forehead...And I thought:
My God...the genius of that. The genius. The will to do that. Perfect,
genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. And then I realized they were
stronger than we. Because they could stand that these were not
monsters...These were men...trained cadres...these men who fought with
their hearts, who had families, who had children, who were filled with
love...but they had the strength...the strength...to do that. If I had ten
divisions of those men our troubles here would be over very quickly. You
have to have men who are moral...and at the same time who are able to
utilize their primordal instincts to kill without feeling...without passion...
without judgement...without judgement. Because it's judgement that
defeats us. "