CNN reporter: "I know these guys....I was with them in Haditha...."

[DeepModem Mom]

CNN: A reporter's shock at the Haditha allegations
By Arwa Damon
CNN
Tuesday, May 30, 2006


CNN's Arwa Damon

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- It actually took me a while to put all the pieces together -- that I know these guys, the U.S. Marines at the heart of the alleged massacre of Iraqi civilians in Haditha.

I don't know why it didn't register with me until now. It was only after scrolling through the tapes that we shot in Haditha last fall, and I found footage of some of the officers that had been relieved of their command, that it hit me.

I know the Marines that were operating in western al Anbar, from Husayba all the way to Haditha. I went on countless operations in 2005 up and down the Euphrates River Valley. I was pinned on rooftops with them in Ubeydi for hours taking incoming fire, and I've seen them not fire a shot back because they did not have positive identification on a target.

I saw their horror when they thought that they finally had identified their target, fired a tank round that went through a wall and into a house filled with civilians. They then rushed to help the wounded -- remarkably no one was killed.

I was with them in Husayba as they went house to house in an area where insurgents would booby-trap doors, or lie in wait behind closed doors with an AK-47, basically on suicide missions, just waiting for the Marines to come through and open fire. There were civilians in the city as well, and the Marines were always keenly aware of that fact. How they didn't fire at shadows, not knowing what was waiting in each house, I don't know....And I was with them in Haditha, a month before the alleged killings last November of some 24 Iraqi civilians.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/05/30/damon.iraq.btsc/index.html

[MadMaddie]

1. Not excusing these men..but war is hell....and the horrors of

war can destroy men and womens empathy and soul.....I blame * for this....American lives destroyed...Iraqi lives destroyed....

[JuniperLea]

4. The lives of these Marines have been destroyed as well

And the families of all soldiers there now will never be the same.

I'm not excusing these men either because we can't know what was in their minds.

Everything about this war sucks.

[aquart]

17. I think they were just as good and kind as she said.

but one day it all became too much.

[JuniperLea]

20. I agree

It happened en mass to this group of men.

[Rose Siding]

5. Likewise. But it's also possible, isn't it,

that some (and less that 10 appear to have been involved) might act differently around an embedded reporter?

[uppityperson]

7. Some might, some would probably forget all about her being there

tragic.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

15. And it wouldn't have happened if we weren't involved

This stupid, unneccesary war of choice has destroyed so many lives. Atrocities don't happen when you don't give them an opportunity like this - troops looking death in the face daily, extended tours with no idea when they'll go home (or their departure date keeps getting moved), then a friend is killed and they lose it.

The ones to be held accountable are the officers who knew about it and covered it up. The soldiers themselves should be tried, but I'd say a form of the insanity defense would be understandable - post traumatic stress disorder?

[TomInTib]

2. You don't have to be a bad guy to do bad things.

In close combat, one's body and reflexes will do things that one's conscious mind could never imagine.

Once Adrenaline takes over, a combatant is hard-pressed to regain control - especially in a group with a pack-like mentality.

Unfortunately, I know that circumstance all too well.

[MadMaddie]

8. Group Think....it's powerful and it's dangerous....

I experienced being in a crowd like this and it scared the shit out of me....to this day I am not hip with big crowds...

[TomInTib]

13. Yeah. The really bad deal is twofold.

Now, the troops are drilled with a true groupthink. If you don't go with the flow you will be an outcast for the rest of your tour. There is nothing worse for a soldier than to be shunned by his "buddies". When I was in, there was usually one or two guys who would keep a clear head and stop things feom getting worse in a bad situation. Most of the time, anyway.

Most decisions are made off-site and acted upon.

I will guarantee you this Haditha incident is just one of many. The problem is they let too many family witnesses alive.

[Cha]

19. Mob Mentality!

They were sent over the edge by all the propoganda leading up to the bombing of Iraq and all the propoganda instilled in their pretty little heads since.

[Poll_Blind]

3. Whew, well I'm glad she set us all straight on THAT one...

Now that they've been Damonized (exculpation based purely on relationship, not facts) we can forget about the whole affair and go back to being prosperous and content citizens in Bush's America.

:eyes:

PB

[alcibiades_mystery]

6. It's always the stray bad apples caught on a chance bad day who

are caught, right.

Only these guys, and they never acted like this before, no sir.

Bullshit. This kind of shit is systematic and unchecked. This time is different only because some yahoo got the fucker on film, period.

Did the reporter ever stop to consider that the devotion to saving civilians may have been because SHE WAS WITH THEM???? Has there ever been a group of people more unaware of their own gullability than the embedded reporters in Iraq?

[PublicWrath]

14. Unless I misheard, it does sound as if many of the killings happened

a couple of hours after the initial assault. If this is true, it will be difficult to claim these later killings were spontaneous.

[jimshoes]

9. I expect we'll hear of

hundreds of units that did not violate their orders. I'm sure there are many units there who are an absolute credit to their uniform. I only want the facts in this Haditha incident to come forward without the usual smoke blowing up the ass that we've been accustomed to getting from the Pentagon. If the allegations are untrue, all the better. As Sgt. Friday would say, "just the facts".

ed:sp

[pretzel4gore]

10. the mediawhore's a murderer too

she has no business being in iraq in the first place...it's shitheads like this whose lies that all the money on earth in military budgets/training cannot offset... the 'de-moralization, literally the demoralizing of our troops, and its from demoralization that catastrophes like mai lai etc happens. this pig, amongst others, should be jailed.... she cares not one whit about the troops-she cares about bush and her pleasures

[still_one]

11. I fully expect that it will be rationalized just like May Lai

We invaded a country THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH 9/11. This is a volunteer military, NO ONE WAS FORCED TO GO

If they believed the lies that the government told them, they should have read their history books

I have very little sympathy for people who kill children. When they voluntered they KNEW THEY WOULD BE KILLING HUMAN BEINGS

whether by bombs dropped from our airplanes or looking a child in the face and blowing her head off

Nothing has changed, and we have not learned the lessons from NAM, and our glorification of war and death

[Tom Joad]

12. The responsibilty for the crimes is on the commanders

It is up to us to encourage refusal to follow orders to kill for empire.
see:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1316940

[Swamp Rat]

16. Too bad she wasn't 'with' the Iraqi civilians.

Too bad she was an embedded reporter.

Too bad the truth of this war is covered up by Barbie Doll 'journalists' like Damon.

[roguevalley]

18. this blood is on all our hands because we didn't shut the damned

country down against what, eight guys? what the hell is wrong with all of us?