New York Daily News: Haditha Hush Money

[chill_wind]

Reasonable questions from former military, as the story continues to ooze and fester...

"There's a gap in the whole narrative (....)".

A polite understatement, if ever.

Posted on Thu, Jun. 08, 2006
Families of Haditha victims may have been offered money
BY RICHARD SISK
New York Daily News
(snip)

In the Haditha case, "There's a gap in the whole narrative, you just don't give them a bag of money" without officers concluding that the Marines bore some responsibility, said Catholic University Law Prof. Michael Noone, a former Air Force lawyer.

Noone said the cash payments made about a month after the shootings suggested that the command knew of possible wrongdoing well before the Naval Criminal Investigative Service began looking into the case in February.

"The payments raise a lot of questions," said retired Rear Adm. John Hutson, a former senior Navy lawyer. "If this is the misdeed of insurgents" in setting off a roadside bomb, "then why is the U.S. paying for it?" Hutson asked. "You have to wonder if this is hush money."

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/14767820.htm