Am Morgen des 19. November 2005 war ein Trupp Marineinfanteristen in vier Humvees eine Straße in der irakischen Stadt Haditha entlang unterwegs, als ihr Konvoi eine IED traf
Die Explosion tötete einen Marine, Obergefreiten Miguel Terrazas, und verletzte zwei weitere.
Was folgte, löste eine der größten Kriegsverbrechensermittlungen in der Geschichte der Vereinigten Staaten aus.
In den nächsten Stunden töteten Marines vierundzwanzig irakische Männer, Frauen und Kinder.
In der Nähe der Explosionsstelle erschossen sie fünf Männer, die auf dem Weg zu einer Hochschule in Bagdad waren.
Sie drangen in drei nahe gelegene Häuser ein und töteten fast alle darin.
Das jüngste Opfer war ein dreijähriges Mädchen.
Der Älteste war ein 76-jähriger Mann.
Die Marines behaupteten später, sie hätten an diesem Tag gegen Aufständische gekämpft, aber die Toten waren allesamt Zivilisten.
Die Morde wurden als Haditha-Massaker bekannt.
Vier Marines wurden wegen Mordes angeklagt, diese Anklage wurde jedoch später fallen gelassen.
General James Mattis, der spätere Verteidigungsminister, schrieb einen begeisterten Brief an einen der Marines, in dem er seine Anklage zurückwies und ihn für unschuldig erklärte.
Als der letzte Fall 2012 in einem Vergleich ohne Gefängnisstrafe endete, war der Irak-Krieg vorbei und Geschichten über das Erbe der US-Besatzung fanden kaum noch Beachtung.
Die Nachrichten wurden kaum registriert.
Die Auswirkungen eines mutmaßlichen Kriegsverbrechens hängen oft direkt mit dem Schrecken der Bilder zusammen, die in die Hände der Öffentlichkeit gelangen.
Die Misshandlung von Häftlingen im Gefängnis Abu Ghraib wurde zu einem internationalen Skandal, als drastische Fotos veröffentlicht wurden.
Die Haditha-Morde hatten keinen vergleichbaren Moment.
Einige der von den Marines gemachten Bilder gelangten schließlich in die Öffentlichkeit, die meisten wurden jedoch nie veröffentlicht.
In einem mündlichen Geschichtsinterview für das Marine Corps im Jahr 2014 prahlte General Michael Hagee, der zum Zeitpunkt der Haditha-Morde Kommandant des Marine Corps war, damit, die Haditha-Fotos geheim zu halten.
„Im Gegensatz zu Abu Ghraib hat die Presse sie nie bekommen“, sagte Hagee.
Der Interviewer, Fred Allison, ein Historiker des Marine Corps, warf ein: „Die Bilder. Sie haben die Bilder bekommen. Das war das Schlimme an Abu Ghraib.“
„Ja“, antwortete Hagee. „Und daraus habe ich gelernt.“
Er sagte: „Diese Bilder wurden heute noch nicht gesehen. Und deshalb bin ich ziemlich stolz darauf.“
Von Competitive-Ring4005
35 Kommentare
SS:
If you wanna see the photos they allowed to be released, they’re here.👇👇👇
Also the story of how they actually forced the release of those images.
https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/in-the-dark/the-haditha-massacre-photos-that-the-military-didnt-want-the-world-to-see
The monsters who destroyed Iraq… We are all complicit….
This is insane. First I’ve heard of it
U.S Marines are fucking disgusting…fuck that Cult!
and they act like vets after all this shit like they achieved something
According to investigation records, soldier Stephen Tatum told investigators that he realized the people in the room were women and children before opening fire.
He said: “Knowing it was a child, I still shot him.”:(
Thank you for your service
Those who join the military are already sick before they enlisted. You get zero respect from me. Fuck your service.
Wait until you hear about all the medals the crew of the USS Vincennes received.
Had a good friend who went into the military. He was over there and this may have been the story he was telling me or something extremely similar happened to him.
He said they were fired upon driving through a town, they lit up the surrounding buildings with their guns. When everything settled he realized they had killed some kids in the mix.
Tore him up really bad. He tried to reintegrate into society but killed himself a few years after being back home and out of the military. Sad situation all the way around.
Veterans!!! You got to flog yourself so they can eat, and live comfortably after committing murder.
Salute em – salute murderers
May every exploding firework and unexpected balloon pop send these monsters into a downward spiral of fear and psychosis.
I wanna be a recon ranger, I wanna live a life of danger
And then they go back home crying because they got PTSD.
Just remember that Frank Wuterich was the only one fully charged and walked without a jail sentence.
Oof that’s bad
Shit been going on but they play victim on the news
And no one was held accountable.
And people in poor countries believe the US is good, lmao!
some heinous shit killing kids.
Former Marine. War is horrible. This is inexcusable. However I don’t know a single marine who would knowingly pull the trigger on a mother and her children. Likely caught in the mix. Horrible as I said. But I don’t think a fellow Marine would just walk in there and blast a mom and kids. Hate me, bring on the downvotes. They probably got caught in a gunfight and the room was cleared from outside of the house. Often the enemy would use women and children as shields or put them in areas because they knew we would try not to get them in the mix. Downvote me, call us baby killers, etc. War is horrible.
don’t forget that the US firebombed women and civilians in WWII…focus on that instead of a one off event that was probably a mistake by an 18 year old with an MG who probably shot himself after he got home
Never should have been in iraq. All this did was create more terrorists and destabilise the region.
If i ever saw a fellow marine shoot children, they would „tragically“ be KIA.
I remember some Americans say during Gulf War 2, “wait until they get a taste of freedom.” Well 20 years and two million dead later, Iraq seems like a vassal state of the US. There are US military bases there despite them asking the US to leave, and the US collects all oil revenue to a US federal reserve account and pays the country a monthly allowance to sustain itself minimally. This is likely what they want to do to Iran.
God never existed
Why can’t you guys just be happy for isnotreal!!
Bunch of antiseptics
They probably would have grown up and tried to stop the greater isnotreal plan and resisted the Antichrist.
It’s like you want another holler/caust
Command us b1bi !! Our politicians will do your bidding. No need to release the files! the rump is doing the thing😉
——-
I just can’t
As a planet we deserve serious judgment…
I’ve never understood their concept of “eliminate hundreds of terrorists by creating millions” tactic.
There is a hell I’ve seen it.
That’s why I never say “thank your for your service” and I served
As a veteran who went over there a few times, this needs more attention! Details need to be shared and involved parties disciplined severely, no matter the rank.
You knowingly shoot up kids, you might as well be a terrorist in my book. You don’t get to walk away from something like that.
Former Army.
Infantry, SOF, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, several other place in HOA and MENA.
This is war.
And people still support this country
This is one of the worst Iraqi tragedies i’ve ever read about. How is this the first time i have heard about it? Makes you wonder, what kind of unspeakable acts have been commited that no one has heard off? What kind of unspeakable atrocities have been commited in Palestine, particularly during the past 3 years?
This is probably just 0.1% of what’s happened in the war on terrorism. It’s really hard to fight an enemy that dosen’t wear a uniform and hides amongst the civilians that ambushes you
There will be consequences for these actions if not here on earth then in the afterlife
That’s awful, it’s brutal. I can’t imagine how many cases like this have gone unreported.