April 11, 2006

A US military investigation has reassigned three officers to new duties because of "problems" related to their battalion's (the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment) actions which led to the brutal murder of 15 Iraqi civilians.

According to Iraqi eyewitnesses, US troops entered a house and killed all its occupants including a 3-year old girl.

The US military had initially lied and fabricated accounts of the story saying the 15 civilians had all died due to a roadside bombing. Then the story was that the 15 were killed in a firefight.

But Haditha residents disputed this saying all those killed were inside one domicile near the area of the bombing.

A videotape taken by an Iraqi shows the aftermath of the attack by U.S. troops on civilians in Haditha: a blood-smeared bedroom floor and bits of what appear to be human flesh and bullet holes on the walls.

Nevertheless, the US military saw this as normal conduct in Iraq. The three officers in charge of the operation have been reassigned.

R E A S S I G N E D

while 15 Iraqi civilians - read F I F T E E N C I V I L I A N S - including a baby girl - B A B Y G I R L were killed.

No charges have been filed against the three officers.

The US military is still investigating a dozen 3rd Battalion Marines for war crimes in connection with the November 2005 incident to determine if they violated the rules of military engagement.

Anyone up for bets they will walk?

The "reassignments" above come on the same day an independent investigative body commissioned by Reuters to look into the shooting death of its television soundman at the hands of US soldiers found US military conduct was U N L A W F U L.

US military casualties soar

CENTCOM today reported that five US soldiers were killed on Monday and Tuesday.

Three members of Multinational Division Baghdad died Tuesday afternoon in a roadside bombing, but military authorities did not say where.

Another soldier assigned to the 2/28th Brigade Combat Team died Monday of wounds suffered the day before in fighting in Anbar province west of the capital, the military said.

Another soldier assigned to the 130th Engineer Brigade was killed Sunday when his vehicle was hit by a blast near Balad. Another soldier was wounded.

This brings to 32 the number of US fatalities in Iraq in the first 11 days of April and 2360 since the beginning of the war.

In March, which marked the lowest number of fatalities in Iraq since February 2004, 31 US military personnel were killed in addition to two non-US personnel.