On a Marine Base, Disbelief
Over Charges
Published: May 30, 2006
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., May 29 — In this "company town"
where everything and everyone caters to the well-being of the Marine
Corps, there is no shortage of people, both military and civilian, who
are willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the troops accused of
unjustified killings last November in Haditha, Iraq.
Lucian Read/WorldPictureNetwork
Relatives and neighbors gathered near the shrouded bodies of civilians
said to have been killed by marines in Haditha, Iraq, in November.
Denial and utter disbelief
are the overwhelming reaction to reports of the killings involving
marines based here. If there is any truth to the accusations, some say,
then the troops must have been acting on direct orders, responding as
they were trained to do.
Lawrence Harper, 36, now retired, served in the Marine Corps for more than 15 years, and was in the Persian Gulf war.
"Many
times you see a situation the next day and wonder, how did my brain
think this was dangerous?" Mr. Harper said, while shopping for gear at
G.I. Joe's, a military supply shop in Oceanside.
Mr. Harper
expressed doubt that the marines knowingly committed crimes in Haditha,
saying that they undoubtedly acted on instinct, as trained, in the heat
of battle.
"When a bullet comes at you and you turn around and
half your buddy's head is blown off, it changes the way you think
forever," he said.
Jerry Alexander, the owner of G.I. Joe's and a
Navy man who served with the Marines for a dozen years, had much the
same perspective, saying, "If I saw my buddy laying there dead, there
is no such thing as too much retaliation."
While Mr. Alexander
said "unacceptable kills" should not be covered up, he worried about
the unfairness of judging those who were in Haditha.
"In the
heat of combat, you cannot hesitate; he who hesitates is lost," he
said. "I would not prosecute these young men because they were just
doing their jobs."
On this Memorial Day, in this military
community, people will concede that any marine who committed illegal
acts must be punished and that the Pentagon must take responsibility.
But conversation quickly returns to emotional and earnest explanations
of the need for understanding for what one former marine described as
"these 19-year-old kids who get paid 900 bucks a month to put their
lives on the line."
The marines and several senior officers
assigned to the Third Battalion of the First Marine Division are the
focus of criminal investigations looking into the deaths of 24 people
who lived in the Subhani district of Haditha, an insurgent stronghold
in Iraq.
A preliminary inquiry indicated that the civilians
were killed during a four- to five-hour sweep, led by a handful of
marines angry over the death of Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, 20, of El
Paso, Tex., who was killed as his patrol drove through the area.
Appearing
Monday on the CNN program "American Morning," Gen. Peter Pace, chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, "We want to find out what happened
and we'll make it public."
He added, "If the allegations, as
they are being portrayed in the newspaper, turn out to be valid, then
of course there will be charges. But we don't know yet what the outcome
will be."
The family of Corporal Terrazas was interviewed Monday
morning on "Morning Edition" on National Public Radio. His uncle, Andy
Terrazas, a former marine who is now a border patrol agent, said, "I
hope this is over soon so they can just let him rest in peace. I hope
these marines come out clean, but I guess it's not looking too good,
right?"
None of the active and former marines interviewed for
this story knew Corporal Terrazas or the members of the unit at the
center of the probe. But most of them had seen combat, recently or in
the Gulf war.
"In Iraq, everything you do has to be cleared with
a commanding officer," said Cpl. Michael Miller, 25, who has served two
tours of duty and fought in Falluja and Ramadi. "You just can't go
clearing houses without the permission of higher-ups."
Corporal
Miller said he believed that the marines would be vindicated in the
inquiry. "I just think the marines did what they had to do," he said.
"I don't know why innocent people are dead, but someone must have seen
a gun." Several retired senior officers agreed. Col. Ben Mittman of the
Air Force, interviewed as he got his regular military buzz cut at the
Beachcomber Barber Shop in Oceanside, worried that the young servicemen
were being made scapegoats.
"If this thing really happened,
they had to radio communication and get the go-ahead," he said. "The
frontline grunts these days do not do anything without the commanders
knowing, especially something like that."
The Los Angeles Times
reported Friday that photographs taken by a Marine intelligence team
sent into Haditha showed execution-style killings, including gunshots
to the head. As more details about the Haditha deaths incident surface,
it has conjured disturbing memories of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam
for many former marines and in other circles of war veterans. "I would
draw the same parallel," Mr. Alexander said. "The young guys took the
heat for the higher-ups there too."
Most of those "young guys,"
the active-duty marines who are the peers of those under scrutiny in
the Haditha deaths, were off base this weekend on a five-day holiday
leave.
It is those marines and their leaders who were the focus of other remarks by General Pace in his interview on "Morning Edition."
"We
should, in fact, as leaders take on the responsibility to get out and
talk to our troops and make sure that they understand that what 99.9
percent of them are doing, which is fighting with honor and courage, is
exactly what we expect of them," he said, adding, "Because regardless
of where this investigations goes, we want to ensure that our troops
understand what's expected of them."
British Police Stage Raids, Netting 8 Terror Suspects
Published: May 25, 2006
LONDON, May 24 — Eight people suspected of plotting
terrorist attacks abroad were being held Wednesday after an elaborate
series of raids across England that involved 500 police officers, the authorities said.
The eight, who were detained
in Manchester, Liverpool and London, were held under various government
powers, the authorities said. Those powers included antiterrorism and immigration
laws that allow the home secretary to deport foreigners whose presence
in the country "is not conducive to the public good for reasons of
national security."
The authorities would not release the suspects' names or nationalities, or other details about them.
The
chief constable of the Greater Manchester Police, Michael Todd,
described the raids as "a major antiterrorist operation" that had been
organized over many months in conjunction with MI5, the domestic
security agency. The detainees were not planning attacks in Britain, he
said.
"We are not talking today about a direct threat to the
U.K.," he said. "We are talking about the facilitation of terrorism
overseas. That could include funding, providing support and
encouragement to terrorists."
He added: "This is an
intelligence-led operation. We have been gathering intelligence,
together with our security service colleagues, for at least a year,
looking at the funding and support of terrorist activities overseas."
The government of Prime Minister Tony Blair
has been under increasing pressure over its intelligence and
immigration lapses, particularly after last summer's failure to prevent
the bombings in London's subways and buses. This month, the Home Office
admitted that it had lost track of hundreds of foreigners who had
served prison terms and were supposed to have been considered for
deportation but who had instead been released.
In Manchester,
three people are being held under antiterrorism laws and three under
immigration laws, the police said. Two others — one in Liverpool and
one in London — are being held under immigration laws, they said.
The BBC reported that those detained Wednesday were possibly suspected of planning attacks in Iraq,
and said that they were believed to be linked to an organization called
the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. The authorities refused to comment
or give further details.
