The Washington Post has a chilling eyewitness account from Haditha, where Marines allegedly killed 24 civilians on Nov. 19.
Coming from The Washington Post:
BAGHDAD, Iraq--Witnesses to the slaying of 24 Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines in the western town of Haditha say the Americans shot men, women and children at close range in retaliation for the death of a Marine lance corporal in a roadside bombing.
Aws Fahmi, a Haditha resident who said he watched and listened from his home as Marines went from house to house killing members of three families, recalled hearing his neighbor across the street, Younis Salim Khafif, plead in English for the lives of himself and his family. ``I heard Younis speaking to the Americans, saying: 'I am a friend. I am good,' '' said Fahmi. ``But they killed him, and his wife and daughters.''
More from WaPo:
The 24 Iraqi civilians slain on Nov. 19 included children and the women who were trying to shield them, witnesses told a Washington Post special correspondent in Haditha this week and U.S. investigators said in Washington. The girls killed inside Khafif's house alone were aged 14, 10, 5, 3 and 1, according to death certificates.
The incident was touched off when a roadside bomb struck a supply convoy of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. The explosion killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, 20, from El Paso, Texas, who was on his second tour in Iraq. Following in the footsteps of two Marine uncles and a Marine grandfather, Terrazas had planned to go to college when it was all done, his family said.
What happened next?
Stressed out troops went crazy, apparently.
In the first minutes after the shock of the blast, residents said, silence reigned on the street of walled courtyards, brick homes and tiny palm groves. Marines appeared stunned, or purposeful, as they moved around the burning Humvee, witnesses said.
Then one of the Marines took charge, shouting, said Fahmi, who was watching from his roof. Fahmi said he saw the shouting Marine direct other Marines into the house closest to the blast, about 50 yards away.
It was the home of Abdul Hamid Hassan Ali, 76. Although he had used a wheelchair since diabetes forced a leg amputation years ago, Ali was always one of the first on his block to go out every morning, scattering scraps for his chickens and hosing the dust of the arid western town from his driveway, neighbors said.
In the house with Ali and his 66-year-old wife, Khamisa Tuma Ali, were three of the middle-aged men of their family, at least one daughter-in-law and four children--4-year-old Abdullah, 8-year-old Iman, 5-year-old Abdul Rahman and 2-month-old Asia.
Marines entered, shooting, witnesses recalled. Most of the shots--in Ali's house and two others--were fired at such close range that they went through the bodies of the family members and plowed into walls or the floor, doctors at Haditha's hospital said.
No wonder the Marines comandante flew in to Iraq Thursday to remind the troops that good marines don't murder civilians.
The account goes on to point out how the Marines then moved onto a few other houses, killing more civilians, and then gunned down four university students who happened on the scene.
After the shootings, more troops arrived, the Marines argued, surveyed the scene, then left.
The remains of the 24 lie today in a single cemetery, called Martyrs' Graveyard. Stray dogs scrounge in the deserted homes. ``Democracy assassinated the family that was here,'' graffiti on one of the houses declares.