Report: Marines Unlawfully Killed Civilians

Official report says U.S. Marines unlawfully killed Iraqi Civilians.

The officers and soldiers involved attempted to cover-up the massacre.

The Marines involved in the killings of 24 Iraqis could face murder charges.

However, since the investigation and the decisions regarding punishment are controlled by the U.S. military, it is highly unlikely that any serious charges (such as murder) will be made in this case. This has been the trend in cases like this.... The civilian leadership is extremely reluctant to seek serious punishment for U.S. soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan, no matter how serious the crimes may be.

I do not understand why the media is creating such hype about this case. Is it an important story? Yes, of course. But this is certainly not the first time that U.S. troops have killed civilians in Iraq, whether deliberately, by accident, or through indifference for the safety and the lives of Iraqis. This is just one of the few cases where the military bothered to seriously investigate and found that U.S. troops were involved in illegal activity. There are certainly many other cases of similar conduct that go unexamined. A question that the media should be asking is "how many of these cases occurred that we don't know about"?. Remember, there was an attempted cover-up in this case, so how many other cases were covered up and went undetected? These are the real questions that we're missing the answers to.

Audio report from public radio.

Articles:

Article from Msnbc. From a related Msnbc report, witnesses describe the killings.

Article from Editor & Publisher.

Article from the UK Telegraph.

Article from the San Jose Mercury Newspaper.

Article from the Globe & Mail.