Marine urinated on Haditha victim

[Typhoon 01]

Source: BBC News
A US marine angered by the death of a comrade urinated on one of the 24 Iraqi civilians killed by his unit in Haditha in 2005, he admitted on Wednesday.

Sgt Sanick Dela Cruz also said his squad leader shot five of the Iraqis as they stood with their hands in the air.

Sgt Dela Cruz was speaking at a hearing for one of the four officers charged with dereliction of duty for failing to investigate the killings.

Three other marines have been charged with second-degree murder.

Iraqi witnesses say the shootings were in retaliation for a roadside bomb that had killed Lance Cpl Miguel Terrazas as his convoy drove through Haditha, 240km (150 miles) north-west of Baghdad, on 19 November 2005.

'Bad thing'

Sgt Dela Cruz told the military courtroom at Camp Pendleton in California of the distress he felt after discovering the explosion had ripped Lance Cpl Terrazas, known as TJ, in half.
"I know it was a bad thing what I've done, but I done it because I was angry TJ was dead and I pissed on one Iraqi's head," he said.

He also testified that after the explosion Staff Sgt Frank Wuterich had shot dead five men as they stood by a white car with the hands in the air.

"They were just standing, looking around, had hands up," he said.

"Then I saw one of them drop in the middle."

"Looked to my left, saw Sgt Wuterich shooting."

Afterwards Sgt Dela Cruz said he himself had "sprayed" the bodies with gunfire.

"I knew they were dead, I wanted to make sure," he explained.

Immunity

Sgt Wuterich then shot each of the men in the upper body and head, Sgt Dela Cruz testified.
"He went to every single one of them, sir, and shot them," he added.

"He told me that if anybody asked, they were running away and the Iraqi army shot them."

Sgt Wuterich's lawyer, Neal Puckett, said Sgt Dela Cruz's account was "false" and that he had told investigators up to five different versions of the events.

"It's unfortunate that in exchange for his freedom he's being forced to testify against his brothers," Mr Puckett told the Associated Press.

In April, the Marine Corps dropped all charges against Sgt Dela Cruz and granted immunity in exchange for his testimony.

If found guilty, the three marines charged with second-degree murder could face life imprisonment.

The Haditha inquiry is just one of a number the US military has been conducting into incidents of alleged unlawful killings by US forces in Iraq.

This kind of things really piss me off, especially knowing that they happen pretty often and hardly make the news.
Way to go US Army, recruiting a bunch of retards and school drop outs that join the army to pay their way trough college, who probably cant even point out Iraq on the world map, and have no idea of what the **** is going on around them.

[jonc2006]

yeah man as much as i support our troops and all there are some real dumb mother****ers mixed in with the good ones.

[Player-X]

Other than the obvious statement that this will not end well along with with the prediction that this is not exactly going to help bring peace to the middle east and the standard criticism of the war I have nothing more to say unless someone disagrees.

[TheCloudOfSmoke]

You know what? I'm getting sick of hearing people complain about the few U.S. troops who do something inhumane or cruel. There are always going to be a few bad apples. Yes it's wrong, but we are always the ones who make the big news. Like we're the only ones who have to be perfect. When someone else does it, it's not as a big of a deal as when we do it.

Anyone remember the time when some of our troops made Iraqi POWs (IIRC) do embarassing and gay poses and then took pictures of them naked. IIRC, nobody was killed in that situation. So what was the big deal over that about? It's war, it's not going to be pretty. If you can't handle it, gtfo. Sick and crazy things are going to happen all of the time. You can't make it a PG version. Like I said, it's war. We should stay out of what goes on behind the scenes. A lot of sick stuff happened at Vietnam too, I guess now everything has to be more PC now.

People in other countries have done a lot worse to our people in the past. What about when some group beheads an American reporter or some other person from America and puts it on the internet or broadcasts it for no other reason but to make a point that their religion is the better one? You never hear about that for more than five minutes.

[Player-X]

It's not about the degree of atrocity but about what is expected from them, the US doing these things is far more shocking because they are supposed to bring "peace ans stability" and the last thing you would expect from them is **** like this while most Arabs are always chanting "death to America" which would make decapitations less shocking.

[jonc2006]

X has a point. but we are supposed to be the peacemakers too. this stuff is expected from more barbaric folks like the extremist and so forth but not from the people who are supposed to be there to get rid of this crap.

[Typhoon 01]

Dude, we all know why the US is in Iraq and the so called "reasons" they have to be there and sincerely i don't give a **** about those reasons any more. They want to say that they are liberating the county OK, fine, but what the hell is that, do you think that Iraqis should stand still and look by as The All Mighty USA is robbing their country, destroying their houses and humiliating their people? You have your life way too easy, you don't know what is to live in fear of war, you never had to. And if the US is really trying to do something for Iraq that will not help at all. That will be yet another reason for more deaths.
Yes i agree with you, war is supposed to be like that, but it's your ****ing fault it got to that, nobody asked you to meddle with the middle east.
And this war can be about a lot of things, but religion is at the far end of the spectrum right now, go read some history books and maybe then you will realize what your country has been doing for the world for the past 60 years.

[TheCloudOfSmoke]

Originally Posted by Player-X

It's not about the degree of atrocity but about what is expected from them, the US doing these things is far more shocking because they are supposed to bring "peace ans stability" and the last thing you would expect from them is **** like this while most Arabs are always chanting "death to America" which would make decapitations less shocking.

That is a good point. But I seriously hate double standards.

On 9-11, we were faced with one of the biggest tragedies in this country to date. We were attacked at the heart and where we were most vunerable but we would be the bad ones if we striked back. You post makes complete sense and I agree, but it's still not right to just sit back and not do nothing because we are supposed to be the "peacemakers". That makes us look weak. Like it is ok to attack us and not worry about consequenses. The funny thing is that after 9-11, we waged war on the wrong damn country.

People generalize and stereotype us (normal citizens) based on the actions of one or a few people (like the people that are being discussed) and because of that, we (normal citizens) have to suffer the consequenses (terrorist attacks). I hate that we always have to be the better man and be the responsible one. All that is doing is showing that we are weak and a bunch of pussies. During World War II, other countries feared the U.S. This country was powerful and took action if/when someone messed with us. The U.S. was strong and didn't **** around. When the U.S. dropped that final bomb, everyone knew that we weren't ****ing around. I don't agree with what was done back then but it is a good example of how this country is starting to fall apart. We worry about dumb stuff and always being polically correct all of the time and we don't always take action when/where it is neccessary. We need to stop trying to give off this image that we're the peacemakers. That's image is not working for us.

EDIT@ Typhoon: I'm trying to figure out why the hell we our always trying to liberate other countries. I know that I wouldn't like it if some other country tried to come in here and force beliefs, political beliefs, religous beliefs on us. We need to stay the **** out of other countries business if it doesn't involve us. So I agree with you on that. But I also believe that if other countries want us to stay out of their business, we shouldn't help them if they need help either in the future (financially or for any other reason). They can't pick and choose when they want us to be there. We stay on our side, they stay on theirs.

Well, I may not have had the fear of war in my heart but I know what it feels like to be vunerable when another country attacks us and not know what will happen next. I live in Maryland, and I was pretty close to the Pentagon on 9-11. I was scared myself and my friend's sister worked a few blocks from there. It may not be the same as for the fear of war but I know how it feels to be scared ****less.

I wasn't saying this war was about religion, I was making a point that when other countries to violent things to us for the reason to prove that their religion is better or whatever, it is more acceptable than when we (or a small group of people from here) do to them.

[Typhoon 01]

You are generalizing the moment you say that all middle east is about religion fueled terrorism, i have a lot of American friends and i don't blame them or you, because they have no power of choice over this, i have friends that been to Iraq, work for the US government and they have no free speech, they never get involved in a discussion over the war. The point being is that i don't blame the people (at least not all of them), i blame the system that made them do that and the fact that they lack the capacity to think for themselves .

[TheCloudOfSmoke]

What? When did I generalize the whole Middle East? Quote me where I generalized all Middle East by saying that they are all about religion fueled terrorism. If anything, I talked about "groups" (I never said the whole Middle East) who behead U.S. citizens for their religious beliefs or other reasons. I also talked about 9-11, but I never said that all of the Middle East is about religious terrorism. Similar to how this "group" of people killed and urinated on those people in Iraq. It was a small group of people who acted horribly on their own free will, not under government orders to do what they did to those people. But I agree with you on the systems. It's not the people in the country to blame, some could care less about their country's issues with other countries.

[Player-X]

America: We will "liberate" you by invading and occupying your country.

[Typhoon 01]

No no no... you got it all wrong, it's "we will liberate you from your natural resources!!!"

[Player-X]

That's one way that the Bush Administration can say "We didn't lie, we liberated the Iraqis but we didn't say from what"

[spartan117]

I didnt read most of your stuff, so since you guys brought up iraq and the war, eh what harm is it?

[cloudsBro]

A lot of things happen in Iraq that no one will ever know about but those who have done it. All news reports and coverage are just the tip of the Iceberg really...Im not surprised by hearing this news because I expect a few wackos in the army to do this kind of behaviour anyway.

[spartan117]

Originally Posted by cloudsBro

A lot of things happen in Iraq that no one will ever know about but those who have done it. All news reports and coverage are just the tip of the Iceberg really...Im not surprised by hearing this news because I expect a few wackos in the army to do this kind of behaviour anyway.

I will agree with u on that any day of the week