Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Haditha 'massacre' - one year on

Haditha 'massacre' - one year on  
By David Loyn 
BBC News  
 
Women and children died in the attack in Haditha 
The anniversary of the killings in Haditha - the worst single massacre of
Iraqis attributed to US troops - could not have come at a worse time for
the US forces, with other cases now reaching conclusions in the courts,
including one that ended in a life sentence. 
On 19 November 2005, a US marine unit was on a routine patrol to deliver a
hot breakfast to a remote outpost at Haditha, the furthest in a string of
settlements up the Euphrates that have been prominent in the Sunni
insurgency. 
It was hit by a roadside bomb that killed one marine and injured two
others. 
During the morning after the incident 24 Iraqis were killed. The first
died when a car full of young men came up the road, and, according to
local witnesses, others were killed when marines went from house to house. 
Those who died included a 76-year old man, and a three-year-old child.
There were also several women among the dead. 
Video footage 
An initial marine press statement said that some civilians were killed in
the initial explosion and others in crossfire by insurgents. 
But local people say that there was no bullets fired other than by the
marines. 
There was no full US investigation into what happened until three months
later when video footage that was taken by a local human rights activist
of the aftermath reached Time Magazine. 
Once their report showed flaws in the initial marine statement, an
investigation began. The investigation is understood to be complete, and
criminal charges could follow. 
Anbar province, which includes Haditha, remains the most dangerous place
in Iraq for Americans. 
About 100 US troops have been killed there since August this year alone. 
Insurgency recruits 
The vast wedge of land west of Baghdad has been the main focus of Sunni
opposition to the Americans, both from al-Qaeda and supporters of Saddam
Hussein, often in alliance. 
The towns of Falluja and Ramadi have become famous, but further up the
river, Haditha was not so well known until 19 November last year. 
Abed Sattar, a leading Sunni tribal elder in Anbar province, told the BBC
that the Americans are now trying to involve the tribal elders far better
in their operations than they were, consulting them before carrying out
raids, rather than going on their own intelligence. 
He said that security is improving on the roads in Anbar. 
He said that this change, which came only in the last two months, is
reducing civilian casualties. 
That will have a knock-on effect in the US-Iraqi campaign against Sunni
insurgents, since it will reduce the encouragement that such killings are
for young men to join the insurgency. 
But this co-ordination is too late for the dead of Haditha. 
 
-- 
Qultura politica di Tonibaruch su It.Politica.Internazionale :
"Oltre al cumswapping e al cumdodging, fai anche il creampie, 
porno-razzi-catto-somarello?" 
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si dia il via ai festeggiamenti per l'anniversario...