marines

How many more of these are we going to hear about?

The BBC has uncovered new video evidence that US forces may have been responsible for the deliberate killing of 11 innocent Iraqi civilians. The video appears to challenge the US military's account of events that took place in the town of Ishaqi in March.

The US said at the time four people died during a military operation, but Iraqi police claimed that US troops had deliberately shot the 11 people.

A spokesman for US forces in Iraq told the BBC an inquiry was under way.

The new evidence comes in the wake of the alleged massacre in Haditha, where US marines are suspected of massacring up to 24 Iraqi civilians in November 2005.

The more this happens the more danger our troops are going to be in. The military needs to conduct full investigations as soon as anything like this does happen and quickly bring the people to justice or make their findings known.

There was a segment on our local evening news about Jean Schmidt's comments
regarding Rep. Murtha. Turns out Schmidt wasn't very truthful before the House
last week. This from

WKRC 12:

Ohio Representative Responds To Use Of
His Quote

Ohio Congresswoman Jean Schmidt refused to say more Monday night about
her comments that ignited a firestorm in Washington.

However, the man she quoted, Ohio Representative Danny Bubp, is talking.

Schmidt spoke during a debate over a proposal by Congressman John Murtha
to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq in six months.

"He asked me to send Congress a message: Stay the course," said
Jean Schmidt. "He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message,
that cowards cut and run, Marines never do. Danny and the rest of America
and the world want the assurance from this body, that we will see this
through."

Schmidt later withdrew her remark, and said it wasn't meant as a personal
attack.

Local 12 Reporter Shawn Ley spoke with Bubp Monday night near Bubp's home
in West Union.

Bubp tells Local 12 that he, in no way, asked Schmidt to deliver that
bombshell of a message to Congressman Murtha. In fact, he says he wishes she
would have left his name out of it.

Bubp tells Local 12 he did call Schmidt last week as a constituent, to
urge her to vote against the resolution to get our military out of Iraq. He
says he was shocked when Schmidt used his name on the House floor, directing
his words toward another member of Congress.

Via
Reuters:

Army dumps general for 'personal
misconduct'

The four-star general who headed the U.S. Army's training program has been
relieved of his duties for unspecified "personal misconduct" after a probe by
criminal investigators, the Army said on Tuesday.

Gen. Kevin Byrnes was fired from his position as commanding general of the
Army Training and Doctrine Command, the Army said. Army officials did not rule
out the possibility of criminal charges.

"The investigation upon which this relief is based is undergoing further
review to determine the appropriate final disposition of this matter," the
Army said in a statement.

This is the same General who decided during the Iraq war it would be
important to send Army personnel such as cooks and mechanics to the front lines.
While this has been a somewhat common approach in the Marines, it is a rare
occurrence in the Army. Take this quote from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which
appeared on September 7, 2003:

"We've become too specialized.  Ask a junior enlisted who they are,
and they'll tell you, `I'm a mechanic,' not I'm a soldier. We need to change
that culturally in the Army."

I wonder what other training this General was in charge of? Perhaps he also
did some training for prisoner handling and interrogation techniques at Abu
Gharib. Time will hopefully tell.

The Republicans are good at shouting out one line. “Support
Our Troops”. They make it sound as though that is a Republican only stance, when
in reality it is something a large majority of Americans do regardless of party
affiliation.

So why is it then that the Republicans are so supportive of
our troops yet they won’t support a troop who happens to be a Democrat? Paul
Hackett served his country with the utmost honor and respect. He risked his life
to go to Iraq and help train Iraqi soldiers. A Major in the Marines, he made the
call to duty in order to try and get the job done.

Paul Hackett went there and did his job and came home. When
he came home we started hearing stories of how the training wasn’t going as good
as reported. He decided to try and make a difference and run for the vacant seat
in Ohio’s second congressional district.

Now that Paul Hackett is out there explaining why he
doesn’t feel we are doing the job to the best of our potential, the Republicans
feel he no longer deserves support. In fact, the insight that Paul brings back
from Iraq is not what the Republicans would consider hands on experience. They
consider it liberal views.

Yesterday, Hackett’s opponent Jean Schmidt was asked about
her past associations with rare coin dealer Tom Noe.   As soon as she heard
that, she went into the Cheney defense more of “I don’t know Tom Noe, I have
never met Tom Noe, I wouldn’t know Tom Noe if he was here right now”. Well with
Jean having an opponent who is not only a Marine but also a lawyer, he saw that
as a challenge and took it on.