Investigators of Haditha Shootings Look to Exhume Bodies

Criminal investigators are hoping to exhume the bodies of several Iraqi civilians allegedly gunned down by a group of U.S. Marines last year in the city of Haditha, aiming to recover potentially important forensic evidence, according to defense officials familiar with the investigation. A source close to the inquiry said Naval Criminal Investigative Service officials have interviewed families of the dead several times and have visited the homes where the shootings allegedly occurred to collect as much evidence as possible.

Exhuming the bodies could help investigators determine the distance at which shots were fired, the caliber of the bullets and the angles of the shots, possibly crucial details in determining how events unfolded and who might have been involved. The possible evidence was disregarded at first because the slayings originally were not treated as
crimes. NCIS officials said the Nov. 19 incident was not reported to them as a criminal case until nearly four months later -- on March 12 -- and the failure of the Marine Corps to request assistance from investigators sooner could create legal complexities.

The delay already has presented many hurdles for investigators, who have had to rely on dated information, witnesses and suspects who had months to tailor their stories, and a lack of fairly routine forensic evidence that should have been collected at the time the civilians were killed, according to Defense Department officials, defense attorneys and sources close to the criminal probe. "We are definitely starting with a full count," said one official close to the investigation, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to discuss the case.

"There's plenty of shoulda, woulda, coulda to go around in this case. We have lots of disadvantages going in, but we will re-create the incident as best we can." The NCIS is an independent criminal investigative agency that is not in the military chain of command. Its probe has included as many as 50 special agents, forensics investigators and support personnel operating in Iraq and in the United States, the largest homicide investigation of its type since the war in Iraq began in 2003, according to Navy officials.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/01/AR2006060100343.html

while this all makes me feel very sick, I am also very glad that it is getting media coverage. The problem is not the coverage, but the actions and the coverup and the only way we can get it stopped is by having it out in public view. Force the disconnect between "good news reporting" and war is hell reality. End the occupation NOW.

I'm hoping this isn't just going to make a bad PR situation dramatically worse...

You think this insurgency is as bad as it can get yet?

Haditha investigators look to exhume bodies

Corpses of Iraqis allegedly gunned down by GIs may yield forensic evidence

By Josh White and Thomas E. Ricks

Updated: 2 hours, 5 minutes ago
Criminal investigators are hoping to exhume the bodies of several Iraqi civilians allegedly gunned down by a group of U.S. Marines last year in the city of Haditha, aiming to recover potentially important forensic evidence, according to defense officials familiar with the investigation.

A source close to the inquiry said Naval Criminal Investigative Service officials have interviewed families of the dead several times and have visited the homes where the shootings allegedly occurred to collect as much evidence as possible. Exhuming the bodies could help investigators determine the distance at which shots were fired, the caliber of the bullets and the angles of the shots, possibly crucial details in determining how events unfolded and who might have been involved.

The possible evidence was disregarded at first because the slayings originally were not treated as crimes.

NCIS officials said the Nov. 19 incident was not reported to them as a criminal case until nearly four months later -- on March 12 -- and the failure of the Marine Corps to request assistance from investigators sooner could create legal complexities.
(snip/...)

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13090897/

Isn't that the point of covering up a crime?

Not that people actually are interested in the truth when there are political points to be made. That's pretty much the definition of 'partisan'.

What's routinely forgotten is that no side has the moral high ground and is immune to the temptation to falsify. The soldiers were presumably playing CYA; and the people that provided most of the the facts bandied about in the media have every reason to make the Americans look as bad as possible and, in at least one case, presumably to make the insurgents ... partisans ... look not bad.

The question is, which side respects the truth more than honor and self-interest?

If one gives the benefit of the doubt to one side, a reasonable assumption is that that's the side considered to have more moral people on it. I'm not ready to commit. I've seen some howlers come from the Iraqi side, and some truly dubious reports from the DoD.

over the USMC.
Poisoned fruit of a poisoned tree.
American troops have begun to question whether or not they will engage in a fundamentally EVIL assignment.
Via internet, everyone has a very powerful medium at their disposal.
Use it.

Impeach Bush now!

This is like expecting the SS to investigate allegations of mass killings of Jews.