the blood that oil can't wash away

Make no mistake, the blood of 24 Iraqi civilians murdered by marines last November (among tens of thousands of others) are on Bush's hands and ALL the oil in the world cannot wash them clean.

The killings in the western Iraq city of Haditha, a hot spot of the insurgency, were first reported the day they occurred in November of last year. Military officials told NBC News that photos from the scene show, among other horrors, “a mother and young child bent over on the floor as if in prayer, shot dead.”

That’s a war crime. The men who pulled the triggers should and will be punished . . . The enablers of the crime, the Bush administration, won’t be.

* * *

Eman says she "heard a lot of shooting, so none of us went outside. Besides, it was very early, and we were all wearing our nightclothes." When the Marines entered the house, they were shouting in English.

"First, they went into my father's room, where he was reading the Koran," she claims, "and we heard shots." According to Eman, the Marines then entered the living room. "I couldn't see their faces very well—only their guns sticking into the doorway.

I watched them shoot my grandfather, first in the chest and then in the head. Then they killed my granny." She claims the troops started firing toward the corner of the room where she and her younger brother Abdul Rahman, 8, were hiding; the other adults shielded the children from the bullets but died in the process.

Eman says her leg was hit by a piece of metal and Abdul Rahman was shot near his shoulder. "We were lying there, bleeding, and it hurt so much. Afterward, some Iraqi soldiers came. They carried us in their arms.

I was crying, shouting 'Why did you do this to our family?' And one Iraqi soldier tells me, 'We didn't do it. The Americans did.'"

* * *

According to the military, 15 Iraqi civilians died in the incident as a result of an explosion caused by an insurgent bomb, what the military calls an IED, or Improvised Explosive Device, that had also killed one of the Marines. Other reports charged that the U.S. Marines on the scene shot the civilians to retaliate for losing their comrade.

On Wednesday, Representative John Murtha, said the military investigation indicates the Marines did kill the civilians and for no reason.

"There was no firefight," he said. "There was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops over-reacted because of the pressure on them. And they killed innocent civilians in cold blood."

Congressman Murtha also said the civilian death toll was 24, not 15 as the Marines first reported. Murtha is a former Marine, a respected expert on defense issues and a strong supporter of the military. Six months ago he called for the Bush administration to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq quickly.

Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to confirm or deny Murtha's claims about what the military investigations have discovered.

* * *

"This report is going to be ugly," one commander said, adding that it appears the Marines did not follow the rules of engagement.

* * *

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi applauded Murtha for bringing the issue to the fore. . .

"I think it's important for the administration to release the report. They know it's ready. They've been holding it back. I believe that's why Mr. Murtha spoke out about it," she said.

* * *

"Needless to say, we have to take seriously allegations of that type, and they're under investigation and they will then be handled in the normal order of things," Rumsfeld said.

It's business as usual at the Pentagon. They train and encourage these men to be cold-blooded killers, asking only that they 'play by the rules' when they kill innocent people (collateral damage is okay).

But, when they are exposed doing what they're trained to do best, the Pentagon washes its hands of the incident and, along with it, the men who they've turned into killers.

Murtha used the incident to point out that the stress on U.S. troops is too intense, and he repeated his call for all U.S. troops to leave Iraq as soon as possible.

"I feel that the tremendous pressure and the redeployment over and over again is a big part of this. These guys are under tremendous strain, more strain than I can conceive of. And this strain has caused them to crack in situations like this," Murtha said.

"It's not caused only by the troops, it's caused by the fact there's so few of them, and they go out every day, and 42 percent of them don't understand what the mission is," he said.

These men don't even know why they're there, let alone who the enemy is. The marine whose death triggered this whole incident was only 20 years old - still young enough to collect child support from a parent in New York State - but apparently old enough to die fighting an unjust war.

Murtha emphasized that the U.S. military is constantly barraged by attacks, but staying there is just a diversion sought by countries that want to distract the United States from the larger War on Terror.

"I'll tell you who wants us in Iraq: Iran, Russia, China and North Korea and Al Qaeda. There's only 1,000 Al Qaeda, 1,000 Al Qaeda. The rest are Iraqis that we're caught in between," he said.

That's funny. Murtha failed to mention the one country that wanted this war since before 9/11.

You don't come to town and announce your Israel policy is to invade Iraq. But George W. Bush, as stated by former Secretary Paul O'Neill and others, started laying the groundwork to invade Iraq days after inauguration. And, without any Iraq connection to 9-11, within weeks he had the Pentagon outlining a plan to invade Iraq. He was determined.

And he got what he wanted. But if Americans have any dignity left, he's going to wish that he hadn't.

Stand up America and let your voice be heard because the WHOLE world is watching.

Say NO MORE BLOOD for OIL or for ISRAEL.

If we can impeach a President for spying on his political opponents and humiliate another for sexual indiscretions then we can HOLD BUSH and HIS CRONIES ACCOUNTABLE for WAR CRIMES and CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY.

[Y]ou better believe it, Mr. President. The Senate can send you home. You better believe that.

If the House impeaches you, the Senate will try you.

And you - the decider - will finally pay the price for the decisions your blood-stained hands have wrought upon this world.

_______________
UPDATE:

Marines will face criminal charges for a Nov. 19 incident that left 24 Iraqi civilians dead, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Michael W. Hagee confirmed Wednesday to Marine Corps Times.

While not revealing who will be charged, or the severity of the charges, Hagee said the investigation shows mistakes were made that will result in courts-martial.

* * *

He was visiting Capitol Hill in anticipation of the release of two investigative reports, which are expected to show that among the 24 civilians killed in Hadithah, 125 miles northwest of Baghdad, five of the victims, all unarmed, were shot in a car with no warning, according to Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who received a briefing earlier in the afternoon.

At least seven of the victims were women and three were children.

[T]he administrative report by Multi-National Forces Iraq is expected before the end of the week, and the criminal investigation report by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is due in June.

Warner and Levin deferred to Hagee for comment on what could happen to the Marines allegedly involved, who are with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif. And Hagee said no sweeping decisions would be made.

* * *

[Murtha] said he "wouldn't be surprised" if a dozen Marines faced courts-martial for the incident.

An outspoken war critic and retired Marine colonel, Murtha has maintained for several weeks that the reality of the Hadithah incident was far more violent than the original reports suggested.

* * *

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, who was also briefed on the reports, said his committee will hold hearings on the incident after lawmakers return from their Memorial Day recess.

Hunter was matter-of-fact about the reports' contents.

"It is not good," he said. "Let the chips fall where they may."

You know it's scandalous when Congress admits that it's not good.

It seems more and more likely that this guy was telling the truth about his experiences in Iraq.