US Marines killed civilian Iraqis

US newspaper New York Times published on Thursday in an exclusive report the secret accounts of investigations with U.S. Marines regarding the Haditha massacre in 2005. The documents found by a journalist in a junkyard in Baghdad include 400 pages of interrogations in addition to photographs and handwritten notes that reveal a lot about the "dehumanizing nature of this war" as the American newspaper put it. Documents revealed how U.S. Marines viewed the death of 24 unarmed civilian Iraqis including women, toddlers and an old man in a wheelchair as "routine". Col. Thomas Cariker, a commander in Anbar Province during the events, said in his testimony, "I mean, whether it’s a result of our action or other action, you know, discovering 20 bodies, throats slit, 20 bodies, you know, beheaded, 20 bodies here, 20 bodies there." The commander of American forces in Anbar Maj. Gen. Steve Johnson described the incident as "a cost of doing business" while Sgt. Maj. Edward T. Sax told investigators that "when a car doesn’t stop, it crosses the trigger line, Marines engage and, yes, sir, there are people inside the car that are killed that have nothing to do with it." Report revealed how many American soldiers viewed the deliberate killing of Iraqi civilians and even taking pictures of them as unremarkable and how they felt alienated in an environment they didn''t understand. "Despite the way in which they were improperly discarded and came into your possession, we are not at liberty to discuss classified information," United States military spokesman in Iraq Col. Barry Johnson said.