Beyond Haditha

DAVID MacMICHAEL
A disabled veteran of 10 years active Marine Corps service in Korea, MacMichael was a Defense Department consultant from 1965 to 1969 in Southeast Asia. During most of that period he was attached to the office of the Special Assistant for Counter-Insurgency at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok. In that capacity he reviewed classified reports from the U.S. mission in Vietnam.

MacMichael said today: “The recent events revealed at Haditha in Iraq are, far from being an aberration, firmly within the tradition of American military operations. That the Haditha massacre involved U.S. Marines saddened this former Marine officer who more than 50 years ago commanded a company of the Third Marines, the same regiment involved in this episode. However, it did not particularly surprise him.”
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AARON GLANTZ
Glantz is author of the book How America Lost Iraq and co-author of the recent articles “Multiply Haditha By Thousands” and “Basra Explodes.” His recent articles are co-written with Alla Hassan, who is in Iraq.

Glantz said today: “Such incidents are all too common in U.S.-occupied Iraq. I’ve reported on similar episodes during my time as an unembedded journalist there. Like many Iraqis I am upset but not surprised by recent reports.”

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki recently stated: “The crime and misery of Haditha is a terrible crime where women and children were eliminated.” Adding that violence against civilians is “common among many of the multinational forces,” the new Iraqi prime minister stated many U.S. troops had “no respect for citizens, smashing civilian cars and killing on a suspicion or a hunch.”
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167