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Defend Our Marines / September 15, 2007
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The
Real Story of Haditha: Never-before-revealed images from a
surveillance video
Part
one: The ambush site: 0759
Part two: Insurgents regroup: 0814
- 0910
Part three: The last battle:
0913 - 1544
© Nathaniel R. Helms 2007
You're seeing here it first.
These
images are from a video, obtained by Defend Our Marines, that
was recorded by a
Scan
Eagle orbiting the ambush site at Haditha on November 19, 2005.
The video runs 43-minutes and is a presentation culled from more than
eight hours of continuous footage.
They
have never before been seen by the public.
The images
are presented in chronological order using the time/date stamps
created by the Scan Eye recording system as the video was being made.
The video we
obtained was
prepared for the upcoming Article 32 hearing of Captain Lucas
McConnell, formerly the company commander of Kilo Co., 3rd
Battalion, 1st Marines at Haditha in 2005. McConnell was
relieved of command in April, 2006 for alleged dereliction of duty
following allegations of murder by members of his infantry company
during the day-long battle in Haditha that left 24 Iraqis and one
Marine dead, and 11 Marines wounded.
This presentation is
intended to refute allegations made in Time magazine and other media
outlets which claimed the Marines massacred the Iraqi civilians in a
fit of rage following the death of LCpl Miguel “T.J.” Terrazas, one of
Kilo Company’s Marines. The cable television network CNN also obtained
a copy of this video presentation but for reason best known to its
producers
elected to disregard most of the exculpatory images
contained in it.
[NOTE:
Video images with enhancement boxes were altered by selecting the area
and brightening it with a Photoshop tool for clarity.
The rectangular white box on each image is the camera target area,
designated by the Scan Eagle operator.]
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The ambush site
First images recorded by the Scan Eagle at Haditha: 0759 / November
19, 2005
Larger image below, click to enlarge...
At
about 0715 on November 19, 2005 a
four-vehicle convoy from 3rd Squad, 3rd Plt.,
Kilo Co., 3/1 was ambushed on Route Chestnut in Haditha, Iraq.
The
pictures of the ambush site were taken approximately forty-five
minutes later and
show the aftermath of an IED blast that destroyed the fourth vehicle
in the convoy, killing LCpl Terrazas and wounding LCpls Guzman and Crossan.
The picture
above shows the crater in the asphalt surfaced
roadway where the IED had been buried and then covered over with fresh
asphalt. The remainder of the convoy is out of the frame of the image.
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Larger image below, click to enlarge...
Another
view of the destroyed HUMVEE.
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Above: Vehicle 1 (carrying Cpl Salinas, LCpl Sharratt, and LCpl
Sharratt) is on right. White car is on left.
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Larger image below, click to enlarge...
Above: Vehicle 2 (upper right) and Vehicle 3, in the
halted convoy looking west.
The destroyed
HUMVEE is out of the frame at bottom of image. The wreckage came to rest about 40 meters
(120 feet) behind (east) of Vehicle 3. The HUMVEEs remained where they
had stopped after the IED blast until Wuterich’s squad cleared houses
in the ambush area.
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Image below is a rough composite of three aerial photographs of the
four-vehicle convoy. Click to enlarge...
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The image below is from Google Earth. Large aerial of the ambush site showing approximate
positions of the convoy, white taxi, houses 1, 2, 4, and the suspected
trigger house. Click
to enlarge...
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From
SSgt. Frank Wuterich's statement at his Article 32 hearing:
“Vehicle one
turned left on Route Chestnut. Vehicle two turned left on Route
Chestnut. My vehicle turned left on Route Chestnut. Vehicle four
turned left on Route Chestnut. We were halfway home. Vehicle
dispersion was normal- 30-40 m as per BN SOP. As 1 made the turn on
Chestnut, I decided to cross the two lane road and drive on the left
side of the median. This was a decision, I'm sure, that saved the
lives of the Marines in my vehicle. Vehicle four was not so lucky. An
explosion louder than anything I have ever heard rocked the entire
convoy. I remained calm. 1 continued to drive west as my A driver
started to scream, "The fourth vehicle got hit!" I made my way back to
the other side of Chestnut and stopped my HMMWV. Clear skies suddenly
turned brown, black and grey as shrapnel from a HMMWV came plummeting
down in front of me from hundreds of feet in the air.”
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Larger image below, click to enlarge...
The white car
and bodies of dead Iraqi military-age males.
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Larger image below, click to enlarge...
Closer
shot of the white car
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Larger image below, click to enlarge...
Approximate direction of Marines’ rifle fire toward white car (it's
unknown exactly where the three Marines were standing when shots were
fired).
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Larger image below, click to enlarge...
Above: Long red lines show approximate direction of fire toward
the white car. Vehicle 2 (ridden by LCpl Tatum, Cpl De La Cruz, and Pfc.
Mendoza) is on the right. Vehicle 3 (ridden by Sgt. Wuterich, LCpl
Graviss, and "Doc" Whitt is on the left.
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From
SSgt. Frank Wuterich's statement at his Article 32 hearing:
"I remember
encountering no vehicle traffic or foot traffic that morning leading
up to the IED detonation. The white, four door sedan was parked on the
side of the road within 100m of the IED attack, and within the
security parameters of our convoy. I heard yelling mostly from the
west where Cpl De La Cruz was shouting in broken Arabic and using
expletives to the military aged males who occupied the white car. His
weapon was at the ready, as it should have been. They were not
complying and in fact were starting to run in the opposite direction
to the south away from where Cpl Dela Cruz was approaching them. I
took a knee in the road and fired. Engaging was the only choice. The
threat had to be neutralized. Vehicle Borne IEDs were a serious threat
and would have incapacitated our squad making us combat ineffective. I
don't remember anyone else firing at the same time I was, although at
a squad debrief later on I learned that Cpl Dela Cruz had engaged the
men at the car at the same time as I did and Cpl Salinas reported that
he had opened fire, as well. After I watched the military aged males
fall to the ground, Cpl De La Cruz advanced on them and I saw him fire
at the bodies as they lay before I turned to make my way to the
casualties. That is when I started hearing small arms fire from the
south."
____________________________________________________
Nathaniel R. Helms
Defend Our Marines
15
September 2007
Note: Nat Helms is a Contributing Editor to Defend Our
Marines. He is a Vietnam vet, journalist, combat reporter, and, most
recently, author of
My Men Are My Heroes: The Brad Kasal Story (Meredith Books, 2007).
Go to...
Part two: Insurgents
regroup
Part three: The last battle |
