thedrifter
06-10-06, 06:00 AM
Ministers embedded with Marines in Haditha say they saw no hint of distress
GIOVANNA DELL'ORTO
Associated Press
ATLANTA - A minister embedded with some of the Marines who are alleged to have killed up to two dozen civilians in Haditha, Iraq, after one of their own died in a roadside explosion says he heard about the dead civilians but saw no distress among Iraqis or Marines in Haditha several weeks after the killings.
"I knew he had been killed and there had been a response. I got the impression insurgents were killed and also some civilians got killed," the Rev. Christopher Price of suburban Atlanta recalled Friday of his conversations with Marines in Haditha in January.
"As it was presented, it seemed a normal part of what happened. It seemed a sort of regrettable but also fairly typical incident. I saw nothing that betrayed any difficulty between the Marines and the people of Haditha."
Price couldn't recall who exactly told him about the killed civilians and said he didn't ask for details.
Price and the Rev. Ben Mathes, a minister from Dawsonville, Ga., and the father of the executive officer of the Marines' Kilo Company Marine in Haditha, spent Jan. 2 to Jan. 23 in Iraq as embedded reporters for Sacramento, Calif.-based K-Love Christian Radio Network. They are both Presbyterian pastors.
"If this thing had been as horrible as it's been made out to be, the people of Haditha would have been up in arms when we were there," said Mathes, who said he first learned of the accusations when they recently became public.
Two U.S. military investigations are under way about Iraqi accusations that Marines went on a rampage after a comrade, Miguel Terrazas, was killed by a bomb on Nov. 19. Initially, the military said the Iraqi deaths were the result of the roadside bomb and a subsequent gunfight with insurgents.
But newer accounts, including details from briefings to members of Congress, have indicated Iraqis died in deliberate gunfire by a small group of Marines seeking revenge, which other soldiers there covered up. Iraq also has ordered its own probe of the killings.
Both ministers sympathized with the Marines who saw their friend "blown to pieces," adding they saw many signs pointing to the affection they had for Terrazas. One example was a shooting range that was renamed "T.J. range" after Terrazas' nickname, earned for his love of partying in Tijuana, Mexico, while stationed at Camp Pendleton in California.
"I understand when something happens, when you see somebody killed that way, I can understand where you get angry," said Price, whose church is in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody. "I hope nothing happened that was out of line."
The ministers said they saw good relations and no bitterness between the Marines, whose morale seemed high, and the friendly Iraqis.
"Nobody disparaged the Iraqis while we were there," Price said. "They were proud stores were beginning to open, the town was coming back to life."
While out on patrol with Marines, the ministers were invited to share tea and bread in many Iraqi homes.
"So many kept saying, 'I want to be part of doing something good in this country,' and when you walk the streets and you see how these folks would greet them and talk to them and the kids would come out and wanna play with them and stuff ... they just become part of the community," Mathes said.
"They weren't in the least bit jaded," Price said of the soldiers. "I like the fact that Americans are that generous."
Ellie
GIOVANNA DELL'ORTO
Associated Press
ATLANTA - A minister embedded with some of the Marines who are alleged to have killed up to two dozen civilians in Haditha, Iraq, after one of their own died in a roadside explosion says he heard about the dead civilians but saw no distress among Iraqis or Marines in Haditha several weeks after the killings.
"I knew he had been killed and there had been a response. I got the impression insurgents were killed and also some civilians got killed," the Rev. Christopher Price of suburban Atlanta recalled Friday of his conversations with Marines in Haditha in January.
"As it was presented, it seemed a normal part of what happened. It seemed a sort of regrettable but also fairly typical incident. I saw nothing that betrayed any difficulty between the Marines and the people of Haditha."
Price couldn't recall who exactly told him about the killed civilians and said he didn't ask for details.
Price and the Rev. Ben Mathes, a minister from Dawsonville, Ga., and the father of the executive officer of the Marines' Kilo Company Marine in Haditha, spent Jan. 2 to Jan. 23 in Iraq as embedded reporters for Sacramento, Calif.-based K-Love Christian Radio Network. They are both Presbyterian pastors.
"If this thing had been as horrible as it's been made out to be, the people of Haditha would have been up in arms when we were there," said Mathes, who said he first learned of the accusations when they recently became public.
Two U.S. military investigations are under way about Iraqi accusations that Marines went on a rampage after a comrade, Miguel Terrazas, was killed by a bomb on Nov. 19. Initially, the military said the Iraqi deaths were the result of the roadside bomb and a subsequent gunfight with insurgents.
But newer accounts, including details from briefings to members of Congress, have indicated Iraqis died in deliberate gunfire by a small group of Marines seeking revenge, which other soldiers there covered up. Iraq also has ordered its own probe of the killings.
Both ministers sympathized with the Marines who saw their friend "blown to pieces," adding they saw many signs pointing to the affection they had for Terrazas. One example was a shooting range that was renamed "T.J. range" after Terrazas' nickname, earned for his love of partying in Tijuana, Mexico, while stationed at Camp Pendleton in California.
"I understand when something happens, when you see somebody killed that way, I can understand where you get angry," said Price, whose church is in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody. "I hope nothing happened that was out of line."
The ministers said they saw good relations and no bitterness between the Marines, whose morale seemed high, and the friendly Iraqis.
"Nobody disparaged the Iraqis while we were there," Price said. "They were proud stores were beginning to open, the town was coming back to life."
While out on patrol with Marines, the ministers were invited to share tea and bread in many Iraqi homes.
"So many kept saying, 'I want to be part of doing something good in this country,' and when you walk the streets and you see how these folks would greet them and talk to them and the kids would come out and wanna play with them and stuff ... they just become part of the community," Mathes said.
"They weren't in the least bit jaded," Price said of the soldiers. "I like the fact that Americans are that generous."
Ellie