thedrifter
06-27-06, 02:59 PM
July 03, 2006
Hadithah Marines barred from ‘core values’ talk
Officials didn’t want them to be ‘uncomfortable’
By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — When the commandant arrived at Camp Pendleton on June 13 for a talk with his Marines, thousands of leathernecks with I Marine Expeditionary Force gathered at outdoor venues to hear their top leader discuss core values.
But some members with an infantry company of 1st Marine Division didn’t get a chance to hear Gen. Mike Hagee.
Members of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, were told that they would not be allowed to attend the commandant’s talks to Marines at Camp Pendleton, a source told Marine Corps Times.
A spokesman for 1st Marine Division, 2nd Lt. Lawton King, confirmed the account.
But King said June 21 that the Marines under scrutiny in two investigations for the Nov. 19 shooting of Iraqi civilians in Hadithah were not allowed because officials did not want to put them in an “uncomfortable” position because of the subject of the commandant’s talk.
King did not know who issued the order. He noted, however, that “most” of the battalion did attend the commandant’s talk.
None of Hagee’s recent “core values” talks to the Marines has been open to nonmilitary journalists, and no transcript of his comments and follow-on questions from Marines has been publicly released.
“Honor is more than just telling the truth,” Hagee told Marines and sailors at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, according to an official Marine Corps news story on his May 30 visit.
“It’s also believing in and upholding the three basic values our country was founded on — respect for human life and dignity, respect for telling the truth and respect for other people’s property,” he said.
Hagee’s tour of talks
The commandant traveled to bases in Iraq on Memorial Day weekend during a scheduled visit and went to Camp Lejeune, N.C., on June 2 in an effort to reinforce to leathernecks the importance of adhering to the Marine Corps’ values, integrity and high standards.
His visit to Camp Pendleton was another stop to talk to Marines and expand on the issues, which in May he penned in a statement titled, “On Marine Virtue.”
At a June 7 press conference with reporters at the Pentagon, Hagee said he was “gravely concerned” with the allegations that Marines with 3/1 had deliberately killed 24 civilians, including children and women, in Hadithah after a roadside bomb exploded, killing a member of their squad.
Two investigations have been launched — one conducted by the Army into allegations that Marine leaders covered up the incident after it occurred, and another by agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service examining possible criminal charges for the Marines involved.
Hagee noted that the investigations into the incident are not yet completed.
Ellie
Hadithah Marines barred from ‘core values’ talk
Officials didn’t want them to be ‘uncomfortable’
By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — When the commandant arrived at Camp Pendleton on June 13 for a talk with his Marines, thousands of leathernecks with I Marine Expeditionary Force gathered at outdoor venues to hear their top leader discuss core values.
But some members with an infantry company of 1st Marine Division didn’t get a chance to hear Gen. Mike Hagee.
Members of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, were told that they would not be allowed to attend the commandant’s talks to Marines at Camp Pendleton, a source told Marine Corps Times.
A spokesman for 1st Marine Division, 2nd Lt. Lawton King, confirmed the account.
But King said June 21 that the Marines under scrutiny in two investigations for the Nov. 19 shooting of Iraqi civilians in Hadithah were not allowed because officials did not want to put them in an “uncomfortable” position because of the subject of the commandant’s talk.
King did not know who issued the order. He noted, however, that “most” of the battalion did attend the commandant’s talk.
None of Hagee’s recent “core values” talks to the Marines has been open to nonmilitary journalists, and no transcript of his comments and follow-on questions from Marines has been publicly released.
“Honor is more than just telling the truth,” Hagee told Marines and sailors at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, according to an official Marine Corps news story on his May 30 visit.
“It’s also believing in and upholding the three basic values our country was founded on — respect for human life and dignity, respect for telling the truth and respect for other people’s property,” he said.
Hagee’s tour of talks
The commandant traveled to bases in Iraq on Memorial Day weekend during a scheduled visit and went to Camp Lejeune, N.C., on June 2 in an effort to reinforce to leathernecks the importance of adhering to the Marine Corps’ values, integrity and high standards.
His visit to Camp Pendleton was another stop to talk to Marines and expand on the issues, which in May he penned in a statement titled, “On Marine Virtue.”
At a June 7 press conference with reporters at the Pentagon, Hagee said he was “gravely concerned” with the allegations that Marines with 3/1 had deliberately killed 24 civilians, including children and women, in Hadithah after a roadside bomb exploded, killing a member of their squad.
Two investigations have been launched — one conducted by the Army into allegations that Marine leaders covered up the incident after it occurred, and another by agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service examining possible criminal charges for the Marines involved.
Hagee noted that the investigations into the incident are not yet completed.
Ellie