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Videotape Forces Pentagon to Investigate Claims U.S. Marines
Shot Dead 15 Iraqi Civilians in Apparent Revenge Killings
Fmr. GOP Strategist Kevin Phillips on American Theocracy:
The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed
Money in the 21st Century
Videotape Forces Pentagon to Investigate Claims U.S.
Marines Shot Dead 15 Iraqi Civilians in Apparent Revenge Killings
The U.S. military is conducting a criminal investigation
into allegations that marines shot and killed 15 civilians,
including seven women and three children, in the Iraqi town
of Haditha last November in an apparent act of revenge for
the death of a U.S. soldier by a roadside bomb. A videotape
obtained by Time Magazine shows that many of the victims were
still in their nightclothes when they died. We speak with
the Time reporter who broke the story. [includes rush
transcript]
The U.S. military is conducting a criminal investigation
into allegations that marines shot and killed 15 civilians,
including seven women and three children, four months ago
in Iraq.
The killings occurred early on the morning of November 19th,
after a roadside bomb struck a Humvee carrying US troops in
the western Iraqi town of Haditha. The bomb killed one marine
and injured two others.
The next day, the Marines said in a statement that 15 Iraqi
civilians died in the initial blast. They said that after
the explosion, gunmen attacked the US convoy with small arms
fire, prompting the Marines to return fire, killing eight
insurgents.
But relatives, survivors and doctors who saw the bodies say
that is not true. They say the 15 men, women and children
were killed when marines burst into their houses after the
blast and shot them dead in their nightclothes.
Human rights activists say that if the accusations prove
to be true, the incident would rank as the worst case of deliberate
killing of Iraqi civilians by US service members since the
war began.
Soon after the incident, the mayor of Haditha led an angry
delegation up to a nearby Marine camp to seek redress. Their
protests were ignored and the US military stood by its original
contention, that the civilians were killed by a roadside bomb.
The story would have ended there had it not been taken up
by Time magazine.
Time obtained a videotape shot in Haditha by an Iraqi journalism
student one day after the incident. The tape shows that many
of the victims, especially the women and children, were still
in their nightclothes when they died. The scenes from inside
the houses show that the walls and ceilings are pockmarked
with shrapnel, bullet holes and blood.
In January, Time presented a copy of the video along with
witness testimony to US military command in Baghdad. A preliminary
military investigation was launched. It established that the
men, women and children were indeed killed by the marines,
though it described the deaths as "collateral damage."
Now the case has been referred for criminal investigation
by the Navy to establish whether the 12 marines involved were
guilty of misconduct.
We are joined by one the reporters for Time magazine who
broke the story. Aparisim Ghosh is the chief international
correspondent for Time magazine. He has spent the last three
and half years in Iraq. He joins us in our firehouse studio.
We called the Pentagon and invited them on the program. Pentagon
spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Barry Venable declined to
join us saying it would be "inappropriate" to comment
while an investigation is underway.
Fmr. GOP Strategist Kevin Phillips on American Theocracy:
The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed
Money in the 21st Century
Former Republican strategist Kevin Phillips joins us to
discuss his new book, "American Theocracy: The Peril
and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money
in the 21st Century." Throughout the 1970s and 1980s
Phillips was viewed as one of the GOP's top theoreticians
and electoral analysts. [includes rush
transcript]
As we continue to mark the start of the fourth year of the
war in Iraq, we turn now to Kevin Phillips, the former top
Republican strategist.
A generation ago Phillips wrote "The Emerging Republican
Majority" which Newsweek described as the "political
bible of the Nixon administration." Throughout the 1970s
and 1980s Phillips was viewed as one of the GOP's top theoreticians
and electoral analysts.
But no more.
Phillips is now warning that the party - and the country
as a whole - is headed for potential disaster. Phillips sums
up his concerns in the title of his new book: "American
Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil,
and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century."
A review in Sunday's New York Times said the book may be
"the most alarming analysis of where we are and where
we may be going to have appeared in many years."
The book examines issues ranging from peak oil to the rapture
to the future of the American empire. In a minute we will
be joined by Kevin Phillips here in our Firehouse Studio but
first I want to turn to President Bush. On Monday he spoke
about the war in Iraq Renaissance Cleveland Hotel in Ohio.
After his address he took questions from the crowd. The first
question addressed Phillips" book American Theocracy:
Cleveland, Ohio - March 20, 2006:
Q: Thank you for coming to Cleveland, Mr. President, and
to the City Club. My question is that author and former
Nixon administration official Kevin Phillips, in his latest
book, American Theocracy, discusses what has been called
radical Christianity and its growing involvement into government
and politics. He makes the point that members of your administration
have reached out to prophetic Christians who see the war
in Iraq and the rise of terrorism as signs of the apocalypse.
Do you believe this, that the war in Iraq and the rise of
terrorism are signs of the apocalypse? And if not, why not?
THE PRESIDENT: The answer is -- I haven't really thought
of it that way. (Laughter.) Here's how I think of it. The
first I've heard of that, by the way. I guess I'm more of
a practical fellow. I vowed after September the 11th, that
I would do everything I could to protect the American people.
And my attitude, of course, was affected by the attacks.
I knew we were at war. I knew that the enemy, obviously,
had to be sophisticated and lethal to fly hijacked airplanes
into facilities that would be killing thousands of people,
innocent people, doing nothing, just sitting there going
to work.
We are joined now by Kevin Phillips, longtime Republican
strategist and author of several books. His newest work, "American
Theocracy," comes out today.
- Kevin Phillips, author, "American Theocracy: The
Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed
Money in the 21st Century
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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