Haditha Town Massacre Evidence Goes Public

The US government stated that the inquiries it conducted into the alleged massacres of 24 Iraqi civilians by the US marines, which occurred in the town of Haditha last November will be made public.


The announcement, made by White House spokesman Tony Snow, follows previous widespread claims that the deaths of the Iraqi people were covered up by the US government:" We'll have a picture of what happened", he declared.

The Bush administration representative added that the US president is extremely concerned over those allegations, but wants the US military to complete their investigations first, before releasing the information: "[President Bush is] allowing the chain of command to do what it's supposed to do in the department of defense, which is to complete their inquiries. The marines are taking an active and aggressive role in this".

The Pentagon approaches its final stage in its two separate inquiries into an event that was initially attributed to a clash between US forces and several militants. Nevertheless, the event acquired magnitude once claims have been made that people were massacred with the approval of the US army, and was then covered up by the US government.

In an interview with Reuters, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki, declared that Baghdad authorities will also conduct their own inquiries into the matter, and that there is actually a "limit to the acceptable excuses" that would explain civilian casualties.

Initial army reports stated that the November 19th event dealt with the death of 15 civilians and eight insurgents, who lost their lives following the explosion of a bomb in Haditha, a militant strong point in the Anbar province.

On the other hand, Justin Webb, a BBC correspondent in Washington stated that the US media currently posses enough information about the incident that suggests that allegations regarding a potential massacre may be very true. Some observers have declared that the US army may be in for a massive blow, more powerful than the Abu Ghraib prison one, if these pieces of information are proven true.