U.S. father visiting Haditha saw no sign of massacre months after incident

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/international/ticker/detail/U_S_father_visiting_Haditha_saw_no_sign_of_massacre.html?siteSect=143&sid=6797085&cKey=1149858612000

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A Presbyterian minister who was an embedded reporter with his son's U.S. Marine company, which is accused of killing 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha, said soldiers in private moments gave no indication anything horrible happened in the town.

Rather, the young men in Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment talked about earlier intense fighting in Falluja and other wartime ordeals.

"I would think that if it was as bad as everybody is making it out to be, I'd have heard something about it when I was there," said the Rev. Ben Mathes, 53, whose son, 1st Lt. Adam Mathes, is Kilo company's executive officer.

The military is investigating whether some soldiers from Kilo company went on a deadly rampage in November after an explosive device killed one of the most popular members of the unit, Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas.

The father spent 12 days with the unit in January in Haditha as a reporter with the Sacramento, California-based K-Love Christian Radio Network. He also ministered to the troops.

[demswin06]

1. The California based K-Love Christian network...

whose son is the exec officer of the division should tell you and anyone else all you need to know.

[OwnedByFerrets]

2. Well, harumpff, that just means that it never happened

of course. :sarcasm: What it may, however, mean is that there was a tremendous effort to cover the entire incident up.

[neebob]

4. Doesn't everyone tell their dad after a massacre? nt

[Judi Lynn]

3. It's hardly the kind of thing you'd expect them to talk about with

someone's parent! Really.

The man's a little overwhelmed by a sense of self-importance, not realizing this is the kind of thing governments COVER UP, for chrissakes.

Like this is going to attract a lot of new people to his church to hear a collossal idiot preaching.

[Benhurst]

5. Who wouldn't be eager to share knowledge of criminal acts with

a pompous ass who has delusions of being God's representative on earth?