The Marine's
Tale: 'We Killed
30 Civilians In Six Weeks'
By Natasha Saulnier
24 May, 2004
The Independent
During
12 years in the US Marines, including three years putting new recruits
through boot camp, Staff Sergeant Jimmy Massey hardly questioned his
role. But what he saw in Iraq changed that.
"In a month
and a half my platoon and I killed more than 30 civilians," Mr
Massey said. He saw bodies being desecrated and robbed, and wounded
civilians being dumped by the roadside without medical treatment. After
he told his commanding officer that he felt "we were committing
genocide", he was called a "wimp".
Mr Massey, who was
diagnosed with post-traumatic stress and depression, left the Marines
in November. Back home in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, he
says the cause of the uprising in Iraq is that "we killed a lot
of innocent people".
His 7th Marine Weapons
Company, armed with machine guns and missiles, was one of the first
into the country in March last year. "We would take over villages
and control checkpoints," he said. "My men and I would fire
warning shots at oncoming vehicles. But, if they didn't stop, we didn't
have any qualms about loading them up."
The Marines were
told that Iraqis were filling ambulances with explosives, and that soldiers
were dressed as civilians, but after pouring fire into vehicles and
hearing no explosions, they started to doubt the truth of these claims.
"Iraqi military
compounds had nothing in them, except for dismantled tanks, equipment
that was barely functioning, and barracks that looked like ghost towns,"
Mr Massey said.
The incident that
haunts him most took place early in April, near an Iraqi military compound
five miles from Baghdad's airport. "There were approximately 10
demonstrators near a tank," he said. "We heard a shot in the
distance and we started shooting at them. They all died except for one.
We left the bodies there.
"We noticed
that there were some RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] about 200 metres
away from them - they might have come from the military compound. The
demonstrators had the ability to fire at us or at the tank, but they
didn't. The survivor was hiding behind a column about 150 metres away
from us. I pointed at him and waved my weapon to tell him to get away.
Half of his foot had been cut off. He went away dragging his foot. We
were all laughing and cheering.
"Then an 18-wheeler
[truck] came speeding around. We shot at it. One of the guys jumped
out. He was on fire. The driver was dead. Then a Toyota Corolla came.
We killed the driver, the other guy came out with his hands up. We shot
him too.
"A gunny from
Lima Company came running and said to us: 'Hey, you just shot that guy,
but he had his hands up.' My unit, my commander and me were relieved
of our command for the rest of the day. Not more than five minutes later,
the Lima Company took up our position and shot a car with one woman
and two children. They all died."
The next day the
platoon guarded a checkpoint at Baghdad Stadium. "A red Kia Spectra
sped toward us at about 45mph. We fired a warning volley above it but
the car kept coming. Then we aimed at the car and fired with full force.
The Kia came to a stop right in front of me, three of the four men shot
dead, the fourth wounded and covered in blood. We called the medics,
but he died before they arrived. That day we killed three more civilians
in the same circumstances. I talked to my captain afterwards and told
him: 'It's a bad day.' He said: 'No, it's a good day.'"
Mr Massey watched
as badly injured Iraqis were repeatedly "tossed on the side of
the road without calling medics". His reaction to the event that
triggered the recent siege of Fallujah - the sight of the blackened,
mutilated bodies of four American private security men - was that "we
did the same thing to them".
Iraqis, he said,
"would see us debase their dead all the time. We would be messing
around with charred bodies, kicking them out of the vehicles and sticking
cigarettes in their mouths. I also saw vehicles drive over them. It
was our job to look into the pockets of dead Iraqis to gather intelligence.
However, time and time again, I saw Marines steal gold chains, watches
and wallets full of money."
Several members
of his platoon expressed concern that so many civilians were being killed,
but Mr Massey says he told them: "We've got a job to do."
Finally, however, he voiced his own doubts to his commanding officer.
"I told him I felt like we were committing genocide in Iraq, that
we were doing harm to a culture. He said nothing and walked away. I
knew my career was over." Later, he says, his superior poured abuse
on him, saying, "You're a poor leader. You're faking it. You're
a conscientious objector, you're a wimp."
After being sent
back to the US, Mr Massey was offered a desk job. "I had seven
years until retirement from the Marine Corps, but I told them I didn't
want their money any more," he said. The Marines' slogan - "No
better friend, no worse enemy" - now embitters the former sergeant,
who says remorse keeps him awake at night.
"One day we
would go into a city and set up roadblocks where civilian casualties
would take place, and then the next morning we would undertake a humanitarian
mission," he said. "How do we expect people who've seen their
brothers and mothers killed to turn around and welcome us with open
arms?"
© 2004 Independent
Digital (UK) Ltd