Letter: Not the first

Editor, Daily News:

The massacre of 24 Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines in Haditha, Iraq, has been featured prominently in recent headlines.

The Pentagon tries to explain away this incident as an anomaly. In reality, it was anything but. On Oct. 17, 2005, a U.S. jet bombed a crowd of civilians near Ramadi. Eighteen children and seven adults were killed.

On Nov. 19, the Haditha massacre took place. U.S. Marines fired on a taxi and stormed three houses in Haditha, massacring 24 unarmed men, women, and children. They shot some victims in the head while they knelt and pleaded for mercy. They threw a grenade onto the lap of a blind grandfather who was confined to a wheelchair. They burned his son to death. They were laughing all the while.

On March 15, 2006, U.S. soldiers raided a house in Ishaki. They tied up and executed a family of at least 11 men, women, and children, including a 6-month-old infant. Then they called in an air strike to destroy the house and the evidence.

On April 26 in Hamdaniya, Marines dragged a middle-aged, disabled Iraqi man from his house and shot him dead. Then they planted a shovel and an assault rifle on the body, pretending that this innocent civilian was an insurgent killed while placing a roadside bomb.

On May 31 near Samarra, a pregnant Iraqi woman and her cousin were killed when a U.S. sniper fired two bullets through their car's windshield.

These murders are war crimes and must be punished as such.

Michael Rodriguez , Naples