18/11/2025
On November 19, 2005 (during the invasion of Iraq) Safa Younes was at home with her parents, Aunt, and five siblings when US marines knocked at the door. They shot her father when he opened the door and then shot everyone else, including the children. Safa survived by playing dead next to the corpses of her little brother and sister.
The picture below is from her testifying at the trial of four marines charged with the killings.
All four were eventually acquitted.
Now, a BBC investigation has uncovered video testimony by one of the marines, Lance Corporal Humberto Mendoza, in which he admits to entering the house and shooting Safa’s father. The forensic expert BBC hired states that this testimony, along with crime scene photos and Safa’s testimony leads to the conclusion that the marines entered the house, shot Safa’s father, and then proceeded to the room where the women and children were hiding and shot them as well.
Imagine this child witnessing that horror, bearing testimony to it, but never receiving justice.
This massacre was part of a series of killings known as the “Haditha massacre” in which US marines killed 24 people and lied repeatedly to cover up the murders.
Only one soldier was convicted, only to be later acquitted in a plea deal.
Never forget and never forgive.