"Her Brains Splattering on His Boots"

Susie Briones holds a picture of her son Lance
Cpl. Roel Ryan Briones, 21, on Monday,May 29, 2006
at her home in Hanford, Calif. Her son was one of two
Marines asked to photograph the corpses of men, women
and children after members of their unit allegedly killed
at least a dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians. The family claims
Briones was severely traumatized after the incident.
(AP Photo/Gary Kazanjian)


An account from Haditha by a Marine photographer who is the first to speak out (and whose gory photographs were confiscated by the Marines):

Briones said he took pictures of at least 15 bodies before his camera batteries died. He said he then helped other Marines remove the bodies and place them in body bags. He said his worst moment, and one that haunts him to this day, was picking up the body of a young girl who was shot in the head.

"I held her out like this," he said, demonstrating with his arms extended, "but her head was bobbing up and down and the insides fell on my legs."

As he spoke, his mother, Susie Briones, 40, a Hanford community college teacher, who was sitting beside him at the kitchen table, silently wiped away tears.

Earlier she confided to a reporter that her son called frequently from Iraq after he experienced nightmares over the little girl.

"He called me many times," she said, "about carrying this little girl in his hands and her brains splattering on his boots. He'd say, 'Mom, I can't clean my boots. I can't clean my boots. I see her.' "

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