Traffic Control

On March 30, a car races through a roadblock in north central Iraq, producing a massive burst of weapons fire from Recon’s Charlie Company. Protracted screeching of tires. Unarmed men run from the car, waving their hands, dropping obediently to the ground at Marines’ instruction.

“Two Marines cautiously approach the car. It is shot up, its doors wide open, lights still on. Sgt. Charles Graves sees a small girl of about three curled up on the back seat. There’s a small amount of blood on the upholstery, but the girl’s eyes are open. Graves reaches in to pick her up—thinking about what medical supplies he might need to treat her, he later says—then the top of her head slides off and her brains drop out. When Graves steps back, he nearly falls over when his boot slips in the girls brains No weapons are found in the car. A translator asks the father, sitting by the side of the road, why he didn’t heed the warning shots and stop it. He simply repeats, ‘I’m sorry,’ and meekly asks permission to pick up his daughter’s body. The last the Marines see of him, he is walking down the road carrying her corpse in his arms.”