How the Marines Respond to Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan

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12:39 PM, Feb 17, 2010 • By JOHN MCCORMACK

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MARJA, Afghanistan — Twelve bodies — five children, five women and two men — were wrapped head to toe in woolen blankets, lying in a neat row on the floor of the only room remaining in a house that had been blasted to mud-brick rubble by at least one and possibly two 675-pound rockets.

A United States Marine Corps battalion commander, Lt. Col. Brian Christmas, stood in that room on Tuesday with a relative of the victims, a local elder named Hajji Mohammad Karim, and said what he could.

“I bring my deepest condolences and will provide all of my support,” the colonel told him. There was no recrimination, only sorrow.

Read the rest, and check out the Washington Post's latest on the battle for Marja.