Local War News:... holding children by the shoulders, using them as shields

Nope, it wasn't the marines that were holding the children, it was the "dozen gunmen", as this reporter calls them, who had just blew up five men from Alpha company:

A cluster of buried artillery shells had flung out smoldering pieces of the Humvee. There was little left.

There had been five men in the truck. Four were dead. The body of Padilla-Aleman lay near the center of the road. McIntosh and Procopio were in the wreckage. Kim was 60 feet away.

The fifth man, Lance Cpl. Rex McKnight, 19, of Panama City, Fla., lay on the ground, convulsing in shock and blood.

Marines dragged him away from the fire and wrapped a tourniquet around his arm.

Up the road, insurgents opened fire.

The priority was to get McKnight to “Charlie Med,” the nearby medical facility.

“Don’t you die, don’t you die,” Wilson recalled telling McKnight. “If you let me get you to Charlie Med, you’ll live, I promise you.” McKnight survived.

Del Gaudio stayed behind with three other Marines, to guard the dead.

From down the road came more machine-gun fire.

Squinting through his M-4’s scope, Del Gaudio saw a dozen gunmen through the smoke. One was using a video camera. Others, he said, were holding children by the shoulders, using them as shields until the children had a chance to flee.

Seconds later, Marine Humvees pulled up, followed by Army wreckers and tanks.

As the two sides traded sporadic fire, Marines put the dead into body bags. Their flesh was so hot it burned Del Gaudio’s fingers.

Just remember that when you keep hearing "Marines Massacre Innocent Civilians".

Kansas City Star | 06/05/2006 | �A real bad day� on patrol in Iraq: