Haditha Revisited I have written here http://kevinforcongress.blogspot.com/2007/07/lust-of-eyes.html and here http://kevinforcongress.blogspot.com/2006/06/democracy-assassinated-family.html about this massacre. I admit that I'm not a very good mainstream political candidate. Nothing I write is "vetted" by a marketing/campaign expert who can soften my emotional outbursts and paranoid conspiracy theories. In fact, that last sentence would never ever see the light of day if I had a paid staff. But then, probably very little written by America's Founding Fathers, and even most of the Declaration of Independence, would never be uttered by any mainstream political candidate. I pretty much accepted at face value the accusations that were levelled at members of the Marine's Kilo Company who were involved in the killing of a couple of dozen innocent and unarmed men, women, and children. The testimony of their neighbors has been rejected as "biased" or "prejudiced" -- which means these Iraqis don't like their country being occupied by foreign soldiers who have reduced their neighborhoods to bullet-ridden bombed-out rubble. Congressman Jack Murtha (D-PA) has taken his share of heat for originally denouncing the Marines and buying into reports of a vengeance-crazed murder spree by Marines. http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/zieve/070813 Back in September, Marine officers disciplined over Haditha killings - CNN.com most of the original charges against the Marines were reduced or dismissed. The formerly-accused are now being welcomed by FoxNews talkers and infotainers. Thomas More Law Center - The Haditha "Myth" - Transcript of Hannity Thomas More Law Center - Haditha Articles - October 20, 2007 The Wall St. Journal What Happened at Haditha -- The massacre that wasn't, and its political exploitation. and Newsweek Haditha Case Unravelling? | Newsweek National News | Newsweek.com are rallying behind the troops and playing "taps" for the case against them. The WSJ article ended with this defense of the government and challenge to anti-war dissenters:
overall the highly disciplined U.S. military has conducted itself in an exemplary fashion. When there have been aberrations, the services have typically held themselves accountable. The same cannot be said of the political and media classes. Many, including Members of Congress, were looking for another moral bonfire to discredit the cause in Iraq, and they found a pretext in Haditha. The critics rushed to judgment; facts and evidence were discarded to fit the antiwar template. Most despicably, they created and stoked a political atmosphere that exposes American soldiers in the line of duty, risking and often losing their lives, to criminal liability for the chaos of war. This is the deepest shame of Haditha, and the one for which apologies ought to be made.So I have to ask myself if I too prematurely bought into the Haditha scandal, and should offer public apologies. There is no denying that 24 unarmed men women and children were gunned down. The general mentality of the military is that these were "killings," not "murders," and that no further investigation was warranted. Marine says he called for Haditha killings probe - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com Thomas More Law Center - Al Qaeda in Haditha The point is well-taken New Hollywood films attack foot soldiers that not all soldiers are sociopaths, rapists and murderers, even if some are. But the point is missed, that every killing of innocent unarmed men, women and children would be categorized as "criminal negligence" at best if either the reader or the writer of this blog were to engage in the same conduct without the sanction of "the State." The Marines involved in the "Haditha Massacre" are not only held to different criminal standards than the rest of us, but they are held to a dramatically different moral standard. In fact, the entire war is judged by a very different moral standard than we should use to judge these same people if they were not wearing a government-issued uniform. The claim OpinionJournal - Wonder Land that 99% of the troops are good people also misses the point that most troops never see their buddies killed, and don't fact the chance to react in anger, fear, and vengeance.
Of the 20,000 troops at Balad [Air Base, the huge U.S. Base that resembles a small insulated city], only several hundred have jobs that take them off base. Most Americans posted here never interact with an Iraqi, and some never see one, said Army Lt. Col. Larry Dotson, who is effectively the city manager. The closest some troops here come to experiencing the Iraq seen on the evening news is the miniature golf course, which mimics a battlefield with its baby sandbags, little Jersey barriers, strands of concertina wire and, down at the end of the course, what appears to be a tiny detainee cageOther troops are engaged in re-building schools and hospitals destroyed by U.S. "smart bombs." These are the troops seen in photo-ops with children. But the troops that actually engage in combat may be a different breed. And they operate under a different set of rules than the rest of us. Bush's Free-Fire Zones | BaltimoreChronicle.com These tactics cannot be approved if we are "appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions."
The following list of illegal, immoral, and atrocious behavior is obvious and not all-inclusive by any means: