Haditha

I wrote about the Haditha incident in March. And my stance stays the same.

Here are the questions to ask yourself.
1) They didn't go into any random houses,they went to a house that the neighbors and others all said had, not an alleged, but, a real Al Quaeda member in it.
2)In one of the most recent articles, culled from Michael Moore's website (don't want to be accused of using far right propaganda) there is this:"a blackened corpse was missing legs and forearms." Hmmmm....Bullets blackened and removed limbs, that's a new one.
3) There is no video evidence of the incident itself. It's the Marines words against a town of people that are known to harbor insurgents, who happily kill indiscriminately.(Funny how when they kill numerous children, they are still embraced as "freedom fighters" by the left. While Marines acting in the line of duty are tried and hung by the left on a daily basis.)
4)Look at the wording used in a Time Inc. piece,"lost one of their own to a deadly insurgent attack and believed they were under fire." Why did they believe they were under fire? Because they were?
5)7:15 a.m. on Nov. 19, a U.S. humvee was struck by a powerful IED attached to a large propane canister, triggered by remote control. The only town that had inhabitants close enough to trigger the remote were in Haditha.This is not debated by anyone.
6) 8 of the men killed were enemy combatants. One was a member of Al Quaeda.

So, these few questions one must ask themselves. Here you have a situation, where a roadside bomb killed one and injured two other Marines. Marines regularly stationed near Haditha have had major issues with bombs and small arms fire around that area. One of the houses allegedly "hit" had a member of Al Quaeda in it. Iraqi forces there did nothing to stop it, or protect the inhabitants.

You must also ask yourselves this question: If you were fighting in a war with an enemy that wears no uniform, who regularly uses children as both bait and as fodder, to carry out deadly assaults,and one of your good friends had just been killed, you were under fire, and you reached the destination from whence the fire came, would you pause? Would you ask to see I.D. or would you shoot? Ask questions later?

I am in no way excusing, or saying that it is O.K. to kill civilians intentionally, but one must factor in all the aspects of the situation. So, I ask that those who so readily jump on the blame the Marines and America band wagon, at least wait, ask themselves some serious questions, and wait. At least until a REAL verdict is brought down in this case. This isn't a conventional war.