Haditha BS crumbles....Ohh Muuurrrtha??

[bj229r]

Let us review: The accusations were made (lets forget that they were made by Iraqi insurgent hangers-on), and the US media (i.e. TIME)bought them hook, line and sinker, then link
May, 2006:

.....But one morning last November, some members of Kilo Company apparently didn't attempt to distinguish between enemies and innocents. Instead, they seem to have gone on the worst rampage by U.S. service members in the Iraq war, killing as many as 24 civilians in cold blood. The details of what happened in Haditha were first disclosed in March by Time's Tim McGirk and Aparisim Ghosh, and their reporting prompted the military to launch an inquiry into the civilian deaths. The darkest suspicions about the killings were confirmed last week, when members of Congress who were briefed on the two ongoing military investigations disclosed that at least some members of a Marine unit may soon be charged in connection with the deaths of the Iraqis—and that the charges may include murder, which carries the death penalty. "This was a small number of Marines who fired directly on civilians and killed them," said Representative John Kline, a Minnesota Republican and former Marine who was briefed two weeks ago by Marine Corps officials. "This is going to be an ugly story......"

So why did some men in Kilo Company apparently snap? Perhaps because of the stress of fighting a violent and unpopular war—or because their commanders failed them. Military psychiatrists who have studied what makes a soldier's moral compass go haywire in battle look first for a weak chain of command. That was a factor in the March 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam, when U.S. soldiers, including members of an Army platoon led by Lieut. William Calley, killed some 500 Vietnamese. Says a retired Army Green Beret colonel who fought in Vietnam: "Somebody has failed to say, 'No, that's not right.'" No one, apparently, was delivering that message last November in Haditha.

......salamanders

Today:
link

       Murder charges against a US Marine accused of killing three Iraqi civilians during an alleged massacre in Haditha two years ago have been dropped, the military said on Thursday.

A statement released by the Marines at their Camp Pendleton base in southern California revealed that three charges of unpremeditated murder against Lance Corporal Justin Sharratt had been withdrawn.

The decision was announced in a written ruling from the commander Lieutenant General James Mattis and followed a recommendation from an investigator last month that the charges should be dropped.

"An independent Article 32 investigating officer has considered all the facts and determined that the evidence does not support a referral to court-martial for Lance Corporal Sharratt," Mattis wrote.

"Based on my review of all the evidence in this case and considering the recommendation of the Article 32 officer, I have dismissed the charges."

Sharratt was accused of shooting three Iraqi men execution-style in what prosecutors alleged was part of a rampage that left 24 civilians dead following the death of a Marine in a roadside bomb in November 2005.

Sharratt said the men were shot at close quarters as Marines cleared a house where insurgents were believed to be operating.

In a statement recommending the charges be dropped released last month, investigator Lieutenant Colonel Paul Ware said the prosecution charges were "unsupported by the independent evidence."

"To believe the government version of facts is to disregard clear and convincing evidence to the contrary," Ware added.

The Haditha killings are the most serious allegations of war crimes against US soldiers in Iraq.

Eight Marines were initially charged in connection with the case -- four with murder and four officers with failing to properly investigate the incident.

Sharratt is the second Marine to have murder charges dropped after allegations against Sergeant Sanick DeLa Cruz were withdrawn in April.

Found a more informative link

[Finrod]

I don't think you'll ever seen any apology from the MSM or people like Murtha. The war has always been about politics to these people and one never apologizes in politics.









PS: Unless you've  been caught in a sting operation LOL.

[GtoRA2]

Murtha is vile scum and the poster boy for everything wrong with politicians.

I am glad these Marines got off. They should be able to sue that scumbag for slander.

[tedrbr]

Originally posted by GtoRA2
Murtha is vile scum and the poster boy for everything wrong with politicians.

I am glad these Marines got off. They should be able to sue that scumbag for slander.

A bit strong.  Can't say his the poster boy, since there are many far worse than he is in Disneyland on the Potomac. And at least Murtha has served (37-year career in the U.S. Marine Corps), which many inside the Beltway have not, and certainly for not as long as Jack did.
I lived in Rep Murtha's district for much of my life before moving west.  He always managed to take care of his constituent's interests back home, and held a lot of power in D.C. from several committees.  I don't agree with a lot of his stances, but then I dislike Congress in general and the waste, hypocrisy, corruption and graft that define the system, so I judge him in the context of the whole.

He really didn't start his crusade, that I recall, until about the time my Reserve unit returned from Iraq, which was HQ'd in his area.  Suddenly there was lot's about lack of radio equipment, poor training, misspent funds, faulty equipment, ammunition shortages..... pretty much a long string of complaints that sounded mighty familiar to those of us in that unit that just returned from OIF-2.  Angry complaints, whether he was mad himself, or playing to the emotions of the hundreds of constituent vets freshly returned from Iraq and their families and the anger they felt (we did our job, we did it well, but yep, we sure was mad about a lot of things at the time....).

Since then though, he seems to have gone overboard, or is being directed by the Party to take this role, or has another agenda.  Not really sure as I've quit following it that closely.  Why he took his stance on the Haditha case caught a lot of people by surprise and really hurt him in his home district.  

But, the simple fact is, there are many in the Democratic Party who see a loss in Iraq as a political win for them at home.  2008 elections are coming and the stakes are high.  
A cartoon from the Akron Beacon Journal reprinted in Army Times this past week sez it best.  Has an aide coming before General Petraeus saying " Congress wants you to find a way for the troops to win and Bush to lose, sir."

The fact that having more troops on the ground in Iraq and out in the streets in force instead of on the FOBs is starting to have a positive effect is just very politically inconvenient (also inconvenient to the media as well).


I'd put more fault on the media.  They've been looking for Vietnam-style horror stories about atrocities committed by Americans since public opinion started to switch.  It's a war, and things like that do happen in the long run, for a variety of reasons.   That politicians in this climate jump on the band wagon with a media-political-public polls negatively reinforcing feedback loop resulting does not surprise me.

[lazs2]

I can not say enough bad things about time magazine and newsweek magazine.

to read them is simply to be indoctrinated by a bunch of lefty so called journalists who care nothing at all about the truth.

lazs