Category: US Politics
Posted: 05/27/06 12:12
by Dave Mindeman
On November 20, 2005, a Marine spokeman gave this incidental report of military activity the day before:
"A US Marine and 15 civilians were killed yesterday from the blast of a roadside bomb in Haditha. Immediately following the bombing, gunmen attacked the convoy with small arms fire. Iraqi Army soldiers and Marines returned fire killing eight insurgents and wounding another."
Just another day in Iraq...except this report was a lie.
What really happened is that a group of Marines were hit with an IED and Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas was killed. The frustration and futility and anger of fighting a shadow enemy sent Miguel's Marine comrades over the edge and they retaliated against anyone that happened to be near.
Iraqi civilian bodies were soon lying everywhere... men, women, and children. Families pleaded for their lives to killing machines with deaf ears. It was over in just a few minutes... but the cover up was just beginning.
The officers on the ground made up the story... the Marine Corps official report publicized it and no one outside of that neighborhood would have known, except some of the survivors talked and an Iraqi journalism student videotaped the aftermath. Time magazine confronted the military with their eyewitness accounts earlier this year and the investigation was forced to begin.
Now you can condemn these kids (because for the most part, that is what they are) for a brutal act. Congressman Kline did that....
or you can view it like Congressman Murtha did:
"Our troops overreacted because of pressure on them..."
The US, as a moral authority, will suffer yet another hit as the facts continue to come out. We can punish the Marines involved; and they should be because they certainly did a horrible thing; but war by definition is a horrible thing. We have put the finest military force in the world into a situation that is vulgar, brutal, and dishonest.
This administration can repudiate this act, but they are still complicit. They can "stay the course" and keep our young men and women exposed to this inhuman pressure.... or pull them back and let Iraq fix itself.
George Bush is responsible for all of this....he should stand trial with those soldiers. He put them there... he created the conditions.. he condones the coverups.
This Memorial Day, remember that our troops are doing the best they can, in brutal conditions. The overwhelming majority of them have served well and honorably. But we must remember Haditha as well.... because that is part of this war, too.
