Insights into the killings of Haditha

Have you ever watched Combat Diary: The Marines of Lima Company on A & E television? It is a most compelling documentary of soldiers lives in Iraq. After the death, or deaths of their fellow soldiers the marines of Lima Company wanted to exact retribution for their fallen comrades. If you are able to watch the program, you will be able to listen to them in their own words express such desires. As I watched and (just as importantly) listened to the program it became clear just how easy the killings, or "alleged killings" by US soldiers occured in Haditha.

While I do not condone the killings, I have decided to differ to the all to frequently ignored words spoken by Jack Murtha when he said,

And now I understand the investigation shows that in fact there was no firefight, there was no explosion that killed the civilians in a bus. There was no bus. There was no shrapnel. There was only bullet holes inside the house where the Marines had gone in.

So it's a very serious incident, unfortunately. It shows the tremendous pressure that these guys are under every day when they're out in combat.

He goes on to reinterate that the killings are part of a larger problem that stems from the poor planning and judgements that led to the current conditions in Iraq.

I feel that the tremendous pressure and the redeployment over and over again is a big part of this. These guys are under tremendous strain, more strain than I can conceive of. And this strain has caused them to crack in situations like this.

This is going to be a very bad thing for the United States. But the point is, it's not caused only by the troops, it's caused by the fact there's so few of them, and they go out every day, and 42 percent of them don't understand what the mission is.

I mean, I don't make excuses for them, I'm just understanding what their problem is.

Of course, in the sycophants for Bush universe, it is far better to pronounce the guilt of the accuser and innocence of alleged rapists from a well known university, than to cast a critical eye upon the actions of US soldiers in Iraq.


Haditha, John Murtha, Marines, civilians, sycophants for Bush