Posted on 06/08/2006 2:15:43 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback
As they gleefully stampede to report on the supposed “Iraqi My Lai,” the increasingly dubious mainstream media has trampled the second most important fact of the case into the dust.
That fact? We don’t know squat about what happened there.
We know Marines were in Haditha on November 19 and lost a comrade to an IED attack. We know bodies were videotaped in the town on November 20. That is all we can count on as rock solid evidence.
Sure, we may be under the impression that we “know” things because of all the media blather, but virtually every “fact” in play is speculation or was provided by dubious sources. Even the claims of the Marines themselves can be put aside as unproven for now. It’s almost certain we won’t have any real facts to chew on until the formal investigation is concluded.
We know plenty about the blather, however.
We know that the “human rights activist” who brought the case to Time Magazine’s attention, Taher Thabet, claims to have watched the massacre in progress after an IED explosion shattered his windows. Yet we also know that Thabet didn’t film the scene with his video camera until more than 24 hours later. Imagine if a prosecutor introduced evidence at trial from a crime scene that had been left unsecured for over 24 hours—would he or she get a conviction? Is it somehow impossible that the jihadis used these people as human shields or killed them and planted the bodies during that long gap?
We know that the first massacre reports came from Reuters reporter Ali Omar Abrahem al-Mashhadani. He had been jailed by U.S. forces for five months prior to the Haditha incident, and the reason given for his detainment was that he had photos on his camera that proved he had ties to the terrorist insurgents.
We know that Haditha is one of the few areas left in Iraq where terrorists can exert undiluted influence. Out of 90,000 people in the area, only 150 voted in the constitutional referendum last October. The unapologetically anti-American British newspaper The Guardian did an investigative report on the town last August and described it as an “insurgent citadel” where public executions of suspected Coalition agents are carried out on a regular basis in front of large crowds, filmed, and distributed in the markets on DVD before the end of the day.
We know the other main sources for the Time article were the mayor, a “morgue doctor” and the lawyer representing the families in efforts to gain compensation from the Marine Corps. At best these people have a gun to their heads (or dollar signs in their eyes), but Time trusted them as unbiased sources.
We know there have been no autopsies conducted by credible medical examiners.
We know that, as Marine Jeffrey Barnett put it, “Nineteen-year-old men fresh out of high school are put into impossible situations, and somehow they almost invariably do the right thing. Unfortunately, it’s those rare instances of a broken moral compass that make the news. The life and death games that young men in our fighting forces play all over the world make the responsibilities of corporate CEOs pale in comparison.”
We know the smears have begun. Congressman John Murtha has claimed that the Marines killed “in cold blood,” and that there was no firefight or IED explosion. Murtha has been pulling “facts” from his colonic terminus for months now, but this takes the cake. If there was no bomb, why do “massacre” survivors from Haditha say things began with an IED? How did Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas die from the blast if there was no bomb? How could the Marines both kill “in cold blood” without provocation and be “overreacting,” claims Murtha has made practically in the same breath?
One thing we don’t know is how Murtha sleeps at night.
I noted that “We don’t know squat” was the second most important fact the media has trampled. The most important fact is this: The enemy lives to do what these Marines are casually accused of. They kill the innocent at every opportunity, and they tell themselves that God will reward their slaughter. They want to turn all of Iraq into Haditha, and then turn their eyes to our towns, our houses, our children. They killed 21 students this weekend just for the “crime” of being Shiite, and I predict those 21 deaths will not receive even a hundredth the amount of coverage Haditha will.
In America, any child molester can count on being presumed innocent until proven guilty, but in the halls of Congress and the swamp of the media, these Marines are denied that protection, condemned without evidence because it serves a political agenda.
Can it be we really don’t know better than that?
If anyone wants on or off my column ping list, please notify me here or by freepmail. These columns run every two weeks.
Silverback's column ping!
If anyone wants on or off my column ping list, please notify me here or by freepmail. These columns run every two weeks.
Ergo, it must not be true.
I think you are wrong about the period of time when he was jailed. I believe he was jailed prior to the attack in Haditha for having video of a Suicide Bomber that attacked a Checkpoint in Haditha, and was released just before this incident started to become a Massacre.
Marine Corps Times October 24, 2005 Monday SECTION: FAST TRACK; Pg. 9 LENGTH: 632 words HEADLINE: Around the Corps BODY: Iraq RCT--2 links car bomb to video evidence Members of Regimental Combat Team 2 found a video camera in the possession of three men stopped at a vehicle checkpoint northeast of Haditha, Iraq, on Oct. 12, according to a 2nd Marine Division news release. Minutes later, a similar white, four--door sedan approached the checkpoint. U.S. forces guarding the checkpoint used hand and arm gestures to signal the vehicle to stop, but the car continued to accelerate toward the checkpoint, even after warning shots were fired, according to the release. The vehicle detonated shortly after the first shots were fired, killing the driver.
When the video camera was inspected, it yielded several minutes of footage showing one of the men from the first sedan speaking to the driver of the car that detonated. The Marines said videotaping suicide car bombings is an insurgent propaganda tactic used to spread fear and intimidate Iraqi citizens. Earlier, Iraqi Security Forces discovered an insurgent propaganda center in Haditha. The site raided by Iraqi forces included "numerous prepared al--Qaida in Iraq compact discs and audio tapes, three computers, several printers, banner makers, multi--disk copiers and thousands of [blank] disks and tapes," according to an Oct. 10 Stars and Stripes newspaper report. SBD
You can tell when Murtha;s lying: His lips are moving. I think all his lines about having contacts out in the Corps are 100% BS.
Getting offline now, but will discuss later. Semper Fi.
OK
This is a military incident and will be handled by the miltary. The MSM wants to GET BUSH...and this is just one more way to do it. What happened is WAR..., enough said.
This is a military incident and will be handled by the miltary. The MSM wants to GET BUSH...and this is just one more way to do it. What happened is WAR..., enough said.
We do know that Time's original story had alot of shaky sources.
By the way I thought the rest of your op-ed was right on target, my correction was meant to help you fire for full effect.
Well, Murtha DID say that Bush was going to reinstate the draft if he was reelected. So we HAVE to believe him...oh..wait.
""In America, any child molester can count on being presumed innocent until proven guilty, but in the halls of Congress and the swamp of the media, these Marines are denied that protection, condemned without evidence because it serves a political agenda.
Can it be we really don’t know better than that?""
Yes, Mr. Silverback, most of us do know better than that, but the vermin in the left wing media hate the military and want to hurt the GOP, so they are perfectly willing to
hurt the troops, and cost them more lives to fulfill their evil agenda.
Great post! Bump!
The morgue doctor has also been arrested several times for suspected insurgent activities.
By the way, very good post.
Anything can happen, though I do note many discrepancies and a lot of hype. It is unbelieveable that these men are seemingly being tried in the media and in Congress before the investigation is complete. They deserve more respect and credit than that, nevermind the law. We have lost over 50 men in that God-forsaken tri-cities area around Haditha. Good men, of the 1/23, 3/25 and 3/1 Marines as well as the Army.
This war is increasingly being fought on a political basis. Why else would they get the Commandant of the Marine Corps over there to do a "pep-talk"? He knows the score, and so do our guys. I do know from a bit of personal experience that he's not wild about the politics. Perhaps that's why he's willing to step down early. Damn shame.
Freepers, all I can say is that if it turns out that our Marines are cleared, heads should roll.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.