The Marines Vs. Haditha Smear Merchants

Townhall.com ^ | June 18, 2008 | MichelleMalkin

[Kaslin]

Yet another U.S. Marine, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, had charges dropped Tuesday in the so-called Haditha massacre -- bringing the total number of Marines who've been cleared or won case dismissals in the Iraq war incident to seven. "Undue command influence" on the prosecution led to the outcome in Chessani's case. Bottom line: That's zero for seven for military prosecutors, with one trial left to go.

I repeat: Haditha prosecution goes 0-7. But you won't see that headline in the same Armageddon-sized font The New York Times used repeatedly when the story first broke.

The Times, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa, and the rest of the anti-war drum-pounders who fueled the smear campaign against the troops two years ago should hang their hands in shame. They won't, of course. Perpetuating the "cold-blooded Marines" narrative means never having to say you're sorry.

It means never having to look Lt. Col. Chessani (charges dismissed), Lt. Andrew Grayson (acquitted), Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum (charges dismissed), Capt. Lucas McConnell (charges dismissed), Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt (charges dismissed), Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz (charges dismissed), Sgt. Frank Wuterich (awaiting trial) and their families in the eyes and apologize for the preemptive character assassination they all faced at the hands of the hyperventilating, noose-hanging press.

Murtha and company applied Queen of Hearts ("Off with their heads!") treatment to our own men and women in uniform while giving more benefit of the doubt to foreign terror suspects at Gitmo. It is worth recalling, because the press won't do it for you, what they concluded about the now-crumbling Haditha case in the summer of 2006 before a single formal charge had been filed.

-- MSNBC hangman Keith Olbermann, who couldn't wait to define the entire war in Iraq by a single moment about which he knew nothing, inveighed that the incident was "willful targeted brutality." Due process? For convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, of course. For our military? Never mind.

-- Far-left The Nation magazine railed, "Enough details have emerged … to conclude that … members of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment perpetrated a massacre." The publication also judged the event "a willful, targeted brutality designed to send a message to Iraqis." Not content with hanging the troops, the Nation pinned blame on the president and a so-called "culture of impunity" that supposedly permeates the most accountable military in the world.

-- Singing the same tune as The Nation, The New York Times spilled a flood of front-page ink on the case and took things a step further in a lead editorial blaming not just President Bush, but also top Pentagon brass for the "nightmare" killings in Haditha. Times reporter Paul von Zielbauer filed over 30 stories on the case, which the paper wishfully called the "defining atrocity" of the Iraq war.

-- Hoping to facilitate a self-fulfilling prophecy, media tools around the world likened Haditha to the Vietnam War's most infamous atrocity -- from The Guardian ("My Lai on the Euphrates?") to the Daily Telegraph ("Massacre in Iraq just like My Lai") to the Los Angeles Times ("What happened at the Iraqi My Lai?") to The New York Times' Maureen Dowd ("My Lai acid flashback") and the Associated Press, which reached into its photo archives to run a 1970 file photo of My Lai to illustrate a Haditha article.

-- And, of course, there's the permanent stain left by the slanderous propaganda of Rep. Murtha -- the stab in the Marines' backs heard 'round the world: "Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood."

Relatives of the Haditha Marines have called for Congress to censure Murtha, who cuts and runs to the nearest elevator when questioned about the Haditha dismissals. He and the Haditha smear merchants have skated while the men and their families suffered global whippings on the airwaves and eternal demonization in print. Whose "culture of impunity"?

[FlingWingFlyer]

It’s time to bring charges against Fat Jack Murtha.

[TigersEye]

The Times, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa, and the rest of the anti-war drum-pounders who fueled the smear campaign against the troops two years ago should hang their hands in shame. by their necks.

The level of anti-Americanism, the over the top seditious language heard even from Congressmen and Senators is directly due to the fact that we stopped hanging traitors.

[Yardstick]

...Murtha, who cuts and runs to the nearest elevator when questioned about the Haditha dismissals.

LOL -- good one.

The great patriot Murtha owes the Marines an apology.

[TomGuy]

The Gov has spent $34 million trying to prosecute these 8.

Some or all of them may be able to bring civil charges against those like Murtha. Libel/slander and defamation are possibilities.

[doc1019]

Yes, were is the mouth Murtha?

[piytar]

Lets start w treason and giving aid and comfort to the enemy. There has to be SOME federal prosecutor with the guts to do this!

[cookcounty]

"Some or all of them may be able to bring civil charges against those like Murtha. Libel/slander and defamation are possibilities."

I hope you're right, but members of Congress have lots of legal protections that you and I do not have.

[PGR88]

Chessani, Graysen, etc... have had their Army careers ruined regardless of their status now, and presumably will be out of the Army before long. If I were them, I would make it my mission over the next months to talk to every voter in Murtha’s home district about what Murtha did.

[usmcobra]

They were never in The Army...

[Lancey Howard]

(( ping ))

[lilycicero]

Good ping....thanks.

[Girlene]

An excellent piece by Michelle Malkin. Thanks, Lancey.

I repeat: Haditha prosecution goes 0-7. But you won't see that headline in the same Armageddon-sized font The New York Times used repeatedly when the story first broke.

[4woodenboats]

Maureen Dowd ("My Lai acid flashback")

That's one heck of a handle Mad Dowd's been tagged with.

I think it works for her.

[MarkT]

I just pasted Michelle Malkin’s comments to a “contact us” post to that fat traitor Murtha’s web site. Everyone should do the same so that traitor can read the article that the NYf*kngTimes will not write.

[Aria]

Someone, maybe Savage, said that the real reason Murtha and the other rats accused the Marines was to get back control of Congress so they could get the pork - that they were denied when we were in charge.

If this is true - what do they care - they got what they wanted.

[MarkL]

You know, I'm all for the concept of a military that's "run" by, and responsible to a civilian government. However, when civilians (including so called "leaders") do crap like this, they need to be held responsible for their actions and statements.

Everyone listed in the article, in and out of the US government, needs to be punished, both civilly AND criminally.

Mark

[PogySailor]

Everyone listed in the article, in and out of the US government, needs to be punished, both civilly AND criminally.

And NONE of them will be. Being democrats they get full media protection, AND political cover from their "good friends" across the isle.

[RedEyeJack]

The whole Haditha charge was an Information Operation by Al Queda and its supporters. They created a story that the US Media and political opportunist like Jack Murtha wanted. They dressed it up with some true facts and then repeated it enough till they got the public to buy it. The lesson was learned by the Marines in AO Denver and making sure it didn't happen again became part of the standard operating procedures. Civilians die in when they get caught on a battlefield and that is most likely to happen in an urban setting like Haditha. But the pictures Time did not publish from the same time period were of the young men (5-6) who were lined up outside a school in Barwanah (just across the Euphrates River from Haditha) and executed by Al Queda. No political advantage in telling that story, no futhering of a political agenda, so no media campaign.

[Skooz]

bump