Shameful reactions to Haditha 'atrocity' (Whines Incessantly About Free Republic!)

Gulf News ^ | 5/29/06 | Linda S. Heard (grab your tissues)

[Coop]

...

In the meantime, my column had been posted on a well-known right-wing American website, where it attracted 119 comments. Oddly, none of them displayed any hint of disquiet over the behaviour of the Marines under investigation. Rather, their outrage was reserved for John Murtha and yours truly.

One poster's reaction was to "nuke the Middle East" adding "thank you very much Dishonourable Rep. Jack Murtha". He was later to write "if you can't stand behind our troops, stand in front of them".

A few of his co-posters rushed to the website of Murtha's Republican challenger Diana Irey to donate campaign funds.

The fact that this murdering troop has the support of even those 119 posters is worrisome. Surely, nobody should defend the indefensible based on some false notion of patriotism.

Military personnel should act as ambassadors for their country and behave according to international rules of law and the Geneva Conventions that were drawn up as a result of atrocities committed during the Second World War. There should be a difference between real soldiers and ruthless thugs with public opinion the final arbiter.

If the public, as represented by the 119 posters on the Free Republic website, condones such behaviour or seeks to excuse it, then not only is its members giving their country's soldiers a license to kill arbitrarily, they are altering the fundamental psyche of their nation.

To quote a well-known rationalist intellectual Felix Adler "Love of country is like love of women - he loves her best who seeks to bestow on her the highest good."

The "Freepers" - as members of the Free Republic website have come to be known - may also like to contemplate the words of theologian Howard Thurman who said "During times of war, hatred becomes quite respectable, even though it has to masquerade often under the guise of patriotism."

In short, people who glorify soldiers who purposefully assassinate women and small children are as misguided as those who glorify the blowing up of crowded buses, trains and marketplaces.

Does the donning of a uniform render its wearer impervious to justice? The Nuremberg trials indicate not...

[eyespysomething]

Ms. Heard -

I'm afraid I didn't post on the thread, and wouldn't want you to think only 119 FReepers support our Marines and trust in the military justice to do right. Since I'm sure you do not think our military is the best and most humane in the world, I'm sure you don't understand why we would wait for the facts to emerge, the investigation to be complete.

Innocent until proven guilty. How I'm sure you feel about the poor insurgants who blow up innocents every day.

Those who rush to smear our military deserve no respect. Those who defend it deserve even less. And those who whine about being called on it? What's less than even less? You should know.

You'd be lucky if you ever became 1/10 the American our Marines are. Oh, and God bless America, and thank our military for your freedoms, would ya?

signed-
eyespysomething

[EODGUY]

"that this murdering troop has the support of even those 119 posters is worrisome. Surely, nobody should defend the indefensible based on some false notion of patriotism. "

If I may respectfully add a comment to your eloquent explanation of the quote noted above, I believe those "tolerant" members of the left suffer still from an incident that was to place both them and the MSM on the top of the "we finally got President Bush" heap.

Although they have already convicted these Marines, based on the research I have conducted, the final after action investigation has not been completed nor has it been made available for public review. Fact checking and ethics never stopped a liberal/anti-administration/anti-war zealot from making slanderous comments, however.

I sincerely believe that the author of the quote noted above still fumes over the FACT that a cohort within our FreeRepublic community was responsible for identifying a document "reportedly" from President Bush's Air Force personnel records as a forgery.....thus making Dan Rather and his employer laughing stocks as well as illustrating their blatant partisanship.

God bless all veterans who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country and especially those who returned wounded in body, mind or spirit and have endured and prevailed.


EODGUY
USAF 1970-1974

[freema]

"You're way over 119 responses this time!! :-D But if you were whiny before, I can't wait to see next week's meltdown."

ROTFLMAO! And to think I missed her first thread.

[fanfan]

The fact that this murdering troop has the support of even those 119 posters is worrisome. Surely, nobody should defend the indefensible based on some false notion of patriotism.

First, nothing has been proved yet. I hope it's not true.

Second, if it is true, we all know the offenders will be punished harshly.

Either way, it's better than anything the left has to offer to anybody.

:-)

[longtermmemmory]

She is universally anti-american.

If you google or yahoo her name you also have the name of Mary Mapes pop up. She is the one who orchestrated the fake national guard documents.

IOW fake but accurate.

SHE KNOWS she is lying. She KNOWS her data is false or faked.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Ms. Heard,

I'm a Veteran of these great United States Although i did not see service in a Wartime Atmosphere You do not have the right nor the experience to JUDGE anyone...

Jack Murtha's mouth is enough to turn the stomach of any Marine and embolden an enemy to fight harder..

Ms. Heard you are an enabler of the enemy as is Jack Murtha

Respectfully

You both can go to Hell !

[mylife]

Ms Heard seems to think that posters on this site giving the military the benefit of the doubt as the investigation continues is tantamount to condoning military atrocities.

Nothing could be further from the truth.
She seems to be blind to the fact that what inflames us is her and Murthas apparent opinion that they are guilty and the entire military is guilty by association.
Their incessant whining that America is the root of all evil and their willingness to forgive the "freedom fighters" for their terrorist tactics

[sneakers]

bump to read (and comment on, I'm sure!) later

[mylife]

What chaps me more than anything is that Murtha and company waited 3 mo to begin this assault on memorial day weekend

[ChessExpert]

"US military is behaving more like Barbarian hordes"

Sounds familiar. Here's a quote from Kerry's 1971 Senate testimony about American soldiers:

"razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the country side of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war" etc. etc.

So let's take stock. After the bad Americans left, the good communists murdered more than 200,000 in Vietnam. Kerry had predicted "only" 30,000 would be killed. Cambodia became communist and more than 2 million were murdered. The Vietnam war was a just war. The Democratic Congress abandoned Vietnam. The resulting "peace" was unjust and murderous. But I don't expect the American left will ever learn from the carnage their policies produce in the 20th century.

[Marine_Uncle]

"...Best wishes to you and yours..."
Likewise coop. PS. I found a job at Home Depot, now in training. So one of these days I shall start to contribute to FR. Gotta make a few bucks to restore much that was lost in the past years but, I shall contribute soon.

[mylife]

"The fact that this murdering troop has the support of even those 119 posters is worrisome."

This is journalist talk for, "THEY'RE GUILTY! LET'S LYNCH 'EM!"

I saw today on memorial day, a poll on DU that overwhelmingly called for the execution of these troops before a trial. This from the party that claims to be against the death penalty. I found the poll very revealing as to what these people really think

[mylife]

Sing it Billybob!

[Tall_Texan]

they are altering the fundamental psyche of their nation.

Oh, if only it were possible.

[mystery-ak]

LMAO.....

[prairiebreeze]

She doesn't have the guts. She's a whining liberal coward.

[FlingWingFlyer]

I sure wish we could post that poll over here. I guess that's not allowed though.

[DakotaRed]

The fact that this murdering troop has the support of even those 119 posters is worrisome.

To Ms. Heard. It is more worrisome that you and your leftists have condemned these Marines before any proper investigation has finished. If guilty, these Marines will be dealt with. That's far more than we can say of the "insurgents" or "freedom fighters," if you prefer, that chose to kidnap innocent civilans, beheading them on video or any who instigate terrorists to strap bombs to themselves and blow up woman and children at weddings, marketplaces and outside recruiting stations.

Why is the concept of "innocent until proven guilty" only reserved for leftists accused of wrongdoing?

Should you find yourself facing these "freedom fighters," rest assurred the other 99.9% of brave and courageous Marines and Army will do what they can to keep you safe. I seriously doubt you would lift a finger to return the favor.

As with others here, I too am a Veteran of Viet Nam who experienced the scorn of people as yourself who have little clues as to what combat is like.

[jazusamo]

Does the donning of a uniform render its wearer impervious to justice? The Nuremberg trials indicate not...

Ms. Heard, you apparently don't understand that the Nuremberg trials were a process of justice. There has been no justice in the denigration of these Marines. The investigation is ongoing and the despicable actions of Rep. Jack Murtha has spurred the majority of the news media to declare them guilty of cold blooded murder.

In America we have a justice system wherein a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Ms. Heard, your reporting is as despicable as Murtha's declaration that these Marines are guilty.

Thanks for this post Coop.

[UCANSEE2]

"We use the Military Code of Justice to examine and punish, if appropriate on the facts, any such action by our troops."

And that is what and why it is going on.

The fact that it is being used in the political arena on a national scale for partianship goals of power is what is shameful.