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

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...

Dear Ms. Heard:

The Pentagon's 'thought police'
News Media. Last Updated: Jan 11th, 2006 - 02:24:51. The Pentagon's "Media Engagement Team" has set up shop in the region. ... The Pentagon's 'thought police' By Linda S. Heard. Online Journal Contributing Writer ... Its members, consisting of military personnel and contractors approach various publications and ...onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_408.shtml - 24k - Cached - More from this site - Save

Linda S. Heard: Targeting Al Jazeera
America's Best Political Newsletter. ... producer Mary Mapes, Jordan had crossed the line by seemingly criticizing the US military, and had to go ... occupation of the Gulf? Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on ...www.counterpunch.com/heard11232005.html - 80k - Cached - More from this site - Save

Linda S. Heard: Flying High
America's Best Political Newsletter. ... by LINDA S. HEARD. The expression "flying high" takes on a whole new meaning when viewed in the ... longtime open secret in the military - came to the notice of the ...www.counterpunch.org/heard01232003.html - 24k - Cached - More from this site - Save

Lies by any other name are just as odious By Linda S. Heard
Lies by any other name are just as odious. By Linda S. Heard. Al-Jazeerah, July 21, 2004. It was painful watching Whitehall mandarin Lord Butler read out his report last week - the fourth pertaining to pre-Iraq war intelligence. ... o Al Qaida, why did the coalition of two and the rest embark on such crass military adventurism ...aljazeerah.info/Opinion editorials/2004 opinions/July/21o/... - 19k - Cached - More from this site - Save

Don't be fooled by occupation in democracy's clothing By Linda S. Heard
Don't be fooled by occupation in democracy's clothing. By Linda S. Heard. Al-Jazeerah, January 26, 2005. Gulf News, Jan 25, 2005. Forgive me if I cannot whip up too much excitement over the coming Iraqi elections. ... on the flattening of Fallujah and supports the American military presence, so it is hardly likely he would attract a ...aljazeerah.info/Opinion editorials/2005 Opinion Editorials/January/... - 18k - Cached - More from this site - Save

Abu Ghraib: Ordinary Folk or Human Aberrations? By Linda S. Heard
Fill out your. e-mail address. to receive our newsletter! Subscribe ... Frederick and Specialist Javal Davis — appeared before a military judge accused of assault, coercion and conspiracy to ...www.countercurrents.org/iraq-heard270804.htm - 22k - Cached - More from this site - Save

Arab News
... While civilian deaths and US military abuses are conveniently brushed aside by the Bush administration, and its ... — Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs ...arabnews.com/services/print/print.asp?artid=54943&d=23&...+Believing - 10k - Cached - More from this site - Save

Gulfnews: Linda S. Heard: Arabs should unite to protect their interests
Last updated: 12:47 (GMT+04:00) Thursday, April 27, 2006 ... advised that America's "political and military mission should be to ensure that ...archive.gulfnews.com/articles/03/03/04/79390.html - 29k - Cached - More from this site - Save

HER OTHER EMAIL heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk

See what happens when you incur the curiosity of the Pajamahadeen?

With your track record and rather well known acquaintances, how can anyone, anywhere possibly consider your "writings" as objective?

Jack.

"My bet is that the terrorist killed innocents just to blame it on the Marines for pr attention."

My uninformed opinion is that it is, in basis, true.

That seeing a buddy walk over to a wounded enemy and then seeing both blown to pieces, has an effect.

That seeing countless dead children, killed by their own parents, has an effect.

That being in a convoy of vehicles having to drive through traffic at 60 mph to dodge rpg attacks, has an effect.

Sometimes that effect causes a soldier to snap.

It is a product of the beast of war.

It is the military's duty to deal with it as it is currently doing, and the best interests of the public are served by the MSM, and all political partisanship staying completely out of it.

There I go, dreaming again.

Ms. Heard, Since you seem to check out FR , I hope you've come back to check out the comments. Have you never heard of "rushing to judgement"? There are two sides to everything, and it seems to me you're one of those who jump at the chance to drag down and dishonor our military, and in turn, our country.

Our troops are dealing with a evil, wily, blood thirsty enemy. They wouldn't be above rigging up a device to detonate, then blame the deaths on our troops. Especially since the MSM is ALWAYS thrilled to try and nail our troops to the wall whenever there's an incident involving even a hint of atrocity having taken place. I suggest it would be nice to wait and find out the real, complete story before hanging out our Marines to dry. If you can't do that, then don't write anything else on this subject at all till the facts are clear.

1. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? Doesn't that apply to our troops too?

2. First of all we don't have all the facts and Murtha and this author is already convicting the Marines of all the crimes they can think of, and some.

3. The matter is being investigated, and if the Marines are guilty, the military will punish them appropriately.

4. What Murtha and the author should be saying, if they had a single drop of patriotic blood, is "Let's wait to get all the facts, and regardless how awful the truth MAY turn out to be, let's not forget the many thousands of Marines and other military, who serve with honor, put their lives on the line, even lose their lives to liberate Iraq and help the Iraqi people, and keep us safe at home."

5. Instead, the author and Murtha are trying to make ALL military sound like murderers and are using this to fan the anti-US sentiment, which will get more of our troops killed, and give more excuse for the terrorists to come and murder us.

And they wonder why they receive, deservedly, the ire of all decent Americans.

I hope they will read this post. Someone should e-mail them the link to this thread.

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

Dang straight - and as soon as I rake up some extra dollars, Irey's getting them. I don't live anywhere near Murtha's district but that fartmouth got on my last nerve over this weekend, during one of the most sacred and solemn of national holidays.

"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."

Nothing to contemplate there, Ms. Heard. Certain groups have been rather exceptional at that "hatred" maneuver.

Murtha Working With Code Pink to Undermine Morale of Wounded at Walter Reed

Tuesday, January 10, 2006 | Kristinn

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1555707/posts

Terrorists Quote CODE PINK Propaganda As Justification For Killing American Troops

December 5, 2005 | Doctor Raoul
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1534674/posts

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