[brazzaville]

Good afternoon.
"Murder was committed that day in Haditha"

That's not necessarily true. These people could have been caught in an exchange of fire, in which case it's bad luck, not murder.

"However, I am amazed by the tone of some of the comments here. They seem to suggest that, when badly provoked, it is somehow an acceptable act to shoot unarmed and unresisting civilians (especially women and children)."

I'm amazed at the number of people who seem convinced that the Marines did, in fact, kill those Iraqis in cold blood.

Michael Frazier

[Captain Rhino]

Since you are fond of quoting me to myself, reflect on this quote from the same post:

"As a retired Marine, I hope the evidence to lead to a dismissal of all charges. However, I also want justice to be done, even if it means owning up to some pretty unpleasant facts about unlawful acts committed by service members."

Although it doesn't happen very often, we have had service members (including Marines) really commit war crimes in the past. And human nature being what it is, there are going to be those rare instances of war crimes now and there will always be instances of it as long as nations, peoples, and individuals settle their differences through violence toward one another. To deny this is at least a possibility in this case is to underestimate the capacity of young, scared, and angry armed men to occasionally talk themselves into doing incredibly stupid and vile things. Actually, it's a wonder it doesn't happen a lot more often. That it doesn't happen is a tribute to the self-discipline and integrity of the vast majority of the men and women of the armed forces.

You'll know from the law of land warfare that just as there are actions that are clearly crimes from the onset, there are many offenses that only become crimes when a justifiable reaction turns into a crime through carelessness or through excessive and uncontrolled use of force. Both, either, or neither might be the case here. I simply don't know enough to exclude any possibility (including the unpleasant ones) preemptively.

I'm going with General Pace: a thorough, professional investigation followed by actions appropriate to the evidence.