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Thank you for the ping.

I remain optimistic that the Marines will be exonerated.

I have personally met many of the Marines serving in Iraq and I must tell you all that they are some of the finest Marines the Corps has ever produced.

And since I personally "walked point" for the Fifth Marines in 1969 and 1970, I have had plenty of experience in these matters. I continue to feel that anything could have happened to these people including being killed by crossfire, by the "bad guys" whose M.O. is killing innocents and/or by the Iraqi soldiers who were with the Marines.

So before anyone makes any unsubstantiated accusations, I hope everyone will remember the Marine that the media tried to convict of murdering a "bad guy" who was "playing dead" but after an investigation was exonerated.

Semper Fi,
Kelly

I began to read an article on the Haditha affair yesterday. I believe it was from the New York Times or the Washington Post. In the introductory paragraph, the publication revealed that they had hired Iraqis to go to Haditha, rather than sending their own reporters. They also said that the sources for their story were Iraqis who had not previously spoken on the issue but whose accounts agreed with "the broad outlines" of the story related by others. I stopped reading at that point.

Consider the disclaimer the paper gave before launching into another trial by newsprint of the Marines. Put another way, their disclaimer should have been: "We sent inexperienced Iraqis to Haditha. They interviewed people not previously identified with the incident whose stories contain details inconsistent with previous renditions. Nevertheless, we decided to use that "reporting" as a basis for yet another indictment of the Marines by an American newspaper. Oh, and by the way, we will not include in this story any information whicn might exonerate the Marines. For example, we will not report that insurgents have been known to mutilate and move bodies to create the impression that an atrocity has occurred. Nor will we report that Iraqi insurgents attempt to mingle with civilians or that there is evidence that the Marines were returning fire. Happy reading."