I never even thought of this.
I suspect some Iraqi army guys did the killings and maybe the military is (or was )trying to keep it quiet. This might be why there was (evidently) a false report of the incident.
Residents of Haditha were repeatedly warned to get out, that a convoy of forces were coming through. Repeatedly warned...since October 2005 in fact.
And those Marines were taking fire after the explosion, at least according to the Time mag story. Even the anti-American Haditha citizens admit this.
Even with all the warnings, and that morning when this all occurred, were warned yet again. Yet one fine grandpapa keeps his family there, including his two young children. They all huddled in their parlor reading the Koran once the explosion and shooting began.
Which is what we all do of course when horrific explosions and shooting erupts around us. We gather our grandchildren and go into the living room, with a handy window, and read the Koran.
The grandmother and grandfather were killed during this incident, but the two children and a baby were not. Those Marines didn't go nuts and start shooting everybody in sight. Somebody was shooting at them and perhaps in the effort to stop it some innocents got killed. Innocents that the terrorists love to gather round them just so they can shoot and kill American Marines with no reprisals.
Hey, I don't know. A beloved Marine buddy was split in half by the explosion and bullets were being fired.
It was war damn it, in an urban environment.
Anyway, if the MSM and the leftoids go nuts enough, the above is something along the lines of how I think the President should handle this.
I have a foreboding in my gut that Haditha could be the incident, however manufactured and hyped by our own congress critters, that makes us lose the Iraq war.
I desperately want to be wrong.
Good take on the situation.
I don't think this will be the defining moment, though. The November elections will be (IMHO).