Anybody want to ping lugsoul and sinkspur?
Unless one takes the position that anyone in a jihadi dominated town is as worthy of being killed as a jihadi, it is only slightly relevant to the 'incident' story. This article says Haditha is a town of 90,000. If 90,000 in that town are either jihadis or helpful jihadi sympathisers, then this war is already over. Because there are other towns just like it.
For those who take the 'Haditha delenda est' line, there are a couple of points to consider. First, the 'make an example for the other Sunnis to see' was part of the point with Fallujah. That point seems not to have taken. Second, someone needs to come up with a new reason why we are in Iraq. If the fact of the matter is that we need 'total war,' then it is a bit disingenuous to continue the line that we are there to 'help' or 'liberate' these people. Unless we mean 'liberating' their souls from their mortal bodies.