[Reactionary]

It is my belief the moronic libbies will rue the day they tried to use this story to smear the military, the Marines, and Bush.

[Past Your Eyes]

I try not to hate anyone but these people are testing my resolve.

[usmcobra]

The Marine Ping

[kellynla]

With no autopsy, this whole case should be thrown out.
And if & when there is an autopsy;
the entire world will learn that this was a sham.
When these Marines are exonerated;
I expect the MSM to publish the news on the front page.
But we Marines won't be holding our collective breath.

Semper Fi,
Kelly

[saganite]

This is the first good analysis of what probably happened in Haditha. The sooner those Iraqis are exhumed for an autopsy the better. Thanks for posting this.

[trisham]

There is a possibility that Iraqi eyewitness sources’ credibility may fall apart in the event of a trial. It has happened before in similar cases. The reasons are deep rooted in tribal culture.

A British case which speaks directly to the credibility of tribal witnesses and to the Islamic tribal tradition of “blood money” collapsed November 3, 2005. On trial were seven British soldiers charged with murder stemming from a May, 2003 incident in Ferkah, Iraq. All charges were dismissed after it became clear that the key witnesses were lying in order to gain “blood money”

*************

Excellent article. This is the first I've heard of the above, I believe.

[SJackson]

ping for your list

[Remole]

For all our lament at the MSM, we should pay tribute publically to the reporting of CNN correspondent Arwa Damon (see the story above), who was embedded with Marines on many fire-fights and praised the Marines for their forbearance and bravery. Given the media's image of Marines as blood-thirsty savages, her account can go a long way to restoring the honor of their battlefield customs.

[TomasUSMC]

“This just ’we ride out, hold it for an hour, get hit, ride back in and now we don’t hold it anymore,’ what’s the point?” said Ruble of the Army’s 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment. “I believe in the cause and I believe in doing good, but when were going out, getting hurt and ... not accomplishing anything, why are we going out there? If you’re saying killing one insurgent is worth one of my guys getting hurt ... you’re crazy. That’s like killing one guy in the Chinese army. What have you done? not a thing.”

This is the type of sacrifice our troops are giving every single day. And our government rewards them with "Ethics Training" in response to allegations by the MSM. This post is outstanding.

The President should have held a Press Conference with Marine Captain James Kimber commanded Lima Company of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment.

The troops involved in the incident were from Kilo Company. He tells interviewers that he first learned about the shootings in February when he heard that a Time magazine reporter was asking questions about civilian deaths. Notably, Kimber says he heard nothing about a civilian massacre during weekly meetings with the Haditha City Council and talks with local leaders. "It would have been huge, there would have been no question it would have filtered down to us," he said. "We reported no significant atmospheric change as a result of that day."

If we wanted to kill civilians, we could do it by the millions without putting one of our troops at risk. Instead we put our troops at risk to save civilians and to capture terrorists who are later released by the Iraqi government.

The White House needs to go on the offensive.

[Enchante]

The contractor quoted in the article gets at one of the major problems with sorting out facts in that part of the world:

"It is not even considered lying to them; it is more akin to being clever - like keeping your cards close to your chest. And they don’t just lie to westerners. They believe that appearances--saving face--are of paramount importance. They lie to each other all the time about anything in order to leverage others on a deal or manipulate an outcome of some sort or cover up some major or minor embarrassment. It’s just how they do things, period.

[malia]

bump to read later

[bornacatholic]

Good post. You beat me to it :)

BTW, The "Sweetness & Light" Blog is developing a LOT of background info on the character of the principals involved in th estory. I smell an entire swarm of rats

[bornacatholic]

http://www.sweetness-light.com/archive/budding-journalist-sat-on-haditha-tape

[antonia]

from wbur.org
Thursday, March 27, 2003
Invasion of Lawyers
When U.S. soldiers begin the fight for Baghdad they'll be accompanied by lawyers. We find out why legal expertise will be needed as part of the critical operation. Listen