Posted on 06/11/2006 12:00:57 PM PDT by ncountylee
We hope day by day that the facts will become plain as to what occurred at Haditha in November. But this isn't happening. What we have is a story the components of which are pieces perpetually on the move. Starting at the bloody end, we read that 24 Iraqi civilians were killed by U.S. Marines in blood lust, the Marines reacting to the killing of a beloved member of their unit by a roadside bomb. Fiddle with the words above, and you can compose narratives for just about every story that has gone out.
It is illuminating that there is this confusion having to do with the facts. "Illuminating" is less than "reassuring." Somebody killed those Iraqi civilians, including women and children.
But memory is aroused, and we turn to Facts on File for April 7, 1971. It recounts in some detail the aftermath of the court-martial of Lt. William L. Calley Jr., who was in command of the platoon in Vietnam that slaughtered dozens, perhaps hundreds, of civilians in the little village of My Lai, bringing on the greatest crisis of military morale since World War II.
The court-martial began two years after Richard Nixon had been elected president, at the height of the national self-examination on the question whether we had been correct to send troops to Vietnam in the first place. The news of what seemed to be cold-blooded murder was arresting, gripping the American conscience as if by testicular strength, demanding to know how to square the American deed in Vietnam with the American ideals that sent us to Vietnam.
And yet there was such immediate dismay over the court-martial verdict that the Pentagon sent out a "white paper" explaining what had been done.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
Then again, so am I, and I'm sharp as a tack.
lol. "compulsory volunteerism." that'd be funny if it weren't so sad.
There's probably a lot of truth in that.
You are welcome. I thought you could use them
Buckley's senile blather aside, it's starting to look like the haditha "atrocity" story is as phony as the Duke lacrosse story. MSM traitors strike again.
The Marines are innocent.
I "hope" there are innocent, but not having been there or being privy to the facts, I'll wait until the investigation is completed.
Civilized people don't. I hope that our Marines are still civilized. The official investigation will tell us.
Yes, the media is spinning this, but so is every one who has already reached a decision of guilt or innocence.
In my perfect world following the announcement of an investigation into "possible" criminal acts we wouldn't hear anything else until the investigation was complete...or possibly even not until the charges were dismissed or moved forward.
Determining the facts and whether there was any criminal actions is important...in either case:
1) If these Marines are innocent then their names need to be cleared and they need to be able to resume their duties. No one should want less.
2) If they are guilty then they need to be held accountable for their crimes and given just punishment. No one should want less.
There was an article on FR several months ago in which someone commented that Anti-Us Libs were desperately hoping for a "New My Lai", and that if they didn''t get one soon, would probably make one up.........
We actually have a historical association with the Marine Corps that's kind of strange. One Coastie was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor; he was put in for it by the Marine Corps. The Coast Guard thought he had only been doing his duty (saving people, even if they were Marines), the Corps thought different.
I've always had a strong appreciation for the Corps.
Thanks for the post. WFB really seems to have turned the moonbat corner. He isn't even waiting for the evidence.
WFB has declined since the sixties when he was almost the lone conservative voice. While I respect his past efforts, it's time for WFB to consider a quiet retirement.
Chief, they are innoncent, and not because I'm interpreting any facts or news reports. They're innocent because that is the standard of the UCMJ.
the accused must be presumed to be innocent until his guilt is established by legal and competent evidence beyond reasonable doubt. -- Uniform Code of Military Justice, USC Title 10, Chapter 47, Subchapter VII, Article 51(c)(1)
At this point in time, they are innocent. That means we must speak of them as innocent. Our assumptions must begin and end with their innocence.
I can't remember the last time I agreed with a Buckley article.
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