You got it, Bulldawg. Someone (maybe high up at the DoD, judging from all the leaks) wants to tame the Corps. At risk is the very nature of an aggressive fighting force, trained to always take the fight to the enemy. No offense to the Army, but they are not trained for the kind of fight that cleared Fallujah in ‘04.
Yes, it does appear someone(s) is pushing an agenda with the Haditha cases. Another incident happened in Ishaqi(sp?) close to the same time that Haditha was coming out. Similar incident of civilians, Iraqis claiming they were murdered without cause, may have even been some video. Someone in charge in the Marines shut the investigation down, but quick. An initial investigation was done, found no wrong-doing and NCIS was denied their own investigation {even though they said they would like to do one}. You don’t remember this incident now. The only reason I think NCIS was brought into Haditha was to create a case for charges. Without NCIS, no charges.
‘No offense to the Army, but they are not trained for the kind of fight that cleared Fallujah in ‘04.’
That may come as news to the two Cav Bns that were at Fallujah. I’m a ‘Corpsaphile’ as well, but the Army deserves their accolades in the WOT. A well-trained motivated force. I do believe there is some USA influence that started this goat rope, but the idea of JAGs with Army units is more established and has a longer history. I suspect the Marines accused will be cleared in the end, because if the info out on this event is accurate, the Marines did nothing wrong. Unfortunately the wheels of justice grind slowly, Marine Corps justice even more slowly. Besides the negative propaganda value of this ‘story’ for our enemies, the worst aspect of this affair could be a tendency to not aggressively pursue the enemy. That will result in more casualties.