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What Happened at Haditha
Wall Street Journal ^ | 10-19-07 | Commentary

Posted on 10/18/2007 9:59:32 PM PDT by smoothsailing

REVIEW & OUTLOOK

What Happened at Haditha The massacre that wasn't, and its political exploitation.

Friday, October 19, 2007 12:01 a.m.

The incident at Haditha--or the massacre, as it is often called--is due for a wholesale rethinking. The allegations are that in 2005 U.S. Marines went on a killing spree and deliberately executed 24 Iraqi civilians. The casualties have drawn an extraordinary amount of political attention, becoming an emblem for everything critics say is wrong with the Iraq war--in the common telling, another My Lai.

Thus Congressman Jack Murtha, a decorated combat veteran, made accusations of war crimes and said the Marines had killed "in cold blood." These are serious charges; and military justice continues to deal with them seriously, though thankfully at a slower pace than politics. Now the prosecutions have mostly unraveled. It seems Haditha, though tragic, was exploited politically, and the allegations were exaggerated, if not unfounded.

Here is what we know. On November 17, 2005, Kilo Company of the First Marine Regiment's Third Battalion was returning from a routine logistics mission in Haditha, a town 140 miles northwest of Baghdad. Haditha is in Anbar province, a heart of the Sunni insurgency with one of the highest U.S. casualty rates in Iraq. The security situation at the time was treacherous.

Shortly after 7 a.m., an improvised explosive device detonated under the last vehicle in Company K's four-Humvee convoy. It instantly killed Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas and wounded two others. Windows were shattered for 150 yards, and smoke and debris were everywhere.

An oncoming white sedan had been waved over near the stalled convoy. Five military-age occupants exited and disobeyed orders in Arabic to halt; at least one began to run......

(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: haditha; infowar; jackmurtha; murtha
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1 posted on 10/18/2007 9:59:33 PM PDT by smoothsailing
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To: smoothsailing
It seems Haditha, though tragic, was exploited politically, and the allegations were exaggerated, if not unfounded.

Ya think? No ish, Sherlock.
2 posted on 10/18/2007 10:02:50 PM PDT by RedCell (Honor thy Father (9/6/07) - Semper Fi)
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To: jazusamo; RedRover
HADITHA

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

3 posted on 10/18/2007 10:07:32 PM PDT by smoothsailing
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To: smoothsailing

It was a psyop much like the Jenin(sp?) massacre


4 posted on 10/18/2007 10:10:33 PM PDT by SShultz460
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To: smoothsailing

Murtha get his purple hearts the same as John Kerry or was he once a courageous, principled man?


5 posted on 10/18/2007 10:11:50 PM PDT by TheThinker (Foreign campaign contributions should be criminal. This is not democracy at work.)
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To: smoothsailing

Who wrote this ? Mr Obvious ?

Geeze any one with half a brain on drugs and drunk would have known this thing was super hyped from the start ...


6 posted on 10/18/2007 10:12:20 PM PDT by ATOMIC_PUNK (In everyday life there is more than meets the eye to reach the depths of truth we must DRAGTHEWATERS)
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To: smoothsailing

Great article. It was a grotesque shame indeed to have these Marines used for political purposes and slander. I know in my heart these Marines involved feel badly about the civilian casualties, after all unlike the insurgents they have feelings too. However, they should also know that under the extreme circumstances what they did was fully justifiable.


7 posted on 10/18/2007 10:18:01 PM PDT by World_Events
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK
You can poo-poo it if you want, PUNK, but where else in the "old media" print press have you seen the story described this way? Hmmm?
8 posted on 10/18/2007 10:18:08 PM PDT by smoothsailing
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To: TheThinker

Don’t peer too closely or you’ll discover that he is every bit as slimy (notice that I didn’t say “phony” ;’} as sKerry!


9 posted on 10/18/2007 10:27:51 PM PDT by rockrr (Global warming is to science what Islam is to religion)
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To: smoothsailing

The entire Haditha incident was magnified and pumped by Soros’s Human Rights Watch group - for obvious purposes.


10 posted on 10/18/2007 10:31:33 PM PDT by TenthAmendmentChampion (Global warming is to Revelations as the theory of evolution is to Genesis.)
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To: smoothsailing

Thanks for the post.

This is all what I guessed from the beginning. Murtha and the others promoting this propaganda story should be the ones facing a jury.


11 posted on 10/18/2007 10:39:09 PM PDT by FreePoster (Duncan Hunter in 2008)
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To: smoothsailing

The article opens with a good pace and pulls you right into the insurgency attack. No prejudice or leading remarks about motive.

>> It seems Haditha, though tragic, was exploited politically, and the allegations were exaggerated, if not unfounded.

Yes, it does seem that way.

>> In retrospect, the men in the car had no weapons or explosives;

Is it settled the men in the car were unarmed?


12 posted on 10/18/2007 10:39:37 PM PDT by Gene Eric
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To: smoothsailing
Many, including Members of Congress, were looking for another moral bonfire to discredit the cause in Iraq, and they found a pretext in Haditha. The critics rushed to judgment; facts and evidence were discarded to fit the antiwar template. Most despicably, they created and stoked a political atmosphere that exposes American soldiers in the line of duty, risking and often losing their lives, to criminal liability for the chaos of war. This is the deepest shame of Haditha, and the one for which apologies ought to be made.

It's about time the real story made the MSM. It's not enough but it's a start. I wish it went a step further and named those who need to apologize. It doesn't call out Tim McGirk and Time Magazine who started the whole mess, though it does mention the traitor Murtha clearly. I don't see a byline. Who actually wrote this?

13 posted on 10/18/2007 10:41:01 PM PDT by athelass (Proud Mom of a Sailor and two Marines! Frodo Lives!)
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To: Gene Eric; RedRover; jazusamo
Is it settled the men in the car were unarmed?

Not to my knowledge, Eric. I believe there was testimony and evidence presented that one AK-47 was found in the white sedan and also testimony that after the Marines cleared the vehicle there were stacked AK-47's beside the vehicle, IIRC.

Red Rover and jazusamo have a better recollection on this than I do and I am pinging them to this post.

14 posted on 10/18/2007 10:52:05 PM PDT by smoothsailing
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To: RedCell
Most despicably, they created and stoked a political atmosphere that exposes American soldiers in the line of duty, risking and often losing their lives, to criminal liability for the chaos of war. This is the deepest shame of Haditha, and the one for which apologies ought to be made.

Thank you, scumbag Democrats.

15 posted on 10/18/2007 11:03:45 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: athelass
I don't see a byline. Who actually wrote this?

It comes from Friday's editorial page and is categorized as "REVIEW & OUTLOOK". That means it is the editorial board staff that wrote it with the approval for publication by the editorial page editor, John Fund.

16 posted on 10/18/2007 11:04:44 PM PDT by smoothsailing
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To: smoothsailing

It is nice to see this great summary of the Haditha hoax in the Wall Street Journal. Reading it through, carefully and thoroughly, it makes my blood boil more than ever that some of these Marines are still twisting in the wind. The entire prosecution is an obscene disgrace.

C’mon General Mattis - - end it today.


17 posted on 10/18/2007 11:07:28 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: smoothsailing
I knew a some guys when I was in the Marines that got into some trouble and received OTH, Other Than Honorable, discharges. IMHO, they had more honor than that SOB Murtha will ever have!
18 posted on 10/18/2007 11:10:52 PM PDT by Timbo64
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To: Lancey Howard
General Mattis needs to do it real soon, Lancey. He's being reassigned next month. From what I've witnessed thus far, I do believe that he will finish once and for all as much of this as he can in the time he has. But I'm with you, he should throw it all out and demand that an investigation be conducted into why it ever got this far.
19 posted on 10/18/2007 11:21:45 PM PDT by smoothsailing
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To: TheThinker

"...in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan..."

20 posted on 10/18/2007 11:22:09 PM PDT by americanophile
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