Haditha: The Collapse of a Liberal Fiction

Townhall ^ | April 2, 2008 | Michael Reagan

[RedRover]

You'd hardly know it if you relied on the mainstream media, but the government's case against the Haditha Marines took another body blow last Friday that may be the beginning of the end for this whole sorry attempt to severely punish eight heroic United States Marines for doing what they are trained to do.

In a surprise development on the day Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum's court martial was scheduled to begin, all charges against him were dropped without explanation.

Tatum, facing charges of reckless endangerment and aggravated assault that could have sent him to prison for 18 years, was the fifth Marine -- and the second of three enlisted men -- to be exonerated, leaving only one enlisted Marine still facing court martial.

Tatum's exoneration should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the real facts in the case. During an ambush by insurgent forces in Haditha, 15 civilians and nine insurgents were killed by Marines of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines. The incident began when an IED explosion killed a Marine and wounded two others. In the wake of that explosion, a squad of Marines came under insurgent gunfire.

The 15 civilian deaths, which came during house-clearing operations, were the result of a time-honored insurgent tactic of hiding themselves among civilians when ambushing U.S. forces, hoping to score a propaganda coup when the civilian shields are killed in the ensuing crossfire.

Full details of the incident on November 19, 2005 were supplied in great detail to the entire command structure the very night of the engagement, and the incident was regarded for what it was -- a tragic result of an enemy ambush. No further action was required or taken.

Months later, however, Time magazine published a story reporting that the Marines had gone on a rampage, wantonly killing innocent civilians to avenge the death of their fellow Marine killed in the IED explosion.

Using Time magazine's fallacious account of the civilian deaths, Pennsylvania's Democratic Rep. John Murtha went on a rampage of his own, telling every media outlet that would listen that the Marines had committed "cold-blooded murder." He first claimed that his information came from a briefing from the Marine Corps Commandant, but when that claim was disproved he admitted that his source was Time magazine.

Murtha's charges were broadcast far and wide, and before any investigation of the incident could get underway, the media joined Murtha in finding the Marines guilty of a massacre.

In the ensuing media firestorm that broke out, many news reports here and abroad compared the Haditha deaths to the infamous My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War.

Neither Murtha nor the mainstream media bothered to check Time's sources -- two known insurgent propagandists and insurgent-friendly Haditha residents living under the guns of insurgent killers who were the only authority in town.

It wasn't because the real facts were not available to any reporter willing to investigate the Haditha case, yet only one news source bothered to look into the case.

As early as May 31, 2006, NewsMax.com had begun to poke holes in the case, and from that time down to the present, NewsMax continued to report the truth about Haditha and defend the Marines who were innocent of the charges eventually leveled against them.

Yet all this time, the media and Rep. Murtha continued to peddle the insurgent lie that a massacre had taken place in Haditha, even though all murder charges had long ago been dropped in favor of lesser charges.

There was a crime, but it was the media and Rep. Murtha who committed it against heroic Marines whose careers have been destroyed and some of whose families were bought to the edge of bankruptcy defending their sons.

Thanks to NewsMax readers, who contributed over $500,000 for their defense, some of that burden was lifted.

And thanks to John Murtha and the liberal media, these Marines can now join my Dad's wrongly accused Secretary of Labor Ray Donovan in asking where they go to get their reputations back.

[RedRover]

Film at eleven.

[lilycicero]

Is that zulu time?

[RedRover]

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

[lilycicero]

Well I don’t want to get behind.

[houstonman58]

"There's a lot of frustration with President Bush and a lot of questions unanswered right now, but unless you can cite something substantial to support that claim, you're spreading urban legends."

Actually President Bush did order it, (PC training for the Marines, and for the entire U.S. forces), and he did it immediately after the Haditha allegations. Here's a couple quotes from news sources on
June 1, 2006.

"As military professionals, it is important that we take time to reflect on the values that separate us from our enemies," Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the No. 2 U.S. general in Iraq, said in a statement. "The challenge for us is to make sure the actions of a few do not tarnish the good work of the many." -
June 1, 2006

"Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, spokesman for the Multinational Force-Iraq, told a Baghdad news briefing that the training was designed to reinforce what troops learned before coming to Iraq. It will focus on "values and looking at the legal, moral and ethical standards that every one of us in uniform here, as guests of the Iraqi government, need to adhere to," he said. ---
"The coalition does not and will not tolerate any unethical or criminal behavior. All allegations of such activity will be fully investigated," he said" - June 1, 2006.

It's so nauseatingly clear that our guys were railroaded by their own leaders, all the way to Bush, from the get-go. If you believe that the timing of Bush's order's for this special PC training just happened to be a "coincidence" with Haditha, then that's your right. But as for me, I think I understand why he did it ......... to appease the condemnations by al-Maliki, and to save face for himself with world opinion.

[GVnana]

Bump.

[BnBlFlag]

“The Bush DOJ is backing Murtha and has appealed the decision. So that’s where the matter rests. The family has limited resources to fight Murtha in court, and he is using that to his advantage.”

Bears repeating.

[4woodenboats]

Neither President Bush or General Pace is in either of those qoutes. The only thing you're citing is what two men did based on news reports to back up your assumption of what two other men did.

In other words, you're guessing that Bush ordered Pace to intiate PC training, but you don't know. It could have been Navy Secretary Winters, the DOD, and who knows, maybe it was Bush, with or without any input from his Generals in the field, but you haven't proven it. All you did was throw in a guess and a rant in a forum where a heck of a lot of people are spending a tremendous amount of time trying to find out what really happened, and exactly who is responsible.

There's nothing wrong with a good guess and a great rant, just don't claim them to be fact unless you can prove it.

[kellynla]

Thanks to Talk Radio, Cable Television & the Internet; today’s American military will be exonerated unlike those of us who served in Viet Nam.

Marines weren’t “mass murderers” then, and these Marines aren’t “mass murderers” now!
It’s just not in our DNA.

Semper Fi,
Kelly

[houstonman58]

"Neither President Bush or General Pace is in either of those qoutes. The only thing you're citing is what two men did based on news reports to back up your assumption of what two other men did."

Generals don't have the authority to randomly initiate such massive PC training for 140,000 troops, all of them in a war zone. Only a fool would believe that two high ranking generals could formulate and initiate this training without authority from the high command, (General Pace). And even Pace would need to inform the Secretary of Defense, who in turn would get Bush's OK. And since this whole thing is about political correctness you can rest assured that Bush either ordered it or at least OK'd it. And neither would, nor could the generals do such a thing without notifying the Secretary of Defense for his approval. So no matter how you slice it, the CiC either formed it himself, had his military high command formulate it, or gave it his seal of approval.

Now, even if your assumption is correct, and it certainly is not, then we can at least lay the claim that two high ranking generals spoke words and took action that would tend to make the accused Marines at Haditha look guilty. They made strong, pointed comments about "investigating all allegations of abuse and unauthorized use of force", and such statements as "we will prosecute any soldier who is alleged by Iraqi authorities of committing these crimes." Those were paraphrases, but the damning content is accurate, and the statements were made in the immediate aftermath of the Haditha allegations. These Generals damned those brave Marines before they even had a trial, or had a chance to speak. And the generals could not have made such public statements, or inaugurated the massive PC training for all troops in Iraq and stationed elsewhere, without authorization from the highest command, the CiC.

[4woodenboats]

Now, even if your assumption is correct, and it certainly is not

Interesting. In a post laden with at least a dozen assumptions and a handful of generalities, you accuse me of making an incorrect assumption where I have only stated fact.

Perhaps if you spent bit less time spinning and spent it educating yourself at the links listed in my tagline, you could offer some insight that others may have missed...or who knows, maybe you could find facts in other places no one else has found - if you looked.

[ArmyTeach]

I think Murtha himself is too protected. He's untouchable slime.

[ArmyTeach]

I've always wondered ... Consider the testimony of the little girl who survived the incident. She testified that they know about the attack a day in advance. In her own words, she said that she was told to cover her ears immediately prior to the blast. How ‘innocent’ could these civilians be? What parent, what man would permit his family to be exposed to such dangers if he were not complicit?