Or, they never should have been brought.
The whole nature of the conflict in Iraq seems to me to be very similar to Viet Nam, with regard to civilian insurgents mixing with the noncombatants.
As a result of that tactic by the enemy in Viet Nam, I got the impression that pretty wide latitude was granted to our troops when such events transpired.
There could have been thousands of such charges brought in Viet Nam, if the same criteria used here were used back then.
That would have been insane.
Ergo, this Haditha prosecution is insane.
Of course it is another opportunity for the administration and the higher level officers running this war to be PC and preen sanctimoniously.
All the charges against these men were very heavily politically motivated as part of an effort by treacherous partisan politicians and their media tools in an ongoing battle to discredit the GWOT, and thereby the CIC and the preemptive strike policy championed by this and other republican administrations.
To accomplish this, and turn public sentiment towards the left's goal of a United Nations controlled military, they needed to paint our military, particularly the Marines as invaders, oppressors, who according Jf'nK "terrorize women and children in the middle of the night.", and according to Murtha are "cold blooded murderers"....IOW, broken, out of control savages who need to be reined in and forced to conform to international standards of a humanitarian conflict.
One of the charges that has been brought against a number of the Marines is that they failed to investigate, in fact Murtha bellowed "cover up" in the same sentence as "Marines are cold blooded murderers".
Can you imagine what the same media who has convinced 50 million plus people that Karl Rove should go to prison for a non crime in which he was never even charged would do if the president pardoned these men before an investigation into murder by Marines, ordered by the Marine Corps generals, ever took place, would do with a story like that?
The media and certain traitors in our congress, the DOD, and apparently some high level REMFs that are tired of playing in the sand would have made sure that act would have resulted in permanently painting these Marines as murderers, it would have destroyed our credibility worldwide, and devastated the president's ability to protect this country.
Where it should have ended was when the generals took the reports from Chessani, Stone, and Dinsmore.
Then it should have ended when there was an investigation by the Army that confirmed the reports from the field. At that point, there was no reason to proceed any further.
Instead, something made made the brass go ahead and charge these men with ludicrous charges, and initiate Article 32 hearings. I'm thinking it's the same anonymous traitors in the DOD that have provided over 10,000 pages of classified materials to the Washington Post putting pressure on them, as one general, whose name eludes me, but starts with an S, appeared maybe too eager to initiate an investigation, but curiously has refused to testify.
It all comes down to the left needing to paint our military as boogeymen to satisfy their claims.
Bush going over the heads of the generals in command and ordering an end to the investigation would have been disastrous. General Matthis ending these investigations now that it has been shown that there is no substance to the two basic charges - murder and cover up - would now be appropriate. He let this get out of hand, so it's up to him to rein it back in, and up to him to report where the pressure to charge these men came from.
I do think that the president should recall Navy Secretary Winter for refusing to examine the techniques NCIS uses, and he should initiate an investigation into the leaks, and should it be revealed there was pressure from congress and the DOD to persecute these men, criminal charges should be brought.
Civil charges are already being brought against Murtha by one Marine. Should an investigation into undue influence commence, it would likely help that.
These Marines have been financially devastated by this, while Murtha's dining on mountains of pork every danged day.