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American Commando: Evans Carlson, His WWII Marine Raiders and America's First Special Forces Mission By John Wukovits Caliber, $25.95 Evans Carlson was not an ordinary U.S. Marine officer. He was a maverick. He learned guerrilla warfare from Chinese communist forces in the 1930s. He believed in sharing hardships with enlisted men. He swapped letters with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt's son, James, was his executive officer. Carlson led the Marines' first World War II special forces raids. The 2nd Raider Battalion was created and trained by Carlson. In August 1942, he led the first long-range strike against Japanese-held Makin Island....

 As ugly as the Haditha incident appears to be, there are people who cannot resist the temptation to make it even uglier. First reported in Time Magazine, the November 19, 2005 incident, in which up to two dozen civilians are alleged to have been killed by U.S. Marines, did not impact public opinion until Rep. John Murtha (D, PA) appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews, where the soldier’s pal revealed that the attack had been carried out “in cold blood” and was “even worse” than outlined in the magazine report. Murtha also acquiesced to Matthews’ eager suggestions that the attack was...