treelizard

June 28, 2006
Lynching the Marines
By Ralph Peters
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/art...e_marines.html

Let's just hang those Marines accused in the Haditha incident. Get it
over with. They don't need a court martial. They're guilty. The media
already decided the case.

A few other Marines and soldiers are also accused of murder in Iraq.
Save our tax dollars. Just hang them, too.

Forget the stresses of combat. Forget that war really is hell.
Whatever you do, don't mention the atrocities committed by the
terrorists or insurgents.

Those two young American soldiers tortured to death a few weeks ago?
Bury that story fast. The terrorists are the good guys. We're the only
torturers.

Don't close Guantanamo. Put our troops in the cells. There's no surer
way to quell the media's outrage over Gitmo than freeing the
terrorists held there and filling it with our soldiers. Don't worry
about individual charges. Collective guilt applies.

Ignore history. Let's pretend that warfare can be waged with absolute
sterility, without so much as giving the enemy a broken fingernail.
War isn't about fighting. It's about making people happy.

Civilian casualties? The thousands of Iraqis slain by terrorists were
legitimate targets. Iraqi civilians are only innocent victims when
Americans kill them.

And avoid the true potential parallel with the Vietnam War--after we
cut and ran those peace-loving Communists killed at least ten million
civilians in cold blood in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

Let's all get on-message: America is the real evil empire, American
troops are homicidal maniacs, and the world would be a better place if
we just surrendered and let a non-partisan committee of Islamists,
Chinese, Russians and Europeans run it.

Think of how much better off the world would be without us: If
American-imperialist thugs had stayed out of World War II, we wouldn't
have that nasty Israel problem. The European Union would've come into
being decades earlier (speaking German, but what's not to like?). The
Japanese would've solved China's over-population dilemma. And the
Soviet Union would still be building the workers' paradise.

As for Iraq, not only should we get out now and let all those
flower-child terrorists, insurgents and militias inaugurate the Age of
Aquarius, we must get our barbaric troops under control.

That means punishing a young Marine if he so much as writes a playful
song about the war that turns into an internet hit. Forget the real
lyrics to "Mademoiselle From Armentieres," or that old marching song
from the Philippines, "The Monkeys Have No Tails in Zamboanga." Forget
all those hilarious "Jody" calls and cadences. Just punish that guy
with the guitar and the sense of humor (the WWII cartoonist Bill
Mauldin should've stood trial at Nuremberg).

Thank god we have the media to tell the world how rabid we are. And we
won't mention what would happen to every journalist in Iraq tomorrow
if our troops disappeared overnight. Bad taste to hint that our
enemies might not be champions of free speech. And let's not pile on
while the press is still mourning Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Okay, now let's be serious: I do not condone criminal acts in wartime.
If any of our soldiers or Marines charged with murder or other serious
crimes are found guilty, they should be sentenced accordingly under
the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

But let's give them a fair trial first. And let's remember that an act
committed in the heat of battle is different from walking into a
McDonald's and killing a half-dozen people for meth money.

Isn't it remarkable that, to the media, our troops are guilty until
proven innocent, while our enemies are innocent even after they're
proven guilty? Compare the media feeding frenzy over Haditha with the
utter lack of detailed human-interest reporting on the thousands of
victims of terrorist atrocities. And just wait: In no time, we'll hear
that those terrorists arrested last Thursday in Miami were unfairly
entrapped by the feds.

There is no question: Discipline must be maintained within our
military. And discipline is maintained. Anyone who knows anything
about wars throughout history has to be astonished at how few criminal
incidents our troops have been involved in during their time in Iraq.
We have a humane, magnificent military. Given the nature of
counter-insurgency operations, we've set a statistical record for good
behavior.

Our troops will never be given credit, though. To get the media's
attention, an American soldier must die, suffer a crippling wound, or
commit a crime.

But the media aren't the worst of it, in the end. Who expects
responsible, moral behavior from our media any more? No, the worst of
it is the cowardice of our political and even military leaders.
Four-star generals may be lions on the battlefield, but turn a camera
on them and they're jellyfish. Want to send President Bush into a
defensive crouch? Mention Guantanamo.

Our leaders need to stand up for those in uniform. While criminal
actions must be investigated, when challenged with media exaggerations
or outright lies our leaders need to fight back - and to hammer home
that there is no such thing as an immaculate war.

Instead of blubbering that he, too, wants to close Guantanamo, our
president should state manfully that, if necessary, we'll keep Gitmo
open for the next hundred years.

The United States is history's most virtuous power. Our soldiers are
valorous and decent. Our cause is just. Why don't our leaders have the
guts to say that? How can they cower while our troops are crucified?
Instead of Joshua's trumpets, we get Peter's fretful denials.

At this point, I doubt that any of our accused Marines and soldiers
can get a fair trial. I don't want the guilty to go free. But I do
think that, if Bill Clinton could pardon his criminal friends,
President Bush should consider pardoning any soldiers or Marines
convicted of violent crimes under combat conditions.

The hate-America bigots in the media shouldn't get away with lynching
our troops.
Ralph Peters' new book, "Never Quit the Fight," will be published on July 10th.

(c) 2000-2006 RealClearPolitics.com All Rights Reserved

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http://morewomeninmma.blogspot.com

darrianation

I realize this is somewhat old but it has some interesting things to say.

Jun 11, 10:31 PM EDT
Marine Lawyer Calls Haditha Was Lawful
By THOMAS WATKINS Associated Press Writer

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The lawyer for a Marine being investigated in the deaths of two dozen civilians in Haditha, Iraq, described the event as "tragic," but denied innocent people were killed intentionally and said troops followed military rules of engagement.
No one has been charged in the Haditha case, which centers on allegations that a small number of Marines from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment killed 24 Iraqi civilians, including unarmed women and children, on Nov. 19 after a roadside bomb killed a fellow Marine.

Lawyer Neal A. Puckett said Sunday that Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, 26, told him several civilians were killed after the bombing when his squad pursued insurgents firing at them from inside a house.

Puckett quoted the sergeant as describing a house-to-house search that went wrong and resulted in unintended civilian deaths. Wuterich denied allegations of an intentional massacre, Puckett said.

"(It was) certainly a tragic result and (Wuterich) understands that it's tragic and he feels extremely badly about the fact that innocent civilians were killed," Puckett told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Alexandria, Va. "But he was following what he understood to be the rules of engagement and standard protocol."

An investigation has been examining whether Marines tried to cover up the shootings and whether commanders were negligent in failing to investigate the deaths when they were reported.

Wuterich's version of events differs from some accounts of Haditha residents. They have said that innocent civilians were executed, including some who pleaded for their lives.
The Marines cleared the rooms in the way they had been trained, Puckett said. "Everything happened very fast," Puckett said. "There's no preparation, there's no deliberation involved, it's just a quick reaction time, shooting and neutralizing any threat that might be in there. And in these cases it turns out after the fact that there weren't threats in that room."

The Washington Post, the first to speak with Puckett about Wuterich, reported that lawyers for two other Marines involved in the incident said Wuterich's account was consistent with what their clients have told them.

Puckett said it was possible none of the Marines would be charged with murder and instead some commanders could be charged with dereliction of duty for failing to properly investigate the incident at the time.

He added Wuterich remained at Camp Pendleton and had been promoted to staff sergeant since the incident.

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NOBAMA!