On March 16th, 1968, American forces of the Americal Division began an operation in the villages of My Lai 1, 2, 3, and 4, searching for Viet Cong soldiers, cadre and sympathizers, with the result being the massacre of hundreds of civilian Vietnamese at the hands of troops under the command of Lt. William Calley.
Fast forward nearly forty years later, to the war in Iraq. On November 19th, 2005, " ... it has been claimed that a squad of Marines killed 24 Iraqi non-combatants after their convoy was attacked by Iraqi insurgents using an improvised explosive device, resulting in the death of Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas.""
Some in positions of power, such as Rep. Murtha (D-PA), and in the MSM, have made the claim that this was murder - invoking the memory of My Lai - and that those responsible need to be punished. Rep. Murtha has even gone so far as to claim that there is a "cover up". If - and this is a very large if - murder was committed in Haditha, I agree that those responsible should be punished.
But, this country has a precept of law that states that you are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and that precept is found in both civilian and military law, and to date, no charges have been officially presented in this case. Yet, Rep. Murtha, and the anti-troop MSM have not only accused US Marines of murder - even before an investigation had started (which has since started) - but have also convicted them, and now want them punished with long prison sentences, or even the death penalty! What about due process, hmmm?
Andrew Walden, of the Hawaii Reporter, in this excellent piece states that, "The liberal media is chiming in to make sure that Haditha is used to wear down support for our troops in Iraq—just as they did with abu-Ghraib. Peering through the media smokescreen few have noticed that all of the actual shooting eye-witnesses in the media’s kangaroo court are local Iraqis--witnesses who are under constant threat from terrorists and whose motivations may be suspect. All the US witnesses currently quoted in the media saw events before or after the alleged shootings—but not the shootings themselves."
Mr. Walden goes on to further state that, "Only now—two and a half months after the story broke in the March 19 issue of Time magazine-- are the voices of soldiers who question the charges beginning to be heard."
Prior to the Time Magazine story of the alleged "massacre" at Haditha, according to Marine Captain James Kimber, "... he first learned about the shootings in February when he heard that a Time magazine reporter was asking questions about civilian deaths ...", but that, " ... he heard nothing about a civilian massacre during weekly meetings with the Haditha City Council and talks with local leaders.""
Not all in the MSM are making accusatory remarks, however. "CNN reporter, Arwa Damon, writes:
“I know the Marines that were operating in western al Anbar, from Husayba all the way to Haditha. I went on countless operations in 2005 up and down the Euphrates River Valley. I was pinned on rooftops with them in Ubeydi for hours taking incoming fire, and I've seen them not fire a shot back because they did not have positive identification on a target. I saw their horror when they thought that they finally had identified their target, fired a tank round that went through a wall and into a house filled with civilians. They then rushed to help the wounded -- remarkably no one was killed.
“I was with them in Husayba as they went house to house in an area where insurgents would booby-trap doors, or lie in wait behind closed doors with an AK-47, basically on suicide missions, just waiting for the Marines to come through and open fire. There were civilians in the city as well, and the Marines were always keenly aware of that fact. How they didn't fire at shadows, not knowing what was waiting in each house, I don't know. But they didn't….”"
"A key point in dispute is whether the 24 who died in Haditha November 19 were gunned down, as Murtha says, “in cold blood” or were 15 civilians killed by the IED and nine hostiles then killed in a firefight as the Marines claim. The families refuse to allow an exhumation which could possibly answer this key question. According to the June 2 Washington Post, those exhumations may occur soon."
So, 24 people are killed, and most in the MSM and in the Democrat Party are claiming that they are all civilians - a claim that is in dispute and made by people who weren't there at the time of the incident, and are likening this with My Lai - while the Marines who were there say that 15 of the 24 were civilians who were killed by the IED, with the other 9 that were killed being armed, and firing upon the Marines.
I suggest that Rep. Murtha, and the anti-troop MSM, who are making unsubstantiated accusations against US Marines and likening what happened at Haditha to that which happened at My Lai, shut their mouths, let the investigation proceed unhindered by politicking and biased reporting.
IF it turns out that there was indeed a "massacre", let those who are guilty be proven they are guilty according to law, and not through "public opinion".
Hat tip: PowerLine
Victor Davis Hanson also has something to say about the comparison of Haditha to My Lai, here.
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