I have no easy fix or set of consequences to apply. So many lives lost or damaged (including the marines themselves). War is hell. But that is no excuse. They lost it. You gotta believe they know it. Now it's about paying the price for irreparable damage inflicted. I don't have an answer either. Turning them over to the Iraqis isn't a fix. Just in case someone might think that's the way to go. Too much needs to play out to be sure of what happened.

The article does a good job of capturing the explanation of "why." Society is still left with the unpleasant task of dealing with it, knowing that probably no resolution is just. Part of the life ain't fair concept, I think.

What to do about it???


Yes, as in what would you do if you could make the call on this.

I can see whats coming for the soldiers involved. Is it going to serve our concept of Justice? Probably not.

It is a tragedy from every angle.

Lets just rewind this back to Nov 2000. If we all the same moves again, then maybe we should be smacking ourselves with that whip-thingy from the Da Vinci Code.

Unfortunately in situations like this, the buck stops long before it gets to anyone who is any position of authority...I doubt the punishments will extend much, if at all, beyond those who were in the room pulling the trigger.

Certain politicians will probably spin it to somehow show that we need "more resolve" and use it as an excuse to further the warhawk agenda...nonsensical...yes...but since when has that stopped the war machine?

Fish on...

Todd

Funny you should mention funding of the War Machine...

Budget Gap Means Layoffs at Ft. Lewis

Last weekend there was an article about possibly suspending recruiting because of budget woes.

Damn those liberals and their anti-military ideology; it's gotta be THEIR fault, right?

Bullets and banners cost money, I guess...maybe we ought to limit the amount of bullets that soldiers are allowed to shoot each week?

Maybe they can take turns wearing body armor every other day with an "armor buddy"? Wait a minute, I think they already do that one...

What we need is a good ol' fashioned tax break for the rich to get the economy up and running high, and then we can afford more bullets! Yeah, yeah...nonsensical, right? Please see note above about nonsensical ideas of the warhawks...

Fight a war on the cheap, it takes forever to "win", if ever, and way too many people die all around...and it's always someone else's fault.

Fish on...

Todd

Ration bullets. That reminds me of the British Army Quartermaster as portrayed in the film ZULU. Oh well he didn't have to do all that paper work after all.

I reccomend readinga book called "Flyboys". Same quandry,different generation. Interesting how no matter when or where or for what reasons a war is fought, the same controversy exists. I would caution everyone that it doesn't matter where the news comes from until the war is over and 50 years have gone by and things are "declassified" the real truthabout what is going on overthere will not be heard and for now, no matter what your politics are, the men and women in the service deserve our unyielding support.

Amen

Unfortunately the "real truth" is written by those who hold the pens, and it's pretty clear that those of us here don't have access to the pens...revisionist history has always been a part of war, here and pretty much everywhere else.

Fish on...

Todd

Unfortunately, one is only tried for commission of war crimes if one loses the war. Had Germany not lost WWII, there wouldn't have been justice at Nuremburg.

In the present case, whether the war in Iraq was legal or illegal (and by whose measure?), the U.S. won it in a matter of days. What the U.S. cannot win, is peace through occupation in Iraq; quite a different situation.

So true Salmo

http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,100239,00.html?ESRC=eb.nl

The other Haditha: http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=22779

Marine may Call Murtha as Witness
Washington Times | June 15, 2006

A criminal defense attorney for a Marine under investigation in the Haditha killings says he will call a senior Democratic congressman as a trial witness, if his client is charged, to find out who told the lawmaker that U.S. troops are guilty of cold blooded murder. Attorney Neal A. Puckett told The Washington Times that Gen. Michael Hagee, the Marine commandant, briefed Rep. John P. Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat, on the Nov. 19 killings of 24 Iraqis in the town north of Baghdad. Mr. Murtha later told reporters that the Marines were guilty of killing the civilians in "cold blood." Mr. Murtha said he based his statement on Marine commanders, whom he did not identify. Mr. Puckett said such public comments from a congressman via senior Marines amount to "unlawful command influence." He said potential Marine jurors could be biased by the knowledge that their commandant, the Corps' top officer, thinks the Haditha Marines are guilty. More

Sheesh, all Murtha's got to do is claim that he "forgot" who told him. Hell, lapse of memory works time and again for this administration. Just ask rove.

As noted above, the events at Haditha are the result of poor leadership...I think that a good military chain of command starts and ends with one important factor...trust.

When the soldiers on the ground trust their immediate supervisors, who in turn trust their commanders, all the way up to the CinC, then all of them are on the same page. When they are given orders that they don't know the reason behind, or the intelligence behind, that's OK...so long as they trust those giving the orders.

The bond of trust is severely broken in the prosecution of this war...the soldiers in Iraq are being lied to just as much as those of us at home are...the War on Terror, Saddam's links to Al Qaeda, and therefore to 9/11...they know what's up. They're fighting for the corporate interests that are the political bedfellows of the Bush Administration...and they're dying for those illicit relationships, too.

When the bond of trust is broken, and leadership fails, these are the results...and while our soldiers fighting in Iraq are going to need counseling and assistance when they get back, they know they're not going to get it...they see the cuts that Bush is making to VA benefits, soldier pay, forced re-enlistment (aka "stop loss")...they know they are just cogs in his war machine...especially when they see the massive tax cuts that are going straight to the Bush cronies.

Need more evidence of the poor leadership? Click on this link...this is what happens when our soldiers are lied to on a daily basis...

http://www.cair.com/video/marine-hadji-girl.wmv

Fish on...

Todd

The voice of experience. Hear! Hear!
Do we really know what happened at Haditha or are we playing the media's game?

Todd, your last comments make me want to vomit, how can you be so vocal on these matters ?

Oregonian, you're an idiot.

Sincerely,

Todd