Back right before the invasion of Iraq, I wrote that there were probably going to be some atrocities that would occur, and that it was not all on the men and women of our military who committed them. The four Marines charged today in the Haditha murders were among those I had in mind at the time.
Could they have acquitted themselves more honorably? Absolutely. Could their leadership have been less blind to the rage that fueled their alleged killing spree? Absolutely.
Were they delivered into a cauldron by a bunch of whining Chickehawks who knew nothing of Combat but the TV show of the same name, who were handed the keys to the country out of fear and a hysteria that most of us now regret ever being allowed to run our lives? Absolutely.
So when I read this, I am sad. I am sad for the victims of the attack, I am sad for the Marines who will now stand trial and have their lives and careers taken from them.
I am mostly sad that we allowed ourselves to be led into a war by incompetants, opportunists and a lazy, arrogant boy-king whose biggest desire in life was to top the accomplishments of his father, and in doing so has ruined more lives, left more broken humans in his wake than any American leader in memory.
Responding to one of the most extreme cases of illegal civilian killings by the American troops in Iraq, the Marine Corps today charged four enlisted men with the murders of nearly two dozen people - including at least 10 women and children - in the village of Haditha last year.
It never needed to happen. The dishonor is not upon the Marine Corps, but on the alleged "Leaders" who sent them into harms way. I seek not to excuse the conduct of the Marines, but to ask that the men who sent them into battle, who put them into the awful position where they committed such deeds be brought before the bar of justice and made to answer for their lies, deceptions and willful misrepresentations of our national peril for their own political and personal benefit.
"Support the Troops" was their mantra. Yeah, right.
