The Lies of Haditha

I don't think there's any question about it. The reporting of the alleged massacre at Haditha was an absolute disgrace, the hyping of the incident unconscionable.

Much to the dismay of the anti-Bush, anti-Iraq war, and in some cases, anti-American crowd, it seems that Haditha hasn't turned out to be My Lai after all.

God knows the Left wanted it to be.

The Leftists, elected Democrats and their mouthpieces in the liberal agenda-driven media, were so eager to believe that U.S. Marines murdered Iraqi civilians in cold blood that they didn't bother to wait for an investigation into the allegations.

They scooped up all the leaks about the incident and splashed them without hesitation.

There were emphatic declarations of the Marines' guilt, with remarks from John Murtha being some of the most disgusting.

Will TIME run a cover story to complement "The Ghosts of Haditha" issue?

I think something like "The Left's Besmirching of U.S. Marines" would be in order. It would be appropriate to counter "The Shame of Kilo Company" with "The Shame of the Foaming at the Mouth Liberal Media."

Michael Duffy wrote:

[O]ne morning last November, some members of Kilo Company apparently didn't attempt to distinguish between enemies and innocents. Instead, they seem to have gone on the worst rampage by U.S. service members in the Iraq war, killing as many as 24 civilians in cold blood. The details of what happened in Haditha were first disclosed in March by TIME's Tim McGirk and Aparisim Ghosh, and their reporting prompted the military to launch an inquiry into the civilian deaths. The darkest suspicions about the killings were confirmed last week, when members of Congress who were briefed on the two ongoing military investigations disclosed that at least some members of a Marine unit may soon be charged in connection with the deaths of the Iraqis--and that the charges may include murder, which carries the death penalty. "This was a small number of Marines who fired directly on civilians and killed them," said Representative John Kline, a Minnesota Republican and former Marine who was briefed two weeks ago by Marine Corps officials. "This is going to be an ugly story."

It did get very ugly.

Murtha repeatedly asserted that the Marines slaughtered civilians in cold blood.

An example:

"There was no firefight. There was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood," Murtha said.

Murtha, who was decorated for his service in Vietnam, said the death toll may be more than twice as high as originally reported.

"They actually went into the houses and killed women and children," the congressman said.

Another example:

Murtha said he understands the stress being put on Marines fighting in western Iraq's turbulent Anbar province: "The pressure builds every time they go out," with roadside bombs exploding "every day they go out."

But, he said, "I will not excuse murder, and this is what has happened," adding that there is "no question in my mind about it." He reiterated a previous statement that shootings of women and children occurred "in cold blood" and that there was no firefight in which civilians were killed in a crossfire, as some Marines asserted after the event.

"This is worse than Abu Ghraib," he said, referring to the abuse of Iraqi detainees by U.S. soldiers at a prison west of Baghdad that, when revealed in spring 2004, became a major setback for the U.S. effort in Iraq.

The lib media loved giving Murtha a forum.

They relished the story.

They couldn't get enough of Murtha blathering about Marines murdering women and children "in cold blood."

Things have changed. Investigations have brought exonerations.

The certainty with which the disgraceful libs relayed the alleged actions of the murderous U.S. Marines at Haditha has evaporated.

LOS ANGELES -- A general dropped all charges Thursday against a Marine who had been accused of killing three Iraqi brothers in response to a roadside bomb attack in Haditha in 2005.

"The evidence does not support a referral to a court-martial," Lt. Gen. James Mattis wrote in his written decision.

Lance Cpl. Justin L. Sharratt, 22, had been charged with the murder in the deaths of three of those killed after the bomb attack Nov. 19, 2005.

...In his recommendation, Lt. Col. Paul Ware said murder charges brought against Sharratt were based on unreliable witness accounts, poor forensic evidence and questionable legal theories.

"The government version is unsupported by independent evidence," Ware wrote in an 18-page report. "To believe the government version of facts is to disregard clear and convincing evidence to the contrary."

I'm sure there are libs unwilling to accept that all those initial reports of the alleged massacre at Haditha were highy questionable or completely false. I imagine that John Murtha would be among them.

No doubt the conspiracy theorists will surface to say that the military is engaged in a vast cover-up.

It's much easier for all the people that rushed to judgment about what happened at Haditha to cry cover-up than to admit that they accused U.S. Marines of atrocities.

Don't forget. The libs may call the Marines cold-blooded murderers, but they support the troops.