Supporting the troops in Haditha

Lt.Col. Gordon Cucullu:

When dealing with a generation of media that are unable to think of an American war without reflexively placing it into a Vietnam template, you just know that any opportunity to bend events into that mold will be irresistible. Such irrational but compulsive behavior is even more compelling when the newsmen are programmed to be anti-war, anti-US military, and anti-Bush.

So when the sandstorm hit eight days or so into Operation Iraqi Freedom they shrieked about a “quagmire.” When repugnant but highly localized misconduct took place at Abu Ghraib prison they elevated it to such prominence that it became a strategic defeat for America. When Marine Lieutenant Ilario Pantano was accused of murdering two men during combat operations in Iraq they called for his head, ultimately forcing him to leave the Marine Corps despite a court-martial acquittal, to the great loss of his service and his country.

And predictably when Iraq was not a quagmire, when Abu Ghraib was determined after multiple investigations not to be a result of administration policy but of poor supervision and individual misconduct, and when Lieutenant Pantano was trying to put his life together the same sanctimonious media scolds were absent without leave. Such is the parasitic life style they have chosen to live.

Now we are facing another investigation: a report that Marines allegedly killed up to 24 Iraqi civilians in a modest Sunni Triangle town of 90,000 called Haditha. The facts as we know them are limited: Marines have been operating in Haditha for some time and face the kind of entrenched terrorist resistance that characterized Fallujah and Tal Afar before they were liberated and returned to friendly Iraqi government control. On November 19, 2005 an IED exploded early on a morning patrol blowing one Marine in half, wounding several. From here on reports vary but official reports so far seem to confirm that the Marines received small arms fire from nearby houses and returned it. At some point the Marines stormed the houses, clearing them. Twenty four lay dead in the wake. Some were women and children.

For those of us who have been exposed to combat this brief summary yields more questions and answers. Of the dead how many were men, were they armed? Who were they, Iraqis or al Qaeda foreigners? Were the women or young people armed? What was found in the houses – weapons caches, explosives, jihadist materials? What kind of fire killed the Iraqis – long range, point-blank, or grenades? Were the wounds caused by US weapons or by AK-47s? These are just a few questions and answers to them will generate many more. But the point is that we need to have an idea of what happened before we have a rush to judgment. After all, these are America’s finest, the Marines who are all volunteers and who have risked their lives on a daily basis to defend us. They deserve at least the same presumption of innocence that we give to murders in the States, don’t they?

Apparently not, at least not in the eyes of media and certain human rights organizations....

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There is much more. There will be a lot more questions raised before this matter is over. The media is also recycling the story of the Marine who shot a man who was feigning death in Fallujah without putting into context how the enemy used such a ruse to kill Marines, or how they booby trapped bodies to kill people coming to their aid. The media has done a really poor job of pointing out the wickedness of the enemy which puts their criticism of our troops even more out of context.