Maybe John Murtha should read this and then take a deep breath before continuing to slander U.S. Marines before the Haditha incident has been fully investigated.
It actually took me a while to put all the pieces together — that I know these guys, the U.S. Marines at the heart of the alleged massacre of Iraqi civilians in Haditha.
I don’t know why it didn’t register with me until now. It was only after scrolling through the tapes that we shot in Haditha last fall, and I found footage of some of the officers that had been relieved of their command, that it hit me.
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. (Watch a Marine’s anguish over deaths — 2:12)
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.
And I was with them in Haditha, a month before the alleged killings last November of some 24 Iraqi civilians.
Read it all. I know Murtha is not going to stop “bomb throwing” (as Bill O’Reilly referred to it on his show tonight). In fact, it is probably going to get worse before it gets better. Wesley Clark, not to be outdone by Murtha, joined in and defended him tonight on The O’Reilly Factor. When the Haditha report is complete, if the results are as many claim and a massacre did occur, those guilty should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, and then some. In the meantime, especially on Memorial Day weekend, it is inexcusable to rush to judgment in order to take political advantage, and in the process slander an entire group for the actions of a few.
Update: Bruce Kesler has more at Democracy Project.
Update II: Mary Katharine has a good roundup of stories and Sister Toldjah has more.
Update III: John Hawkins makes an excellent point that even if the worst is true, it helps to show that incidents like the one alleged at Haditha, are the exception, not the rule. Read it all.
” How do You know what His past history is? “
I DON’T ! But I DO know the past history of atrocities, torture, deceit, and fabrication of the United States Military !
Oh so Your E-4
” Oh so Your E-4 “
Not in THIS lifetime ! I wouldn’t DEMEAN myself by joining any branch of the SS service of the United States
And *this* is what passes for rational thought and a desire for the truth.
Fact: The military always lies.
Fact: Any time they deny being baby eating murderers they are lying. We know they are lying because they have a history of lying. We know that anyone accusing them is telling the truth because all the liars are in the military.
Fact: We demand accountability from the military so that when they make statements we know that they are lying.
Fact: We support the troops, who are just idiots too dumb to stand up to a recruiter and too morally deficient to know that eating babies is wrong. Expecting them to behave morally is expecting far too much.
Fact: Murtha, by virtue of his honorable service in the Marines must never EVER be accused of any misbehavior. To accuse someone who was an officer in the military of being anything less than %100 nobility enshrined is not allowed.
Fact: And that goes double for Kerry.
Fact: The military always lies.
Fact: Any time they deny being baby eating murderers they are lying. We know they are lying because they have a history of lying. We know that anyone accusing them is telling the truth because all the liars are in the military.
Fact: We demand accountability from the military so that when they make statements we know that they are lying.
Fact: We support the troops, who are just idiots too dumb to stand up to a recruiter and too morally deficient to know that eating babies is wrong. Expecting them to behave morally is expecting far too much.
Fact: Murtha, by virtue of his honorable service in the Marines must never EVER be accused of any misbehavior. To accuse someone who was an officer in the military of being anything less than %100 nobility enshrined is not allowed.
Fact: And that goes double for Kerry.
Hey…FINALLY, someone with a rational thought !
“Hey…FINALLY, someone with a rational thought !”
Well, except for the “Support our troops” bit…
I don’t support uneducated pigs who get thier rocks off shooting 4 year old children in the back of the head, nor do I support uneducated pigs who kidnap pregnant women in order to entrap their husbands…..
Nope, can’t say I do !
Alright
Lie: Japan surrendered onboard the USS. MISSOURI bringing an end to ww2 right!
Lie: JFKerry went christmas shopping in Cambodia.
What a crock
Do you get off on unborn children having their brains sucked out in the modern day equivalent of Bergenbelsens known as abortion clinics?
Because if You do? there is a real disconnect between what You’ve said above.
goodnight all
Lorie asks:
> Does the story in the link above mean that we should be cutting and running
> from Afghanistan, because it is a lost cause that can’t be won militarily?
The term “cut and run” is insulting to servicemen who go where they are ordered, stay as long as ordered, and get out when ordered. Try rephrasing that question without the emotional baggage.
We should get out of Afghanistan as soon as Bin Laden is arrested or killed. And not a moment before. And not stay there a moment longer either. Afghanistan has little to no strategic value or purpose for the US, except it is adjacent to the part of Pakistan where Bin Laden is believed to be staying.
President Bush needs to tackle the real actual problem – a terrorist named Bin Laden caused 2500 of our civilians to be killed in New York and other places on 9/11.
I want a President who brings that terrorist to justice, and doesn’t start pointless, endless, unwinnable wars in countries that posed no threat to the US before, but are now grinding up a US army for no apparent purpose. It’s incredible that the President now wants to drag Iran into a fight. Solve the problems you already created before inflaming new peoples against the US!
I’m happy to answer anyone who can keep things civil. Too many people on both sides seem more interesting in having a simple match of shouting insults. Sure you blow off steam, but do you do anything thoughtful or productive?
Peter
” President Bush needs to tackle the real actual problem – a terrorist named Bin Laden caused 2500 of our civilians to be killed in New York and other places on 9/11. “
Oh, c’mon…..”terrorist” ? Be honest now….who tried to assasinate whom, LONG proir to 9/11 ? Can you honestly believe that foriegn nationals should sit idly by when bombs rain down upon thier heads ? Call 9/11 more precisely (not to mention more HONESTLY) what it was……a retalitory strike in retaliation for that assasination attempt on Bin Laden’s life….
I want a President who brings that terrorist to justice,
He might want to start with the terrorists who put that bullet behind that 4 year old child’s ear. Or, maybe start with those in the military who are judged guilty for murder and OTHER war crimes, and not let them off with a 18 month sentences ! ! ! !
‘My 12 year old Aunt was RAPED by this “American Military Man” in post-war Germany’
First of all, just because your sister married your dad, it doesn’t make her your aunt.
Second, hanging around outside the PX trying to give young soldiers dollar blowjobs on payday does not contsitute rape.
Get some help.
” First of all, just because your sister married your dad, it doesn’t make her your aunt.
Second, hanging around outside the PX trying to give young soldiers dollar blowjobs on payday does not contsitute rape. “
Let me guess…..
One of those uneducated pigs who serve (or served) in the American armed forces at one time or another….who get thier rocks off shooting 4 year old little girls in the back of their heads , and then molest thier corpses ?
Why am I not surprised ?
May I ask a question, here?
Why is anybody bothering to respond to Crock? WADR, why are his posts allowed to remain undeleted by the moderators?
Is it not obvious that he is insane?
” Why is anybody bothering to respond to Crock? WADR, why are his posts allowed to remain undeleted by the moderators? “
AHHHHH, I see……Only the far-right Neo-con war-mongers are allowed to voice an opinion….
Is it not “obvious” how….ahem….”un-American” that viewpoint is ?
LoveAmerica.
Murtha unlike you, is a Veteran that served his country with distinction. You are just a loud mouth that has a very idiotic idea of what it means to be an American, and a patriot.
In some of your comments I see that you are one of the “We fight them there so that we don’t have to fight them here” crowd. I always have been curios about this way of thinking. Tell me, do we have a treaty with terrorists that I don’t know about, that prohibits them from fighting us here AND there?
You think terrorist care about your BS theories ? And by the way, what do you think our soldiers are ; sacrificial lambs to get killed “there” so that the likes of “super patriots” like you, survive to “continue the fight” for all of us wimps….. why don’t you act rather than talk, start demanding a National Draft, and then volunteer?
Hell maibe you can even draw “Mall Duty” here at home” . As you say all our malls would have to be protected if not for our soldiers in Iraq…. Brilliant, just brilliant !!!
Napoleon would have been proud of you.