Haditha: Beyond the Hype

There are aspects of the deaths at Haditha that do not look good for the Marines who were involved. And frankly, events like Abu Ghraib have taught us that our initial reactions too often underestimate the horror of the reality. But, when we have an administration that puts out multiple versions of events, it's important not to assume that we can see past the story and know exactly what happened, whether at Haditha or elsewhere. We still need to wait until all the facts are in. Editors & Publishers has an article by Dennis Anderson that reminds of several issues:

The trial is already convened in the media. The Marines are guilty. The trial and charges haven’t even been announced, yet they are all guilty. Maybe. And maybe not, but this much is true: None of us was there.

Just the idea of a massacre of Iraqis at a hell-and-gone place called Haditha is too sad. For everyone. For all the victims’ families in Iraq, this is their memory of the Americans. For survivors, for the young grunts, 15 minutes of rage could send the rest of their lives to hell....

(snip)

...[Former aide to Colin Powell, Larry] Wilkerson shared the dais with a neo-con wonk who was going on about how we have to fight the terrorists on their own terms, and Wilkerson said words to the effect, “With all due respect -- you’re full of malarkey.”

Then Wilkerson, with his own Vietnam combat time to draw on, basically said that the Geneva Convention “is the lieutenant’s tool kit. It’s the tools we give him to exercise command, control and governance on his troops. And I am sorry as hell we seem to have thrown that out because when that lieutenant loses that tool kit, we lose our moral authority to wage war.”

That is quotation in paraphrase, but it is pretty close to how he put it....

(snip)

Wilkerson’s words have been on my mind and in my chest since Haditha broke, and reports surface about other potential atrocities by Americans. I reflect on how our best guys have been hung out to dry. Too few troops to manage too much countryside, with no one but their buddies having their backs. And not enough buddies.

How weary the American warrior becomes. Their rescue of children, the feeding, clothing and medical care given, all given short shrift in the media. They face terrorists who behead their helpless victims, and then they get cast as the villains. It’s crazy.

But as a nation, and as American warriors -- veteran or current service -- we will not be let off the hook. Because we are accountable to ourselves and because the terrorists are not our teachers.

It goes without saying that the neoconservatives should not be our teachers either.