Sadly, too many Americans are too quick to believe enemy propaganda about our troops in a rush to judge.
The Haditha incident is a case where the rush to judgment may have been too hasty:
There is now evidence that backs the Marines charged with killing civilians at Haditha in Iraq. If true, the new evidence would indicate that al Qaeda carried out another successful information operation that not only diverted resources into an investigation, but also provided some anti-war politicians ammunition to not only claim crimes had been committed, but that there had been a cover-up.
The initial Haditha investigations uncovered some apparent discrepancies in the Marines' stories, and a criminal investigation by NCIS was launched. This led to some criminal charges being filed earlier this year. Now, some of the charges have been dismissed, and it is beginning to look like the accusations of a massacre may be untrue, making it look like the story may end up to be more a case of the media getting it wrong. If so, this would not be the first time.
At one time I thought the evidence discussed in public probably meant that some Marines did commit a crime. But I didn't assume it. And if true I never assumed it tarred all our military with guilt. We fight honorably.
I sincerely hope that the Strategypage report is correct and that the charges are wrong. War critics were eager to condemn the Marines, the war, the military, and the Bush administration for causing these poor victimized Marines to go postal. No actual massacre by our Marines really should undermine that whole chain of causation.
It should. But it won't. For the anti-war side, Haditha is too good not to be true no matter how this ends up. It will join the lengthening list of things that the Left believes but which are not true.
