A Marine accused of killing unarmed Iraqi women and children pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty on Monday, reaching a deal that will mean a maximum of three months confinement and end the largest and longest-running criminal case against U.S. troops to emerge from the Iraq War. ...
Six squad members have had charges dropped or dismissed, including some in exchange for testifying at the trial. One was acquitted.
So in the heat of battle, against an enemy that did not wear uniforms and hid amongst civilians to use them as cover, a squad of Marines killed some civilians by mistake.
I was initially willing to believe that something bad might have happened, even as I was outraged that anti-war people used the allegations of one incident to tar all of our fighting men and women as killers or potential killers. But there was no war crime by our Marines--just an accident that happens in war.
So the actions of those Marines made in a heart beat have been scrutinized for six years by people not being shot at. This is a problem, as I've written.
Funny thing about war. War happens and even innocent people die. Or have their reputations soiled for a mistake that while it had tragic results, was no crime.
We could go a long way to undoing the damage done by the anti-war side to the honor of our military by renaming one of our ships that honors a Congressman all too painfully eager to believe that Haditha was a war crime.
