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| Iraq |
| Is the Haditha story "ahead of the news cycle?" |
| 2006-06-02 |
| by Dave Price Hat tip: Instapundit Well, the press is in full troop-bashing mode, with 90% of Iraq coverage now focused on Haditha. And almost to a word, the articles are written with the assumption U.S. Marines have committed an atrocity; this before any serious look has been taken at the evidence. But there are problems with the narrative. First off, the doctor who certified the civilians as having been shot is, shall we say, not exactly objective. Secondly, the area is rather pro-insurgent, and witnesses may not be credible (remember the early reports of the Jenin "massacre?"). Third, given that the insurgents commit mass murders on a daily basis and understand propaganda, it's not unreasonable to think they might have committed the atrocity themselves, then staged the area to give the impression it was coalition troops that had been responsible. Meanwhile, defense lawyers for the accused Marines are requesting drone footage, saying it will exonerate them. That doesn't sound like something they would do if they thought the evidence would show them committing atrocities. Does this remind anyone else of the Duke lacrosse team rape case? Unreliable witness, exculpatory footage, a media that has already hung them... At the very least, our troops deserve the benefit of the doubt until tried. Hard to believe Memorial Day was only a few days ago, and already the media is spitting on our soldiers. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #8 What I find most interesting about this, is the report from one of the commanders, that in town meetings afterwards, nothing of this was ever mentioned. And after reading some reports of these town meetings, these guys are vocal! You just know they would have brought this to the attention of the Marines. |
| Posted by: Sherry 2006-06-02 17:43 |
| #7 US Troops Cleared in Iraqi Deaths That's about Ishaqi, not Haditha. Not that it has stopped ABC radio news from referring to "massacres" in the plural in their hourly reports. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2006-06-02 17:42 |
| #6 What Lord Vader said...and then some. |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2006-06-02 17:12 |
| #5 HA!! US Troops Cleared in Iraqi Deaths Fuck you Murtha, Fuck you MSM |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2006-06-02 17:10 |
| #4 The "local atrocity blamed on the USMC" theory doesn't wash - the Marines initial report said they shot these people, or at least some of them. The question is why and how. The points about the local witnesses and the doctor are real, and I hope the drone footage is exculpatory, but let's not try to make the Marines less involved then they claim to be themselves. |
| Posted by: Spomoling Glineck8648 2006-06-02 17:04 |
| #3 "I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are. If I killed them all there would be news from Hell before breakfast." William Tecumseh Sherman |
| Posted by: doc 2006-06-02 15:41 |
#2 Similar commentary from blogger Wretchard, in reaction to a story in the lefty rag The Nation:One internal problem with the Nation's narrative, which will be invariant to any outcome of the investigation immediately jumps out. The assertion that it was all "willful, targeted brutality designed to send a message to Iraqis" is immediately contradicted by a recitation of how it was 'covered up' -- "the patently false story floated afterward, blaming the killings on roadside bombs, and Marine payoffs to survivors". Note to whoever is in charge of sending messages of terror to the Iraqis: terror is no good unless you publicize it; if you conceal your message with false stories, or blame roadside bombs and worst of all, if you pay money to survivors then you are missing the point. Any halfwit knows that the right way to sow terror is to leave corpses hanging from lampposts, skulls piled before the city gates or decapitate victims in a studio and distribute the video through Al Jazeera. |
| Posted by: Mike 2006-06-02 15:34 |
| #1 The Seditionist media have never stopped spitting on our Soilders. Except for a very few individual reporters the media is and has been in the camp of our foes. This just is a long awaited chance to accomplish with their propaganda what they can't get away with otherwise. The MSM do not support our troops or our counrty. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2006-06-02 15:32 |