With the continued acquittals of the US Marines involved in the supposed "Haditha Massacre" that the media has been trumpeting for nearly two years now, I do not find this surprising at all:
Buried in the mountain of exhibits attached to the once secret Haditha, Iraq murder inquiry prepared by US Army Maj. Gen. Eldon A. Bargewell is an obscure Marine Corps intelligence summary (see pdf) that says the deadly encounter was an intentional propaganda ploy planned and paid for by Al Qaeda foreign fighters.
Veteran military defense attorney Gary Meyers said he never understood why the Naval Criminal Investigative Service special agents leading the Haditha criminal investigation didn’t “examine the linkage” between Al Qaeda, the local insurgency and the events at Haditha. Meyers was an attorney on the defense team that successfully defended Justin Sharratt, a Marine infantryman accused of multiple murders at Haditha.
The report – apparently overlooked by a Washington press corps awash in leaked Bargewell documents and secret Naval Criminal Investigative Service reports – shows that Marine Corps intelligence operatives were advised of the scheme to demonize the Marines by an informant named Muhannad Hassan Hamadi. The informant was snared by 3/1 Marines on December 11 2005 and decided to cooperate. [Defend Our Marines]
Make sure to read the entire posting because it is very insightful about the Al Qaeda propaganda campaign that was launched then and continues to be launched now by America’s enemies not only in Iraq but in Afghanistan as well. It is unfortunate how the US media and even some politicians continue to fall for it.
The best way to simply explain Haditha is that the Marines involved had two choices when attacked by what we now know were Al Qaeda fighters mixed with Sunni insurgents. The Marines could have took the easy way when they were fired upon from the houses and simply bombed them with air strikes and no one would have said a word but they instead chose to run towards the gun fire from house and assault it in order to reduce collateral damage from an air strike. During the fight to clear the houses is when the civilians died in the crossfire. That is why the Marines are being acquitted one by one and really the only charges I see sticking to anybody would be for not properly investigating what happened.
What I find interesting about the whole Haditha story is how the media doesn’t bother following up with events in Haditha today. The people of Haditha are less concerned about what happened that day than the people in Washington, DC are:
When average Americans hear the word “Haditha,” they are likely to think of the much-publicized 2005 incident involving Marines allegedly murdering 24 Iraqi civilians.
For locals in Haditha, the incident is memorable but not the hot-button issue it is in America, Marines deployed here said. “We’ve asked some of the local nationals who come in here on a daily basis about it,” said Staff Sgt. Andres Quiniones, who works at the Haditha Civil Military Operations Center. “Everyone still remembers it, but we’ve never had anybody come in and start complaining about it. I guarantee it’s talked about more in the States than it is here.” [Stars & Stripes]
People from Haditha may not focus on the incident with the Marines, but they do focus on the massacre perpetuated by Al Qaeda:
When Iraqis in Haditha think of a horrible massacre in their city, they think not of the 2005 episode but rather of 2004 public executions of Iraqi policemen by insurgents, Marines said. In April and November 2004, Marines in Haditha were sent to Fallujah to participate in the now well-known battle. Haditha insurgents waged a killing spree in the Marines’ absence. Insurgents in Haditha murdered local officials and publicly executed several policemen at a soccer field. [Stars & Stripes]
If one needs an idea how the false accusations and media feeding frenzy from Haditha has effected the Marine Corps than get a load this:
As for the Marines on Haditha’s streets, some have taken the extreme measure of wearing helmet video cameras in case they need indisputable proof if their actions are questioned. “I’ve seen squad leaders and Marines with that,” Donnellan said. “It’s disheartening because you feel like they’ve lost their confidence that we’re going to take care of them. When the whole story comes out, they will realize that what’s happening to them and the firefights they’re engaged in are nowhere near any of these kind of accusations.” [Stars & Stripes]
This is what happens when the media and politicians decide to politicize the actions of servicemembers on the ground. The media and their political allies were desperate for an "Iraqi My Lai" in order to bash President Bush with and they thought Haditha was it. Instead it was just a well planned information operations by Al Qaeda to feed the willing American media with what they so desperately wanted to hear. At the end of the day no one in the media or the politicians that falsely condemned the Marines are held accountable while for the Marines careers are ruined, faith in the Corps has been degraded, and servicemembers are left wearing video cameras on their helmets to protect themselves not from Al Qaeda but our own media and politicians. Servicemembers face many dangerous enemies in Iraq, but they shouldn’t be facing dangerous enemies in America either.
HT: Michelle Malkin
