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The Killings in Haditha
Tonight "60 Minutes" broadcast an interview with a Marine Sergeant, who is charged with the unjustified killing of 24 Iraqis in Haditha. I was only able to watch a few minutes of the interview, before becoming angry beyond belief at the true criminal behind those killings, George W. Bush, President of the USA.
The Sergeant being charged was in his first ever live "combat", when this occurred. He was trained as a Marine to engage a military enemy, with rules of combat appropriate to that. He was not trained to do police work. When the men he was responsible for were attacked and one of them blown to pieces by a bomb, his training took over, and he sought the "enemy". When he found that enemy, or someone he had to believe was the "enemy", he acted to make sure no more of his men were killed, which is his responsibility. The subsequent house raids that resulted in more killings of Iraqis can easily be criticized in retrospect, but I doubt that any trained military put in that position would have done any differently.
Of course the real criminal is George W. Bush, who ordered the unjustified attack on Iraq, and has adamantly refused to remove American troops, now that any reasonable goals of the attack have been met. Bush has not acted as any ordinary human being would if in that position.
The day has to come when this criminal gets the justice he deserves. I hope Obama will be the one to make sure that happens, but the odds are overwhelming that he wont.
Comments (5)
Hoppy,
Get with the program! What are the lives of few hundred thousand Iraqis and several thousand Americans when it comes to the much greater imperative: keeping American politicians in office?
August 24, 2008 10:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's going to talk a decade to get out of this mess. Times like this I wonder how people can vote for a guy who is quoted as saying "there will be more wars, sorry to say but more wars"
August 24, 2008 10:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
What is so disgusting about Iraq is that is isn't a war at all. It is a botched occupation after the war. We keep heavily armed Marines and Army personnel there, even though there is no "army" to fight. Everyone else there, with few exceptions, is an Iraqi civilian. So, it is a given that we are killing civilians.
Now that Obama has thoroughly broken the ice on the subject of a withdrawal schedule, Bush has had to adopt such a schedule himself, although he carefully made his ending date far in the future. So, because of Bush, and only Bush, we will be killing a lot more civilians in Iraq. But, we are trying this one sergeant as if he is somehow responsible for Bush's criminality.
I'm finally cooling off a little, but watching that 60 Minutes segment really blew my blood pressure through the roof.
August 24, 2008 11:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
I watched it also, in it's entirety with tears streaming down my face. As horrible were the actions and decisions of this young soldier so was the way he was trained. If you didn't see it, 60 minutes also interviewed a more "seasoned" Marine sargeant who contradicted most of the decisions that Wuterich made--how can two men "lead" in the same army and have different understandings as to what "IDing the enemy" means? I weep for the Iraqi people and the troops, as well. Obscene f*cking war!
August 25, 2008 8:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
You all are right to be disgusted with what our civilian "leadership" and complicit military commanders are doing with this young Marine and the rest of our servicemembers.
August 27, 2008 5:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
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