A few people have emailed me regarding this piece in the American Thinker. It refers to the work being done over at Sweetness & Light.
The article starts: "Evidence accumulates of a hoax in Haditha. The weblog Sweetness & Light has done an estimable service gathering together the articles which cast substantial doubt on the charge of a massacre of civilians at Haditha . Because the blog is too busy gathering and fisking the news, I offered and the publisher accepted my offer to put what he has uncovered in a narrative form.
Having done so, I can tell you that the story has a whiff of yet another mediagenic scandal like the TANG memos or the Plame “outing.” While the Marines quite correctly will not comment on the case pending the outcome of their investigation, I am not bound by those rules, and I will sum up the story for you."
Based on interviews that are the basis for these New York Times and Washington Post articles, we can be pretty sure that up to 24 Iraqi's were killed on November 19, 2005. We are not certain who did the killing, but it is alleged that it was U.S. Marines. A military investigation is underway.
There was evidence enough for the military to check it out. Let us hope that the investigation will show the evidence points not to the U.S. Marines who are accused of this terrible crime but to the terrorists who populated this tragic city.
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I don't think there is any question of them being killed after the Marines were attacked and that they were killed by the actions of the Marines.
The why and how are the important questions.
The rules of engagement say that if the Marine is in fear of losing his life he can fire.
He is expected to take due care and not kill innocents.
Take it from me, I've been there, when you are being shot at, you return fire.
The Marines have been instructed to not fire into civilians in order to kill the enemy. This is what they do, they hide behind civilians, women and children and attack our troops.
Also, in a house, or other enclosed places, bullets don't always go where they are aimed, they bounce and can change directons and they do go through walls.
Bottom line, don't draw any conclusions from the condition of the bodies as shown by video or even by examination without it being done by an artopsy, by a qualified person without any political or cultural knife to grind.
Even if they are shown to be shot with 5.56mm (which our troops use). Because the enemy has access to U.S. weapons and ammo.
Also it is possible to tell if the civilians were shot after they were already dead. But only by a qualified tech and only if they let us have the bodies for examination.
Last, I don't know if it has been proven if bombs or missiles were involved.
But if they were, the civilians could have been killed by the concussion alone, not even requiring a direct hit. In that case an examination of the bodies would revel that.
I know this from first hand knowledge. One of my buds was killed from a blast and the only sign of damage was blood coming out of his nose and ears.
Lets hope that we can get the bodies for examination, and that they are the RIGHT bodies.
Remember, the culture of Iraqis is different than ours. Truth is not seen as we see it, the results are all that matter to them.
Also remember, the "insurgents" control that town. The residents are more afraid of them than they are of us. They will do and say whatever the insurgents tell them to do.
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
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