This time it will be different

The first article that I read this morning in connection with Haditha was this piece by Tony Blankley. What hits especially close is how he describes the fallout from the hysteria over Abu Ghraib.

From Blankleys' article:

"No other military force in history has been so tightly limited in its defensive actions. And probably no other military force has been sufficiently disciplined to maintain such restrictive rules in the heat of combat. God bless our troops -- if not necessarily the policy that so restricts them.

For the parents, wives, husbands and children of our young warriors who are killed because they followed the restrictive rules and didn't fire first, this is a damned bitter pill to swallow -- whatever the geopolitical wisdom of it.

But what further cuts is to listen to media people casually perpetrate libel against not just the still-presumed-innocent Marines but against our services more generally."

Blankley has obviously spoken with members of military families.

However, I don't share Blankley's assessment that Haditha will: "likely to do vast damage that may last for several years to the morale (and possibly recruitment) of our military. It will create a propaganda catastrophe of strategic proportions in our mortal struggle with radical Islam and its terrorist spear point."

Here's why...the public has become mostly disengaged to the Global War on Terror, save a passing interest about 17 alleged Islamic terrorists who were arrested in Canada this week. Having become inured by photos of burning humvees, dead Iraqi's, and Lynndie England pointing to naked Iraqi detainees, the general American public is not shocked by stories of Marines shooting civilians in Haditha. And sadly, they could barely care less.

I will make a prediction: within a few weeks, my hope - that the name "Haditha" will fall to less than 200 in a daily Google News search - will be fulfilled. At that time, this blog will be retired.

Let's watch how this plays out.