The New York Times had a disturbing story yesterday about the on-going investigation into an incident in Haditha, Iraq last year. There are allegations that some U.S. Marines committed war crimes, specifically that they murdered civilians, while conducting an operation there. There will be an official report released in the next few weeks apparently and I don't have anything to say about this specific incident until we get more details. But the story is warning that there's at least some truth to the allegations and it feels like we are being prepared for bad news. I hope not, but if it is then we just have to face it for what it is. If crimes were committed, I expect the military justice system to address them and I think they will. It's the right thing to do morally and as painful as it is, it's better for the military in the long run to deal with it forthrightly.
I was a little taken aback though at this quote in the article:
"If the accounts as they have been alleged are true, the Haditha incident is likely the most serious war crime that has been reported in Iraq since the beginning of the war," said John Sifton, of Human Rights Watch. "Here we have two dozen civilians being killed — apparently intentionally. This isn't a gray area. This is a massacre."
Really? More serious than the bombing that occurred last September in Baghdad that killed at least 88?
A suicide car bomber struck as day laborers gathered to find work in a Shiite neighborhood in north Baghdad, killing at least 88 people and wounding 227 in the deadliest of a series of attacks in the Iraqi capital Wednesday. Al-Qaida in Iraq reportedly claimed responsibility.
I mention that not to diminish the seriousness of what may have happened in Haditha. One does not justify or diminish the other. There is an important distinction here that should be noted though. We investigate and prosecute our soldiers who violate the rules of engagement. For the barbarians in Iraq, the Baathists, the Islamists, the criminals, massacres are the rules of engagement. Those of us who supported the war, and I continue to support it, need to be ready to accept some lumps of outrage if an atrocity did in fact take place in Haditha. We should accept that and not try to excuse anything.
I will not accept though, that an atrocity by a small group of Marines invalidates everything we are attempting and have accomplished in Iraq. Nor will I accept that there is some kind of moral equivalency in our efforts there and those who we are fighting. You can fuzz it up quite a bit, but it really boils down to there are two sides in Iraq:
The side which uses massacres as a tactic and rewards and celebrates the perpetrators, and the side that prosecutes the perpetrators.
So I have a question, and if you answer neither, I think the practical effect is to support the barbarians. You have to choose:
Which side are you on?
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