Posted by
John Kuethe on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 11:05:19 AM
Looking back to May 2006 we can recall that the witch hunt that surrounded the firefight in Haditha Iraq . Congressman Murtha, D-Pa and a former Marine, publicly seemed to make it his personal mission to bring the Marines involved in the firefight to justice for allegedly killing innocent civilians in cold blood.
On May 31, 2006, the Los Angeles Times editorially bellowed, "What happened at the Iraqi My Lai ?" The charge was that on Nov. 19, 2005, the Marines of Kilo Company, Third Battalion, First Marine Regiment, had gone on a killing rampage in the town of Haditha in Anbar province. The rampage was said to be in response to the killing by IED of one of their comrades.
That May, Rep. Murtha, D-Pa., vowed at a press conference an investigation would prove "our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood." Investor’s Business Daily
There is an old saying when it comes to the court system; “the wheels turn slowly, but they do turn”. In this case, the system has run its course and the Marines have been exonerated. Logically this was the only possible conclusion that would have made sense. This is a war in which the enemy is dressed in civilian clothes at all times; they do not wear uniforms or fight with honor. Had this case resulted in convictions of the participants in the Haditha firefight it would have set a disastrous precedent.
Imagine trying to fight a war against an enemy that steps out from the civilian population, wearing no military uniform of any kind, takes a shot at you and then blends back in to the crowd. This, in and of itself, is a frightening scenario which is being played out daily in Iraq. Now, incorporate into this scenario a set of handcuffs that will restrict a soldier’s very ability to fight this war effectively. When your military is more concerned with a possible lynching at the hands of the media and possibly become the scapegoat for political agendas, they will not be able to fight an effective war.
I feel that we should take the hand cuffs off completely and let our military fight this war and win it at all costs. The misguided attempt to fight a delicate has probably prolonged this conflict much longer than necessary. When we went into battle the President had the support of Congress and it seemed as if we were going in strong. Then politics worked its way into the equation and our troops were made to fight political opinion at home as well as the enemy abroad. Take off the kid gloves and fight this war to win already!