War is Hell

As such we owe our fighting men and women the benefit of the doubt. We cannot excuse cruel or abhorrent actions of the misguided few but we can give the military as a whole a little leeway. The recent events in Haditha, Iraq bring that home. We have seen instances like this in every war. When people are put under the stress of combat and witness the killings of their comrades in arms, things can sometimes snap. We have no way of knowing what went on in Haditha and should wait for the whole story to come out before passing judgement. Congressman John Murtha (D- Pelosi) appears to be enjoying his role in the publicizing of this story a little too much and should be ashamed of himself, especially as a former Marine.

Every war has had such tragedies that while not excusable, are at least understandable. I have linked a recent finding about such an incidence at No Gun Ri during the Korean war. A recent AP story chronicles how it was US policy at the time to fire warning shots at refugees attempting to cross the lines and of they did not heed the warning, to shoot the refugees themselves. A big worry was that the North Korean soldiers would be hiding among the civilians.

[Discuss over at Biloxi]