A/V May Exhonerate Haditaha Marines

[RustyShacklefor]

Newsmax

"New evidence continues to emerge that U.S. Marines did not wantonly kill Iraqi civilians in Haditha last November - and the soldiers' accounts of what happened are backed up by videotape shot by an ultralight vehicle, NewsMax has learned."

Not all leaks are bad. If the leak were to exhonerate innocent Marines--already damned in the court of public opinion.....Now is the time to come forward. Anonymity ensured.

 

[Capt. Picard]

The reason why the Marines and the US military is dammed in the court of public opinion is that there have been endless incidents of murder, torture and unexplained deaths at their hands. Claiming these guys are innocent without a civilian trial is not going to convince anyone, no one expects the US military to properly convict and punish their own.
This stuff is institutionalised. If your Defence Secretary believes that the Geneva Conventions only apply selectively the rest will also break international and moral law.

 

[contedicavour]

The reason why the Marines and the US military is dammed in the court of public opinion is that there have been endless incidents of murder, torture and unexplained deaths at their hands. Claiming these guys are innocent without a civilian trial is not going to convince anyone, no one expects the US military to properly convict and punish their own.
This stuff is institutionalised. If your Defence Secretary believes that the Geneva Conventions only apply selectively the rest will also break international and moral law.

Yep may be.
If the accusations prove to be true, nobody would have the right to exonerate the US armed forces personnel from their responsibilities.
HOWEVER, given all the atrocities Iraqis are committing on one another (as the daily massacres prove...), I'm wondering how the US armed forces are managing to remain cool-headed at all
When you are being shot at daily by adversaries who don't give a damn of the value of a human being, you may stop behaving "morally".

 

[Red aRRow]

Yep may be.
If the accusations prove to be true, nobody would have the right to exonerate the US armed forces personnel from their responsibilities.
HOWEVER, given all the atrocities Iraqis are committing on one another (as the daily massacres prove...), I'm wondering how the US armed forces are managing to remain cool-headed at all
When you are being shot at daily by adversaries who don't give a damn of the value of a human being, you may stop behaving "morally".

Nobody asked the US for an invasion in the first place now did they?? You're acting as if the invaders are all innocent.

 

[contedicavour]

Nobody asked the US for an invasion in the first place now did they?? You're acting as if the invaders are all innocent.

Nobody asked the US for an invasion ? Noooo... only the hundreds of thousands who got killed or imprisoned by a tyrannical regime because they dared object or didn't belong to the same religion or family... remember what happened after the 1991 war ! The US was actually accused of not helping Shiites by going all the way to Baghdad...

Anyway I'm not interested in debating politics on this site.
My point was human reaction of military personnel in a highly hostile environment. I'm not justifying anybody for criminal acts, just putting it into perspective. You need to live certain experiences before you can judge.
I remember my grandparents' stories (in WW2 Italian Army, then partisans during '43-'45).