...Anyone with a shred of human decency approaches this with the utmost gravity. Those of us who support the troops and the war they are fighting have a special responsibility not to sugarcoat, minimize or marginalize any wrongdoing by those troops.
But, conversely, those who are exercising their right to speak ill of the war and the Americans fighting it have a responsibility not to allow their anti-war venom to inflame their assessments of bad moments in the war's history.
That track record is forever blemished by the absurd overreaction to Abu Ghraib, a prison scandal that was bad enough if treated objectively. The wheels of justice turned, and prices are being paid for humiliating detainees outside the protocols of interrogation.
But the day Sen. Ted Kennedy equated American misdeeds at that prison with the unspeakable torture that had happened there under Saddam, the reputation of war criticism was deservedly damaged beyond easy repair.
And now we have Mr. Murtha, barely able to contain the spring in his step as he basks in the grisly particulars.
"This is the kind of war you have to win the hearts and minds of the people," he said this weekend. "And we're set back every time something like this happens."
He should know a thing or two about setbacks, having inflicted so many with his own derisive tongue...
Ghosts of Haditha
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