Dealing with Haditha

[Merv Benson]

This is not writen to excuse what is alleged to have happened at Haditha, but to explain in part how the enemy bears some responsiblity. It is not because they exploded a booby trap and killed a Marine that they bear some of the responsibility. That is part of war and it is never an excuse for killing non combatants. However, the enemy in Iraq has consistently camoflaged himself as a civilian and this has endangered all civilians in Iraq, when our forces are trying to respond to his attacks. The media has consistently avoided this violation of the rules of war and of the Geneva Convention. It appears that some Marines are going to be charged with using this enemy violation of the rules of war to engage in their own violations of the rules of war.

I will be shocked if anyone in the chain of command above the squad level approved of such actions, but if they did the military justice system will deal with them. It looks like the action was that of one fire team of four men according to the LA Times reporting I have seen. It is hard to imagine that the other members of the squad did not know what, if anything, was happening, though.

We will never excuse this type of violation, nor should we continue to excuse the enemy's blatant violations that had a part in precipitating the action.