must just be your "soundbite" for the day!...
Sorry if I misconstrued the intention of your post.. but it seemed to be the logical conclusion of your 'innocents are not always innocents' reasoning, and your statement: I'll leave the innocent part up to those who were there in the situation at the moment and not to some PR dude who's tring to pander to those back here.
Notice that my original post on the topic dealt with the military reaction, not the news reports. I don't buy into the press unless there is compelling evidence to do so. Recently, there have been numerous reports of such incidents coming out of Iraq, not just from the press but from military and Iraqi officals as well. Are the accurate? Maybe, maybe not, but look at the military reaction to them!
The inital military report blamed the killings on a roadside bomb followed by firefight with insurgants. The military has now stated that was inaccurate and didn't happen, and is planning on filing charges against those involved, and not just for the incident in Haditha, but others as well. Army Brig. General Donald Campbell, the chief of staff of the Multinational Corps-Iraq, said "It doesn't excuse the acts that have occurred, and we're going to look into them. But I would say it's stress, fear, isolation and, in some cases, they're just upset. They see their buddies getting blown up on occasion, and they could snap". There are at least three or four incidents being investigated according to Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, spokesman for U.S.-led forces in Iraq. It may well be cases of colateral damage, but you usually don't press charges unless there is some substance to the claims.
But now, the military is going to begin 'ethics' training as a result. To me, that doesn't seem like an action to be taken if there wasn't a problem. A much more reasonable apporoach would be to conclude the investigations and THEN decide on an action to take if necessary. Why spend the time and effort otherwise?
If you didn't drink, and your neighbors started talking about you having a drinking problem, would you go and sign up for AA?
Cheers,
Brad
