Mary Katherine Ham has an important post up at Hugh Hewitt’s blog about the Haditha Marines and how many on both aisles of the political spectrum are starting to convict these guys before the investigation/trial has even begun…ala Murtha.
The Post has been unable to get anyone from the Pentagon on the record on the investigation, using mostly anonymous sources. The one man they did get on the record on Friday was retired Brig. Gen. David H. Brahms, a Long-time lawyer with the Marine Corps who has experience with these types of cases. His quote is in the third paragraph. See if you can guess why the prominent first-quote placement:
“When these investigations come out, there’s going to be a firestorm,” said retired Brig. Gen. David M. Brahms, formerly a top lawyer for the Marine Corps. “It will be worse than Abu Ghraib — nobody was killed at Abu Ghraib.”
I have a feeling someone was lying in wait for an Abu Ghraib reference. I read the quote and was taken aback because I spoke to the same Brig. Gen. David M. Brahms about the case this week, and his sentiments were very different from those presented in the Post. Which explains why he sent me this statement yesterday:
“Recent reporting on the events in Haditha, Iraq have included significant factual errors and/or misleading statements. This includes a quote attributed to me in the Washington Post this morning that was taken completely out of context and its meaning distorted. Many facts that are favorable to the Marines involved have not yet been disclosed.”
When Brahms and I spoke, he made it clear that his concern is that the Marine Corps do a thorough investigation and punish severely those who did wrong, if in fact it is found that they did. He feels confident that will happen. His other concern is that the Marines involved get a fair trial in a highly politicized environment:
“The worst thing that can happen in a case of this kind is to have it politicized…that’s exactly what has happened here. They’re leaking a story which is yet unwritten.”
“It’s not normal to have a Member of Congress to decide to have hearings, at least while this whole business is in flux.”
“I think there has been (a rush to judgement)…This has got to impact the fairness of the procedure.”
“We’ll get more precise information. Let’s kind of step back, let’s try to realize that there’s another side of this story…People accused may be guys like my son and your brothers.”
“The problem is, of course, that everybody’s got a political agenda…in the middle are a group of American Marines.”
Those quotes are all taken from a phone interview I did with Brahms this week.
Brahms confirmed what press reports have said, that charges in two investigations– an NCIS investigation of the incident itself and an Army investigation of whether there was a cover-up of the incident– are likely to come in mid- to late-June or July, with military justice proceedings in August.
Brahms did mention Abu Ghraib during our conversation. He’s hoping Haditha does not turn out to be a similar black mark on the American military and the war effort in Iraq. He’s also hoping press coverage won’t make Haditha a black mark even before the investigations are complete.
If indeed Marines acted out of line, they will be punished, he said, and he’s confident the Corps will be circumspect in its investigations. Three commanders were sacked in the immediate aftermath of the incident.
Folks on the anti-war Left are crowing that Friday’s leaks mean “Murtha was right,” as Oliver Willis put it.
Well, no. Murtha said Marines murdered civilians in cold blood. The leaks say Marines may be charged with murder in the case. We’ve got charges and a trial to go before Murtha can be right.
All Mary did was pick up the phone and speak to someone who was quoted in the paper and guess what? As usual the guy was taken out of context. We all know why. So the MSM can make this the next My Lai, so some reporter can make his career by convicting these guys.
This Washington Post article is one such example. They spoke to “eye witnesses” who describe a house to house massacre and then the shooting of a taxi full of men. But then they acknowledge some people say the taxi incident happened first and some people say a 500lb bomb was dropped on a house. The “eyewitnesses” are only identified as residents of the town but remember Haditha is right smack in the middle of a Sunni hotbed of terrorists. Could the “witnesses” have an agenda all their own?
It’s all conjecture until this investigation and trial has occurred but people are already convicting these guys.
Rick at Right Wing Nut House points out how adept Al-Qaeda is at spreading misinformation:
I have written in the past about the attempts of Al Qaeda in Iraq and the Sunni insurgent’s attempts to spread disinformation about American forces and their operations. This effort is not only sophisticated by any standards, but also meets with some success due to the way that major media in Iraq is forced to cover the war.
I will not criticize the correspondents who are forced by the nature of the conflict and their nationality to remain in the Green Zone, having to rely on local “stringers” and other Iraqis for stories. But the danger in spreading al Qaeda propaganda in their almost total reliance on this system is so obvious that one can legitimately question their methods of confirmation.
And then he points out the same thing I have been saying.
I am struck by the way this story has been embraced so uncritically, especially by those who question everything else about the war including the rationale for it.
I wonder why the anti-American left would embrace this story? I think we know the answer to that.
Our servicemen and women deserve to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. They have risked everything to serve our country, for this they deserve our support until it’s proven they deserve nothing.
Earlier Posts:
The Dishonorable Murtha
Because Time Has Pictures
The Haditha Marines
The Dishonorable Murtha, Update
The Haditha Marines, Update
Other’s Blogging:
Our servicemen and women deserve to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. They have risked everything to serve our country, for this they deserve our support until it’s proven they deserve nothing.
See author page
