Remember those murdering Haditha Marines?

Remember the Haditha incident where those murdering marines slaughtered all of those innocent Iraqis, then tried to cover it up all the way to the White House? It was all fact, right? I mean, John Murtha said it was, right? After being the leading story at every major news outlet for weeks (before any actual investigations took place), the follow-ups should be huge news and making headlines all over the world, ...right? 

Well, I guess getting buried on page 10 of the Washington Post will have to do:

   Marine Corps Exonerates Captain in Iraq Killings

   By Josh White
   Wednesday, September 19, 2007; A10

   A  U.S. Marine company commander who led the unit that killed as many as 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha, Iraq, has had all criminal charges against him dismissed nearly two years after the shootings occurred.

Marine Corps officials announced yesterday that Capt. Lucas M. McConnell no longer faces two counts of dereliction of duty in allegedly not investigating the Nov. 19, 2005, shootings and not reporting up his chain of command. Three senior officers above McConnell received administrative punishments this month for their own actions and inactions after the incident.

McConnell, who was not at the scene of the killings, has long maintained that he and the Marines of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, reported the incident to higher authorities and that he thought the shootings were part of an appropriate response to a complex insurgent attack. In the incident, a Marine squad killed a group of Iraqis on a roadside immediately after a huge bomb killed a member of their unit, and members of the squad then raided nearby homes, killing women and children as they hunted for the enemy.

The dismissal of the charges, officially dated Sept. 12, amounts to a full exoneration for McConnell, who was one of four officers charged with crimes related to the aftermath of the shootings.

“It’s long overdue,” said Kevin McDermott, McConnell’s civilian attorney. “It is clear that everything these guys knew went up the chain of command.”

Another captain — a battalion lawyer — was also cleared.

 

OH YEA, SOME OTHER GUY WAS CLEARED, TOO.

Published Thursday, September 20, 2007 9:24 AM by chefinfidel

Comments

# re: Remember those murdering Haditha Marines?

Thursday, September 20, 2007 9:48 AM by Desechado

Thanks for bringing this to the site. Just a thought to those who still think the Marine(s) should be prosecuted. What would you do if you were trained to kill. You were surrounded by possible enemy. A bomb goes off, blowing the head off your buddy. You see people in the area that "look" suspicious. Then as you are looking for the bastards that killed your buddy and tried to kill you, you run across people who "may" be harboring them. During this whole time, your adrenaline is pumping double time, your scared because any moment you may be next to meet you maker, or worse, another of your buddies may bite the dust. What would you do?

# re: Remember those murdering Haditha Marines?

Thursday, September 20, 2007 9:49 AM by Splittfinger

Murtha is an anti-american idiot.  At some point i lose respect for his service in the earlier wars because his actions are now so damaging for the country now.

# re: Remember those murdering Haditha Marines?

Thursday, September 20, 2007 11:47 AM by Rcougar

Murtha and many of the other Democratic leaders are blinded by ambition and power and will do and say what ever they think will get them that power.

# re: Remember those murdering Haditha Marines?

Thursday, September 20, 2007 12:29 PM by Jack Russell

This handily brings us to the point that involves such American war heroes like John McCain, John Murtha, Jim Webb and Chuck Hagel, among others.  All of these men handled themselves well in combat situations, but because of their service have been given a pass when it comes to their qualifications as politicians.  One does not necessarily support the other.  A great second baseman does not necessarily make a great general manager because of his prowess on the field.

As a point of clarification, John McCain has been a pretty good advocate of winning in Iraq, and as such a pretty good supporter of our troops.  However, as a former Arizona voter and political worker I have many reasons to find the erstwhile senator to be more deserving of  military cudos than political ones.

As for Jack Murtha, in particular, he is little more than a traitor as a Congressman.  His malfeasance is not just confined to military postures that look like they were taken directly for the John Kerry playbook.  As I see it, he is also among the most corrupt holding political power in Washington today.

When Duke Cunningham (R-CA), another war hero, was convicted of bribery he was kicked out of office.  He should have been.  His military service was not relevant to his political service.

Jack Murtha is currently being sued for slander by some of the Marines whom he accused.  Let's hope his military service is not considered a mitigating factor in his case.