In the last of the U.S. Marine Corps Article 32 hearings on the Haditha incident, claims of a massacre were dealt a fatal blow. How? Because the hearing suggested that murder charges against the squad leader be dropped. In essence, the deaths of civilians at Haditha were ruled a tragic accident that will be dealt with through the military justice system via trial on negligent homicide charges, rather than trying the squad leader of the marines as being criminally liable for those deaths.
The terrorists at Haditha faced the same problem that the Palestinian terrorists at Jenin faced in 2002. They have been unable to win in a straight fight with troops that are highly trained and motivated. American and Israeli troops tend to be among the best in the world on a soldier-for-soldier basis. The terrorists needed a different approach. That approach was to try to make the Americans (or Israelis, as the case could be) look bad while winning. Sometimes, this involves exacting a high price on the attacking force in terms of casualties, but this is difficult against much better troops. More often, it involves creating the impression that the American or Israeli troops are indiscriminate killers, who routinely slaughter civilians. This would boost both recruiting (to avenge a massacre by the Americans/Israelis) and it would also get media play, undercutting the American war effort (by giving opponents of the global war on terror ammunition to demand a withdrawal).
Of course the leader in the effort to smear our troops was Congressman Murtha (D-PA).
No comments:
Post a Comment