Exploiting Haditha Before it Happened and After

Seems to me that Mark Davis gets it right in his column in the Dallas News on the Haditha:

Anyone with a shred of human decency approaches this with the utmost gravity. Those of us who support the troops and the war they are fighting have a special responsibility not to sugarcoat, minimize or marginalize any wrongdoing by those troops. But, conversely, those who are exercising their right to speak ill of the war and the Americans fighting it have a responsibility not to allow their anti-war venom to inflame their assessments of bad moments in the war's history. That track record is forever blemished by the absurd overreaction to Abu Ghraib, a prison scandal that was bad enough if treated objectively. The wheels of justice turned, and prices are being paid for humiliating detainees outside the protocols of interrogation...............

I'm hugely supportive of our military and the job they are doing in the GWOT. That said, if our forces killed innocent people, then it should be investigated and if anyone is guilty then they should be punished. I sympathize with how one could become fed up with the vicious attacks by insurgent and how seeing a member of your team get blown-up could boil over into a call for revenge. However, that can't happen nor should it. I don't know that I would have the restraint, but that is the standard that our troops are held to. Killing innocent people should not occur, regardless.........................

Davis goes on to undress Murtha as he jumps with glee over the latest news:

As President Bush calls on America to display the resolve and patience that have seen us through other wars, Mr. Murtha has led the pack of braying critics casting negative light on our fighting forces, their mission and their motivation. He has led the drumbeat for a retreat before the mission is over. He has questioned the readiness and resolve of our armed forces. And now he has a gift-wrapped tragedy ready for exploitation by any other shameless opportunists willing to join him....

Murtha started exploiting this tragedy almost before it happened...............Like Murtha those against the war and against the GWOT will jump out of their shoes to exploit this tragedy. It has nothing to do with the true reflection this has on the overall effort, it's all about fitting the agenda. Do you think that alliance forces killed innocent Germans during the battles of WWII? Of course it happened, and I'm not justifying it or defending it. My point is that we did not call for retreat then because of one unfortunate event. Nor should we call for and end in Iraq because of this unfortunate event..........................To do so is anti-war agenda and not an objective or sound agenda...........................