Dr. Laurie Roth
Haditha & Other Slander Against Our Troops
January 29, 2009
 

Do you remember the Haditha “incident” that happened a few years back, or was it Nightmare on Elm Street? Let’s recall some of the many words used by our media, Time magazine and others in describing this event.

“Our marines slaughtered 24 Civilians...”

“They were seeking revenge...”

“Their actions were criminal...”

“They were murderers...”

“This may be one of the gravest violations of the law of war ever...”

It goes on and on...

One thing I remember for certain about the news coverage about Haditha is that they did cover the 8 arrests of the “very bad Marines” and compared this event to the “evil Abu Ghraib.” See how our unruly, revenge seeking troops are!

Allegedly, they lost it after a roadside bomb struck one of their trucks and killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, 20 of El Paso. Eight Marines who ended up being charged and facing potential court martial, went bonkers and wanted revenge, so we were to believe; they suddenly lost site of their training, morals, integrity and track records as soldiers and couldn’t wait to go room to room finding scared women and children in order to murder them.

One of the most notorious quotes was from Rep. John Murtha, (D-PA). Among other things he said “The Marines overreacted...and killed innocent civilians in cold blood.” Thank you for sharing your disloyal, betraying and UN-American opinion Mr. Murtha. You should be ashamed!

With the Time Magazine examination and media noise, the military investigations went politically correct. After all, the war is controversial and the international community is looking on so we have to be ever so slanted and careful! Hell, for the 8 charged Marines, had begun. The media, having done their usual damage to our troops disappeared, to the next news story.

Interestingly enough, over the last few years, as 8 marines were tarred and feathered as criminals, facing career ruin and court martial, investigations disproved the shocking claims of murder and crazed desire for revenge. 7 of the 8 soldiers involved in the Haditha “incident have been exonerated and proven innocent. Put more succinctly, the charges were dropped!

Do any of you remember the same attention to detail and national news coverage when the investigations were done and acquittals were flying around? Of course not. No one cares that Mr. Murtha was slanderously wrong; that the media was dead wrong; that Time Magazine was maliciously wrong and those looking for any excuse to attack the war in Iraq were dead wrong!!!!

There is no evidence suggesting our troops intentionally attacked or murdered anyone. In fact, the Islamists and Jihadists they were fighting put their bombs and battlefield right in the middle of a civilian area, with plenty of women and children. This is normal procedure, understanding their military strategies and “rules of engagement.” The known truth late in the mix is that this was a tragic event in a war zone where civilians were in the line of fire as planned and manipulated by the enemy!

This drama is not quite over yet. There is one gallant and brave soldier left facing a court martial that hasn’t been released, Sergeant Frank Wuterich.

Just this week I talked at length with his attorney, Neal Pucket, who said that, as with the other acquitted soldiers, the prosecutors had no proof that any ill-intent occurred. Indeed, the case seems flimsy at best, but as political correctness goes, perhaps the military powers that be want to find a fall guy whether it is right or wrong. After all, one of the 8 marines should pay so the politically correct can kiss up to international sensitivities and cowardly Murtha types. This nightmare has cost Sergeant Wuterich, his marriage, job and career, and leveled him financially in an effort to simply fight the charges.