Haditha

www.opinionjournal.com ^ | June 2, 2006 | DANIEL HENNINGER

[Mo1]

You knew it had to happen. Haditha, an "incident" involving American troops in Iraq, is now part of the erosion of support for the war in Iraq. The Iraq Syndrome has finally arrived.

This past Monday, Memorial Day, a driver down Manhattan's fast West Side Highway would have slowed at 46th Street to allow the crossing of a constant stream of visitors heading to the USS Intrepid, the aircraft-carrier museum on the Hudson River. It was a beautiful day but a hot day to stand on long lines in the open sun. A small squadron of planes flew up the Hudson in the solemn missing-man formation, with one plane trailing. Amid the sunshine, the chairman of the Intrepid museum, Arnold Fisher, said something to the gathered crowd no one could have expected to hear.

[nuconvert]

"One suspects that U.S. troops were party to some awful events in the Pacific and European theaters of World War II, all gone in the mists of history and the enemy's defeat. Not now. Gen. Chiarelli's magnificent "99.9%" notwithstanding, it's the phenomenon of the so-very-public 0.01%--at Abu Ghraib, on an Afghan street, at Haditha--that is breaking America's will this time."

[bubman]

What troubles me is that if the american soldier feels that its nation will always hang them out to dry when the $hit hits the fan, a Milai over and over, then maybe god forbid they will not fight when asked unless they deem it a worthy fight not because a civilian overseer tells them to fight. Then on that day will be the end of the republic.

Maybe the NYTimes and its ilk can muster up a fighting unit to do the heavy lifting instead. Yeah right!!

[Mo1]

We need to fight back at what some in the media/press are trying to do

[Ike]

Has anybody pointed out that over 100 innocent men, women and children were massacred at Waco, under the orders of our own Justice Dept., to get one man, David Koresh? That the people responsible were never held accountable?
This whole thing makes me sick! Our troops are facing death every day, and the lack of respect in the media ia appalling (sorry, dead horse beating OFF!)

[pierrem15]

Exactly. The author blames the 0.01% of the military for the problem. But the real problem is that the press never covers the 99.9%. The press has consistently portrayed our soldiers as only dumb, 'underclass' victims or dumb, 'underclass' criminals for the past 3 years.

And the 'ethics training' is ridiculous. Troops go berserk when they are hit repeatedly and either the ROE do not allow them to go after the terrorists aggressively enough or they are not being given the means (manpower, armor, air cover) to respond effectively.

The Bush administration is degenerating into complete incompetence and spinelessness before our enemies, both foreign and domestic.

[Blake#1]

We have treason, sedition, etc. laws but don't use them. It may take "private action" to cure the illness.

[slowhand520]

For some reason the left and the MSM have this Utopian view of war where no innocents are ever killed. I guess when we were bombing Kosovo nobody was accidentally killed. I swear I hope that there is no military backlash because these guys are the best and they need our implicit support.

[Austin Willard Wright]

Freepers don't care about the killings at Waco anymore. That was in the "before time" when they still distrusted the federal government.

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

Actually, I remember reading that we killed about 1500 innocent people with our bombing from 5 miles up strategy. Had Bush been President, it would have been all over the NY Slimes.

[nuconvert]

The author isn't blaming "the 0.01% of the military for the problem"

He's blaming the press and the public for being influenced by the press.

[FlipWilson]

I don't know if the author is correct. I simply don't believe we are reliving the Vietnam days when protesters greeted our troops at the airports calling them "baby killers and spitting in their faces." Oh, to be sure there is that element and they are active. But, the American People by and large know that this is an all volunteer armed forces. The American People by and large admire these young men and women who volunteered, especially since most everyone knows someone who has made that bold choice.

What we do know for certain is this. The MSM is a world unto itself. They create their own reality with wish piece reporting that is based on their own wish piece reporting and their polls which by now have been systematically proved to be rigged. Its not a case of seeing a bad poll and crying "foul" or discounting it just because we don't like the results. We have seen the internals where democrats are oversampled by 5-10% and the questions are posed such that no other result than the desired one is possible.

I do believe that the American People are tiring of the War in Iraq. But, I believe they are tiring of not achieving victory. That is starkly different from what the MSM would have us believe, namely, that the American People are tired of U.S. policies, want our defeat and look dis-favorably upon our military. The American People are savvy enough to tell the difference between wanting a successful conclusion in Iraq and actively promoting the victory of our enemies. But, the polls never probe for this difference. Instead, the polls ask the simple question of whether one wants our troops out. Well, who the hell doesn't, but the REAL question is, under what conditions?

The author misses one more fundamental difference between today and Vietnam, and it is an important one. There is an alternative media that has a power of its own. The more biased and one sided the so called MSM is, the more fuel for the alternative or new media's fire. Whether it carries the day or not, the alternative perspective is being put forth and the MSM is being challenged.

I say, let the MSM overplay its hand and cast every brave man or woman wearing the uniform of their country as a tyrant or poor victim who had no choice but to become a tyrant. At the end of the day, I have faith that the result of this attack will not be an erosion of American will, but a further and continuing erosion of the so called "main stream" media's credibility.

[Tired of Taxes]

One suspects that U.S. troops were party to some awful events in the Pacific and European theaters of World War II,

Absolutely. I had three uncles plus one aunt and her husband who served in WWII. Of the five, three are alive, and they still won't talk about it. My father was too young to serve at the time, but later he knew a WWII veteran who served in the Pacific. After the Vietnam stories began surfacing, this man told my father that he was haunted by one incident: They captured some Japanese soldiers, made them dig a hole for their own grave, then shot them and buried them. The man said those Vietnam stories were nothing new. War is not pretty.

[rodguy911]

We need to right back at what some in the media/press are trying to do

Absolutely right MO1! There is a lot more to Haditha than meets the eye. The drive-bys conveniently forget to mention that the place(haditha) has been a terrorist hell-hole for months now.

There have been daily beheadings at a local bridge where five year olds cheer when someone is beheaded. This is the kind of bizarre place our troops have been thrust into.

They deserve, at the very least, a full and comprehensive investigation that takes into account everything that has been going on at haditha including five year olds acting as scouts/lookouts for the terror types.

[xzins]

This is a worthy, just, and necessary fight.

Those who do not support the war do not support the soldier.

It is that simple...no matter what they say.

The soldier needs to know that what he does is just and necessary, because it's so costly, so brutal, so life-demanding (sometimes literally), that the only way to justify one's presence is to believe it is for a greater good.

Take that away, and you've taken away everything.

And not one person has given one sufficient reason why the war effort is not worthy, just, and necessary.

[usmcobra]

It should be always pointed out that no one was ever sent to prison over My Lai, including Lt. Calley who was ordered freed from House arrest after waiting three years for the appeals process to work.

My Lai was a planned attack on suspected Viet Cong strongholds during the height of the Tet Offensive that created Seymour Hersh's journalistic career after he spent hours interviewing Lt. Calley prior to his trial, those interviews Calley gave Hersh allowed him to later try Calley in the press, the rest they say is history.

[StarCMC]

"Mr. Fisher, whose family runs the Fisher House Foundation for the military, suggested that the men and women at arms were being forgotten. And he apologized to them. "I apologize to you for carrying the burden of this nation's commitment to freedom and liberty alone." Mr. Fisher's bitterness over the troops is a Cassandra cry, a portent. But why now?

Opinion polls put support for the war below 40%. Still, it has become obligatory now as a nod across the political spectrum to the corrosive Vietnam Syndrome, to reassure that one's opposition is only to the war, not to the men fighting it.

Really? How does that work? "


WOW -- my question too.

[STARWISE]

Even the military is LEAKING to the NYSlimes!!

"But a senior Marine general familiar with the investigation told the newspaper ``It's impossible to believe they didn't know,'' referring to mid-level and senior officers. ``You'd have to know this thing stunk,'' the general, who was granted anonymity along with others who described the investigation, was quoted as saying."

[Eagles6]

Agree with all of what you said.

[attiladhun2]

Including Weasely Wesley Clark, who, as commander of Ft.Hood at the time (and dedicated booty-kissing Clintonite), helped plan the operation that killed those people.