If what the witnesses are saying is true (and I’m not disputing them), there is no excuse.

Comments that follow the post that contains this quote make me wonder if we will ever (a) know the truth and (b) believe it, whatever it may be.

“…But if the evidence shows that this was not done mistakenly, and that for whatever reason innocents were killed on purpose then I reiterate my hope that all responsible rot in hell. First for the lives that they stole and second for the disgrace they have brought upon all serving honorably…”

From what I’ve seen & heard, though, it’s not looking good for the Marine squad that did this.

My heart bleeds for that little girl. How will she ever recover from this? And, yes, I have sympathy for those sent in to clean up the mess made by others. They do not (necessarily) deserve to be tarred by the same brush unless they were part of the team that participated in this.

Wow. If accurate, scary. However, if Michael Yon is accurate, not so scary. F*ck. Ideological preferences aside, how is one to know which is “more” accurate? One (at least THIS one) has to assume that it’s somewhere in the middle, which means a hell of a lot more atrocities than I’d like but less that you believe. Oh, yay, cause for celebration (not). My preference re: # of atrocities is the same as yours: none.

I like this site as he is an Iraqi journalist living in Iraq. He bounces between elation and massive depression over what has happened to his country, but is (a) on the ground and (b) knows what was, what is, and has (I’m guessing) a good idea of what shall be based on what’s happening daily. Granted, it’s a snapshot of his little corner of the world vs the big picture, but I see it as a (tiny) barometer of what’s going on there. Which, sadly (IMHO), is not the epitome of democracy that I’d like to see. One of those “be careful what you ask for” kind of situations.

However, IF the people of the country freely elect a guy that wants to stop men from wearing shorts and women from being seen in public, WTF can we do about it? Legally, I mean.

I’m hoping that Afghanistan will be different (as it is a different situation, IMHO) but who knows? It would sure help if the friggin’ Americans would learn how to drive, but posts I’ve seen on the “right” side say the protests in Kabul were organized (i.e. they were looking for an excuse to riot and were provided one by the accident) whereas I’m sure you’d probably call “BS,” and again, the truth lies somewhere in between.

Something tells me that NO copious amount of Scotch consumed by either you or me or both of us will solve this particular riddle. Which is really too bad, because I’ve always been of the belief that good Scotch can solve anything.

As for the “horrible mistake” remark you made, I’ve never been in combat, although I certainly have been in high stress “fight or flight” situations in a purely civilian mode. The brain is a pretty weird & wonderful thing, and based on my readings of this blog over the past year, I’m giving him credit where credit is due. B5 tends to call BS appropriately (IMHO, maybe not yours) when due, so I’m assuming that he, personally (or Jimbo, who I think is a guest blogger, I forget) truly disagrees with the concept of what this “My Lai Iraq-version” story is turning out to be.

As for the 0.1% number, get real. What, something like 4 or 5% of the population is schizophrenic (diagnosed or otherwise) and (I’m guessing on this #) probably another 5-10% are diagnosable with other disorders. So 0.1% is a bit of a dream, particularly when you look at stats that say cops may be more likely to abuse spouses, than others, one has to assume (correctly or not) that those attracted to policing will be equally attracted to the military. Food for thought.