Send a trackback, leave a comment, and join me in pondering why no one seems all that concerned that the US military is dropping charges against officers involved in the Haditha massacre cover up.

24 innocent men, women, and children were killed, and the Marines didn’t bother investigating. You all remember Haditha don’t you, the place where

A US marine told a court yesterday that he had “pissed” on the head of one of 24 dead Iraqi civilians killed by his unit and watched a superior officer kill five Iraqis as they tried to surrender.

[…..]

He said he watched how his squad leader, Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, shot five Iraqis who were trying to surrender and then told his men to lie about the killings.

“They were just standing, looking around, had hands up,” Sgt Dela Cruz said. “Then I saw one of them drop in the middle. I didn’t know what was going on, sir. Looked to my left, saw Staff Sergeant Wuterich shooting.”

The Iraqi civilians had been standing by a white car with their hands interlocked behind their heads when they were shot, Sgt Dela Cruz says.

“He [St Sgt Wuterich] told me that if anybody asked, they were running away and the Iraqi army shot them,” Sgt Dela Cruz said.

After the five men died, a team of marines led by St Sgt Wuterich allegedly attacked two houses with grenades and gunfire in an effort to find insurgents. The dead included women, children and the elderly.

The military judge apparently believes that “difficult battle conditions and an enemy whose forces hid among civilians” is as good an excuse as any employing the shoot ‘em all and let god sort them out philosophy that results in killing women and children and men with their hands locked behind their heads who are trying to surrender.

This is one of the many reasons that the United States of America has failed in Iraq, these are the forces of good your favorite upper-right-quadrant radio hosts and bloggers are talking about, and this is what America has accepted from their government and their military.