Bush responsible for Haditha murders

Michelle Malkin calls Congressman Murtha “John ‘cut and run’”. Perhaps we should call her “Michelle “murder for fun” Malkin. I can almost understand her defense of the Haditha Marines in her Washington Times op-ed (6-2-06) “Haditha Haste” but I can’t understand her persistent defense of President Bush in starting this war.

Twenty four Iraqi men, women and children intentionally murdered by a handful of US soldiers. That’s the claim. Chances are it may even be accurate. And, it may not even be an isolated incident. With over 30,000 innocent Iraqi’s now dead according to President Bush’s own statement, even to me, these two dozen more Haditha deaths just don’t seem that important.

“Intentionally murdered” seems to be the catch phrase that is gaining them so much media attention. I do trust our military investigators to come out eventually with the facts and to punish those who committed this atrocity IF they are convicted after a fair trail.

Allegations of cover up may or may not be dealt with appropriately. A desire to cover-up such an atrocity is understandable given the immensely negative consequences such an incident will have on troop moral, theater combat resources, future soldier trigger readiness and insurgent recruitment.

Personally, I feel as sorry for the US soldiers involved in this tragedy as I do for the Iraqi family survivors. I don’t think these soldiers should be punished by the military or even turned over to Iraqi authorities for processing. They should be allowed to return home, write their books, inspire movies and sing songs about the hell of War if they can remain sane enough to do so. These soldiers, if they are real men and real Americans, will live in hell until they take their last breath. Even if they are found innocent, they will be shadowed by the accusations and the uncertainty around almost any legal outcome -- the OJ Simpson effect.

What is of more importance in this tragedy is the guilt of those who intentionally started the war in which such incident was inevitable to happen. The instigators of this war did so with the full understanding that with any war there will be collateral damage. Thousands of innocent men, women, children and fetuses maimed and brutally killed no matter how hard good soldiers try to prevent it. In the fog of war, hell happens. Knowing this, anyone who starts a war should be held accountable for such deaths.

When one person kills another innocent person, we call them a murderer. When one person kills twenty people we make them a celebrity. When one person kills thousands we call them President. The poor Marines in Haditha will likely gain unwanted celebrity status. The President however is the real mass murderer. And the really bad news is that the horrors of the Iraqi war and the carnage it brought to the Iraqi people will not remain isolated in Iraq. It will come home to roost in many forms -- in the minds and nightmares of tens of thousands of soldiers and in the hearts and minds of future terrorists.

It will be President Bush who is responsible for this chain reaction of killing that we, our children and perhaps even our children’s children will suffer from. The great question is, will he be held accountable in this life? Conservatives are unlikely to punish their elected leader and us liberals simply fail to respect the intended purpose of the Second Amendment.

Over a hundred metric tons of weapons grade nuclear materials (and many war heads) are currently protected by underpaid (over liquored) Russian troops in the former Soviet Union. It’s only a matter of time before Bin Laden and his boys get their hands a nuclear IED if they don’t already have one. What will be the President’s response to a nuclear detonation in a US city? Which Islamic cities will he retaliate against? How much of our tax dollars will be used for that war crime?

When liberals say “War is not the Answer” perhaps they have thought through the issue a little more than Conservatives give them credit for. The Rule of Law is the answer. It may not be fast or even that efficient, but it’s got War beat all to hell. Just ask the Marines coming home from Haditha to do the Freakin math.