Invincible Armor links us to this excellent recitation of facts by Chickenhawk Express.
So doing the job the media fails to do, here are some of the facts from the Haditha cases.
Did you know that the Article 32 Hearing officer, Lt. Col. Paul Ware, stated "What the evidence points to is that the version of the Iraqis isn't really supported” during the closing of LCpl Justin Sharratt’s hearing?
Did you know that the wounds of the four “civilians” in the last house came from at least 2 feet away, which negates the claims of “execution style”?
Did you know that the witnesses who claimed the four young men were herded into a closet and shot were not even in the home during the firefight?
Did you know that the four “innocent civilians” attempted to kill the Marines with AK-47’s and were stopped only by the quick response of LCpl Sharratt and Sgt. Wuterich?
Did you know that aerial drones filmed the events that occurred on that fateful day in Haditha?
Did you know that footage from a drone shows an insurgent leaving a home carrying a child and attempting to blend in only to be discovered by the Marines due to a bloody ear?
Did you know that intelligence reports prior to November 19 2005 indicated an ambush was planned for that day and a white car would figure prominently in the attack?
Did you know that Lt. William Kallop ordered Sgt. Wuterich to “clear a group of building” south of the bomb crater after arriving on the scene in Haditha?
Did you know that the Armory Officer for Kilo Co received two AK-47s at the ambush site along with a suitcase that contained a million Iraqi dinars and Jordanian passports?
Did you know that Lt. Col Chessani has reported everything he knew about the incident o his superior officers and none called for an investigation?
Did you know that LCpl Justin Sharratt passed a polygraph exam, which was included in the NCIS report but not reported with any of the more lurid leaked information?
Did you know that the Battalion Intelligence Officer’s after action report included photographic evidence, logs of all the day’s radio transmissions and a narrative of the day’s events?
Did you know that the after-action report including a PowerPoint presentation were sent up the command ladder to all the higher officers and not one recommended further investigation?
Did you know that NCIS did no background research on any of the “civilians” killed in Haditha other than checking an insurgent database for the names?
Did you know that NCIS investigators spent approximately 1 hour interviewing the “witnesses” due to the extreme level of violence in Haditha?
Did you know that the “budding journalism student” responsible for the video at the root of the investigation was known to be part of the anti-government, anti-American Sunni insurgent sympathizers inhabiting Haditha a year prior to November 19, 2005?
Of course you didn’t know about any of the above facts. Instead, the media has focused on the Marine who testified that he urinated on the dead body of an Iraqi. They have reported the claims of photos showing powder burns without ever examining the bodies. The media would rather tell you about wounds to the head and equate them to execution style killings.
Seven Marines and their families have been subjected to poison arrows thrown by the media, blowhard politicians and the anti-war crowd. Their finances have been depleted & their lives a constant turmoil… All because of a political agenda that can only survive by plying the public with massive doses of propaganda. What did these Marines do to deserve such an injustice? They served their country in a time of war and defended their lives in a kill or be killed situation. The only thing cold-blooded and out of control in this whole Haditha incident has been the attempt to score political points by those pointing fingers at the Marines. But don’t count on any of that to be reported in the media.
In truth, only a militarily strong, traditional, and capitalist United States can keep its critics, here and abroad, safe and well off enough to allow them their rage over knowing that the utopian world they prefer won’t work.
Here at home, if we keep paying out petrobribes to unsavory nations, piling up debt to China and Japan, run serial deficits, lose Iraq, and accept stalemate in Afghanistan, surge to 20 million or so illegal immigrants, and suffer another 9/11 attack, then expect the world to become a far more dangerous place, as a poorer, more isolationist America retreats inside an ever thinner, more fragile shell.
In contrast, stabilize Iraq and Afghanistan, stop the nuclearization of Iran, cut radically back on imported oil, close the southern border, and end the financial hemorrhaging, and the United States will do just fine, to the great benefit of the world at large.
But for now hold on, as the Russians get angrier, the jihadists more desperate, Mr. Ahmadinejad closer to Armaggedon, the Chinese more eager to match new power with now old money, Europe more terrified — and the United States ever more baffled by it all.
These bright yellow flowers that look like snapdragons just appear amidst the prairie grasses, usually one solitary stalk at a time. And how about these bright red and white columbines? Today's rose is for all who wrote or called their Senator or Congressperson to tell them to enforce the laws and protect our borders!
Actually, the abstinence stuff is only culture war. The dirty little secret is that some groups who push legalizing abortion and condoms and allowing teenagers to be sexually active combine these agendas with their HIV treatment. By funding them, this allows them to bully governments and church hospitals to promote their agenda, killing two birds (Promoting their political agenda and bashing the Catholics) at the same time.
Yet their approach offends the conservative Christian and Muslim Africans.
By promoting abstinence it not only allows church clinics to be active in the HIV fight, but allows society to stigmatize bad behavior, which leads to a decrease in that behavior.
In Asia, what works best is promoting morality by government and church/mosque/temple HIV programs, while letting smaller NGO's work with the outcasts of society.
As for "safe sex", condoms deteriorate in the heat and are rarely used.
I worked in Africa, and live in Asia. Has anyone noted the low HIV rate in the Philippines might be due to abstinence?
