Watch this. We are witnessing doublethink. It's interesting.
And by "interesting" I mean "unspeakable":
Washington Post:
Probe Into Iraq Deaths Finds False Reports
Pentagon to Review Training After Alleged Massacre in Haditha
By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 1, 2006; Page A01
Okay, let's pause for a moment. There were false reports about the massacre. Okay. But that's not the troubling part.
The U.S. military investigation of how Marine commanders handled the reporting of events last November in the Iraqi town of Haditha, where troops allegedly killed 24 Iraqi civilians, will conclude that some officers gave false information to their superiors, who then failed to adequately scrutinize reports that should have caught their attention, an Army official said yesterday.
--snip--
Even before the final report is delivered, Army Gen. George W. Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, is expected to order today that all U.S. and allied troops in Iraq undergo new "core values" training in how to operate professionally and humanely. Not only will leaders discuss how to treat civilians under the rules of engagement, but small units also will be ordered to go through training scenarios to gauge their understanding of those rules. "It's going to include everyone in the coalition," the official said.
--snip--
"Core Values Training". We're getting closer to the troubling part. The idea seems to be that shooting a 2-year-old in the skull is a result of poor values-training.
I think that is probably wrong. I think that shooting a 2-year-old in the skull is probably not the result of poor "Values Training." I think that most people already know, without the benefit of "values training" that shooting a 2-year-old in the skull is not a good thing. I think it probably has more to do with placing soldiers in insane conditions with no way out. No defined sense of victory. Stop-loss. Forever.
So here is Dear Leader, the Decorated Combat Veteran:
President Bush, in his first public comment on the Haditha incident, said yesterday that if an investigation finds evidence of wrongdoing, those involved will be punished. "I am troubled by the initial news stories," Bush said after a meeting with Rwandan President Paul Kagame. "I am mindful there is a thorough investigation going on. If in fact laws were broken, there will be punishment."
--snip--
Do me a favor. The next time Bush says, "I am mindful" or "I believe" or "I see her heart" or "I saw into his soul" or "I decide" . . . please just ignore him. Those are not his words. Those are speech-writers trying to make it easy for him to speak. Words. Words. Words.
A second and more troubling failure occurred later in the day, this official said, when a Marine human exploitation team, which helped collect the dead, should have observed that the Iraqis were killed by gunshot, not by a bomb. The team's reporting chain lay outside that of the other Marines -- who were members of the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Marines -- and went up through military intelligence channels directly to the 1st Marine Division's intelligence director, he said. Had this second unit reported accurately what it witnessed, he indicated, that would have set off alarms and prodded commanders to investigate, he explained.
--snip--
Way to blame the soldiers. Good on 'ya, mate.
Time magazine, which first began making inquiries about the incident in January, reported that when one of its staff members asked Pool about the allegations, he accused the journalist of being duped by terrorists. "I cannot believe you're buying any of this," the magazine said the officer wrote in an e-mail. "This falls into the same category of any aqi [al-Qaeda in Iraq] propaganda." Another military representative, Lt. Col. Michelle Martin-Hing, told the magazine that insurgents caused the civilian deaths by placing the Iraqis in the line of Marine fire.
This is beyond the pale. It seems like it must be satire, except for the actual blood.
Do you honestly think that any soldier in Iraq wants ANYTHING to do with this? Do you honestly think they are PROUD of this? They swore to defend our nation, they swore their sweat and blood. And now PR-assholes are "covering" for them, saying bullshit like "it's someone else's fault."
Christ, do them a favor. Either bring them home or put them somewhere where winning might MEAN something.