I believe in our Marines!

The blogosphere is ablaze with commentary concerning Haditha and the Marines who just might be tried for murder.

Now, I don't know exactly what happened: I wasn't there. However, that idiot Murtha - who also wasn't there - seems quite happy to condemn these Marines without a trial:

"Who covered it up, why did they cover it up, why did they wait so long?" Murtha said on ABC's "This Week." "We don't know how far it goes. It goes right up the chain of command."

A bomb rocked a military convoy on Nov. 19, killing a Marine. Marines then shot and killed unarmed civilians in a taxi at the scene and went into two homes and shot other people, according to Murtha, who has been briefed by officials.

Murtha said high-level reports he received indicated that no one fired upon the Marines and no action was taken against the U.S. forces after the initial explosion. Yet the deaths were not seriously investigated until March because an early probe was stifled within days of the incident, he said.

"I will not excuse murder, and this is what happened," Murtha said. "This investigation should have been over two or three weeks afterward and it should have been made public and people should have been held responsible for it." [emph. mine - R'cat]

Oh, really? And whatever happened to the law of our land, which supposedly holds to "innocent until proven guilty," Rep. Murtha? The Marines are investigating the incident, and it is in more than terrible taste for you to proclaim the verdict before these men have even been indicted. Certainly, sir, despite your previous service with the Marines, you can no longer be counted among their honorable veterans when you turn on them in such a way.

Nevertheless, we also need to remember that this is war. As so many have already said - and far more eloquently - people die in war. Each side tries to kill as many of the enemy as possible. General Patton put it this way: "...no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. You won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."

That's the way war is.

When we restrict our armed forces so tightly as to what they may and may not do, we force them to fight at a disadvantage, like tying one of their hands behind their back. Now, this may seem "sporting," and it may appear that we allow the enemy a "fair fight," but this is not the way to win a war.

Make no mistake, our enemy has no such scruples. While our Armed Forces make every effort to target only military objectives, the terrorists are bombing civilians, recruiting children as suicide bombers, and perverting mothers in such a way that they encourage their children in this insane hatred. Do we occasionally kill civilians? Certainly: but they are not our target, and never will be - it's simply not efficient to take out bystanders who have no interest in the terrorists' agenda.

Our Marines are trained to be the most efficient and lethal light infantry force in the world. The United States Marines have a well-deserved and hard-earned reputation of going in and getting a nasty job done. In the long run, if we permit them to use the full scope of their abilities, the war will end sooner and with less bloodshed than if we force them to hold back and dither over every move for fear they'll be prosecuted for doing their job.

I don't condone murder, and if these Marines have indeed murdered, then they certainly ought to be charged, tried and condemned. But they have the right to a proper trial first, before any condemnation passes any of our lips. It is my - admittedly uninformed - opinion that these men were doing their job the best they knew how in terribly stressful conditions, and that they possibly - perhaps! - made a mistake. But murder? Nope. I don't believe it, and won't until they've had a full trial, a proper defense, and are pronounced "guilty."

But I believe they'll be exonerated, because *I* believe in the basic goodness and decency of the men and women who volunteer to serve and defend our country.

Others blogging:

Ogre -

Look, folks, you might not want to hear about it, but Marines are trained. They are trained to kill people and break things. That's what they do. If you don't want people to die, DON'T SEND IN THE MARINES! It really is that simple.

No, all the details may have not been released, but I've already seen enough. The only facts I need to know are that the Marines were deployed to kill people and break things. They did. So what's the problem?

Beth at MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy -

Yes, let's those of us who weren't there, and never will be, flagellate ourselves over this, without any charges, or Court Martials even being brought. Let's make sure we don't give the Left any excuse to criticize us for not speaking out against it.

Because that's what the Right is doing. Making sure they get in a fraction of condemnation before the Left has a chance to jump on them for not doing so. Because, see, we always have to take the high road. Show them how better we are than they are.

Screw 'em. I don't have to pillory the Marines preemptively to prove I'm better than the moonbats. They've pilloried themselves on this subject quite well already.

So until someone ponies up the fact that Iraqi men, women, and children were lined up against a wall and executed, I'll reserve my judgment on the issue.

Cao -

We should be taking no prisoners; we should not be 'kinder and softer', we should be rough and tough and taking the fight to them, as the President has said.

This is war, people, not tiddly winks.

Kit, at Euphoric Reality -

What the Left (and other worthless institutions like the UN, etc.) are doing is to force Marines-and every other branch of our military-to fight a war as though it were a rough football match, with rules and penalties and punts from their own end zone if they hurt someone during the game.

Here's the problem: War is not a game, and by its very nature, it demands that people be hurt.

To paraphrase a great saying, "The more brutal war is, the sooner it will be over." Once war begins, the only option is absolute and total victory. Total vanquishing of the enemy. There can be no in between, no waffling of purpose, no "playing nice."

Kender -

So to all of you that are convicting our soldiers before they have a trial, I hope you are never placed in a position such as that, but know if you are, from the crap you are saying now, I fully expect you to bitch up and get yourself killed, because it sounds as if you don't have the testicular fortitude to deal with doing a hard job that isn't always pretty and full of snazzy parades.

Emperor Misha I -

How can our troops be expected to be victorious in battle against an enemy that routinely uses women and children as shields if we castigate and punish them every time one of the involuntary shields get hurt? Are we really demanding that our troops let themselves be slaughtered rather than risk the life of one single innocent?

If so, then we've completely forgotten everything that history has ever taught us about war.

We need to make a decision to either shit or get the fuck off the pot and, if the former, to realize and accept that it's going to get ugly before it's over.