7.12.2007 | "unsupported and incredible"

There is something more than a little surreal about the legalistic standards used by the mainstream media to judge the rightness of our actions in Iraq. The media, or at least the liberal-leaning elements of it (which is to say most of it) seems to think that we ought to fight terrorists and tribal insurgents the same way we track down bank robbers and grifters.

Gather evidence; arrest them in a calm, civilized manner, with probable cause, and read them their "rights." Likewise, our troops are held to the pristine standards of the world of prosecutors and defense attorneys. Case in point is the ludicrous prosecution of a marine doing what marines do in war: cruise the countryside, risking their butts, searching for and killing terrorists.

One such prosecution of one of our men doing what he was supposed to be doing is reported in this WaPo story. The story relates how Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt was accused of heinous crimes against humanity while taking care of business. For some reason, our government took the side of terrorist sympathizers in Iraq; Arabs for whom lying is second nature. Especially when trying to get our men in dutch.

The outcome of this wasted exercise? The government, and that's our government, spent over 18 months investigating this non-event. Yes, some Iraqis were killed. Boo hoo. They were carrying weapons. Were women and children killed "in cold blood?" Bullshit. Arab lies.

The outcome? From the WaPo story:

An investigating officer in the case against a U.S. Marine accused of murdering civilians in Haditha, Iraq, has recommended that charges against him be dropped, concluding that the government's allegations that the Marine executed a group of men are "unsupported and incredible."

You don't say. The Bushies have totally screwed up what was a picture-perfect invasion of Iraq. We didn't bomb mosques used as terrorist weapons depots and ops centers; we left one of the head shiite terrorists, al-Sadr, live another day. We didn't bomb Falluja flat; we didn't shoot looters on sights.

The list is long, and it all comes down to this: we were not, and remain, unserious about winning in Iraq. We should either start to get truly serious, and to hell with any tender feelings the Iraqis may have, or leave now.

Of course, were we to leave Iraq now, they'd all start to kill each other with gleeful abandon. Somebody tell me how we intend to stop shiites from killing sunnis from killing Kurds? Never happen, with, or without us.

All of Iraq is not worth another American life.