Murtha on Iraq's Mi Lai

Alternet.org
May 18, 2006
Susan G has an update on the Haditha massacre:
Back in November, Iraqi residents in the town of Haditha claimed the U.S. Marines went on a civilian killing spree, leaving 15 dead, 10 of them women and children. A Marine spokesman initially denied the charge, saying that they had been killed by an IED and that in a following gun battle, eight insurgents were killed.
At a news conference today originally called to mark the six-month anniversary of his call for withdrawal from Iraq, John Murtha confirmed that the Iraqi civilian reports were indeed true and that the Marines "killed innocent civilians in cold blood."
Here is the NBC story about Murtha's comments.

Steve Gilliard isn't buying Murtha's "combat fatigue" explanation for the deliberate killings of Iraqi civilians:
Murtha's a nice guy, but combat stress is a bullshit answer.

This is murder.

Lots of US Army and Marine units have stressed out, Paxil taking young men. Most do not walk into villages and start murdering people.

PTSD should go by another name, guilt. Dead kids are an special trigger for this. Shooting innocent people is part of war, which is why you don't send soldiers to make your points unless you can live with the consequences, not that Bush can.
[Daily Kos. News Blog]
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