Iraq Mai Lai

[Pangloss62]

The warhawks never liked the comparison of the Iraq War to Vietnam, but now they may have to eat some crow.

I know that someone by now is calling what happened in Haditha an "Iraq Mai Lai." Just as conservatives hate it when people compare the gay marriage issue to the Civil Rights Movement, they also lambaste any comparison of the Iraq War with Vietnam. But you know what? It's a good comparison: Freaked out, stressed out soldiers don't know who is or isn't the enemy, their best buddies just got blown to bits, and they just go ballistic on anything that moves, like equally scared families in private homes, civilians, just trying to survive like the soldiers are. Believe me, this story is bad, bad news for W. et al. Just read the first two paragraphs from today's New York Times:

WASHINGTON, May 30 — A military investigator uncovered
evidence in February and March that contradicted repeated
claims by marines that Iraqi civilians killed in Haditha last
November were victims of a roadside bomb, according to a
senior military official in Iraq.

Among the pieces of evidence that conflicted with the marines'
story were death certificates that showed all the Iraqi victims
had gunshot wounds, mostly to the head and chest, the official said.
Uh oh.

So. Where did the NYT get this information? They said it was a "senior official," one who "...agreed to discuss the findings only after being promised anonymity."

They say "Lose lips sink ships," but when it's a ship of fools your sinking, it's a lot easier to leak some information to the press. We'll soon hear how breaking this story was "irresponsible" and "puts our soldiers at risk," but didn't the same paper run that story about "yellowcake" uranium? And that story was false!