Guys;
This old Grandpa is right now learning a great deal from his Grandson..
My Grandson Josh, just returned in early May from a deployment as a Marine Spec Ops..
Spec Ops Marines (and Army) are multi-taskers.
Josh was Machine gunner atop a Humvee, hunted "Haji" through Iraqi streets, is his unit's "designated sniper" along with being the company armorer.
He was deployed in the neighborhood of Ramadi...Now, Ramadi, Haditha, Fallujah, and many of the most infamous towns of Iraq (and I presume, Balad) are located in the "Sunni Triangle".
The Sunni Triangle is infested with Baathists and Sunnis that are intensley loyal to the old regieme.
They have learned well that we have an element right here in the US that is anti-Bush, anti-war on terror and anti-success in Iraq...and the enemy plays these gullible elements like a fiddle..
Police officers here in the US have learned that when they are in a bad neighborhood..they are very likely to be accused of " civil rights abuse "...this is magnified even more in the Sunni Triangle.
The Marine officer that wrote "Warlord", found out when 3 prisoners he was holding attacked him and he had to shoot them. The witnesses against him were 1) A sergeant he had reprimanded, who hated him and could only offer "hearsay" evidence.. and 2) A couple "former" Baathists...
He was eventually cleared but the military was obligated in investigate.
I would not be surprised if the incident in Haditha will be cleared up in favor of the Marines..
One can take a clue as to how well the "witnesses" are cooperating...
Thusfar, they are refusing exhumation of the bodies...( makes a difference whether the bodies contain .223 slugs or 7.62X39 slugs).
Also, when you are being fired upon from one of those mud-brick houses...the ak-47 or RPG can be held by any age or gender of a hand !!
Charges are just that...charges...not proof..
Of course, with 140 thousand troops in Iraq..we should not be surprised if there were three such bad actors..if so, I hope the law comes down heavy...
I watch various posters here carefully and find interesting profiles..some are BALANCED ( there is right and wrong done by all human constructs)..some are POSITIVE ( to the point of the U.S. ALWAYS being right)...and some are NEGATIVE... (to the point where the U.S. can NEVER do anything right..is ALWAYS the "bad guy").
It really should be that if a person is a citizen of this great nation that so many are risking their lives to get into..such a citizen rightly owes his/her home country the "benefit of doubt" and would likely, most often lean toward a positive view of our country's actions.
Thus; as I read posts by some poster that is especially opinionated, I look back into his past posts to see if he/she is positive of his home country..or at least balanced...
Yes, there have been some bad deeds done by a few troops...but there have been many great things done by troops for schools, hospitals, orphanages etc...therefore, there should be posts about how great a job they are doing also..
If not, we know where the poster is coming from...
...Or if he/she can only gripe about their homeland..
