Pride And Prejudice

"Witches in the Air" by Goya 1797-98, Museo del Prado, Madrid

 

Every Christmas and Easter, a story of sorts surfaces relating to a vicious attack on Christ or our faith in general. This year it was time to spin the Gospel of Judas again in time for Easter, preceded by the usual declaration of war on Christmas, timed perfectly to coincide with our celebrations.

True to tradition, and right on time, Memorial Day is no exception. The otherwise sombre occasion gets polluted by glimpses of human nature's uglier custom: Blatant opportunism, in the form of another anti-war push from the left with Rep. John Murtha leading the charge. It follows his outrageous Press Conference earlier this month, which we covered here, [don't miss the photo, it's priceless] announcing that U.S. Marines had killed civilians "in cold blood", marking a six month anniversary of his last spectacular political failure, when he tried to implement the cut and run policy favored by the Democrats.

So now as the nation observes Memorial Day, a time to remember the brave, and weep for the fallen U.S. soldiers, we have an all out brazen Murtha Memorial Day attack, appearing on every talk show that would have him, with his "in cold blood" mantra, claiming in advance a verdict of guilt, ahead of any court martial or even the release of formal charges. For a person holding the public office of Congressman this is an inexcusable behavior. We have a judicial process which is taking its course at this very moment, concluding in official charges and a subsequent verdict, neither of which we have had.

The anti-war brigade are right on time, with their own political agendas which have little to do with the the efforts of hundreds of thousands of American and coalition servicemen in Iraq, and everything to do with discrediting their very existence.

As one of the Marines, Ilario Pantano, exonerated from an incident last year avers:

The system is not served by such grand pronouncements of horror and guilt without the accuser even having read the investigative report.

Mr. Murtha's position is particularly suspect when he is quoted by news services as saying that the strain of deployment "has caused them [the Marines] to crack in situations like this." Not only is he certain of the Marines' guilt but he claims to know the cause, which he conveniently attributes to a policy he opposes.

Members of the U.S. military serving in Iraq need more than Mr. Murtha's pseudo-sympathy. They need leaders to stand with them even in the hardest of times. Let the courts decide if these Marines are guilty. They haven't even been charged with a crime yet, so it is premature to presume their guilt -- unless that presumption is tied to a political motive.

Of course if the Marines are found guilty of this horrendous crime they should be dealt with accordingly, but who are we to be the Judge and the Jury, and what is more who the hell is John Murtha to be leaking what he claims himself is classified information from sources that should know better. He is a hypocrite who pretends to care about our soldiers in Iraq, and he got fixed on that point not so long ago.

There is no question things do not look good, and the chances are pretty high that this will equally serve those who blew Abu-Ghraib out of all proportions, but for goodness sake let's stop this lynching mania, and wait for the conclusion of the investigation.

The sergeant who led the unit is suspected of filing a false report that downplayed the number of casualties and claimed they were killed by an insurgent's bomb. He also allegedly said that marines burst into homes in pursuit of locals firing at them.

Obviously, the latest developments in the military investigation are fueled by chilling echoes of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, when U.S. soldiers killed 500 villagers in a retaliation attack, which was used to discredit our sacrifices in Vietnam. The anti-war mongers are perversely excited at the prospect of hitting another home run and crashing Memorial Day dedicated to our fallen and brave, peddling in its stead a presumption of guilt that is designed to shame our men in uniform.

Is the war effort going to be further undermined because of the actions of 13 out of the hundreds of thousands of honorable men and women who have sacrificed so much, given so much, endured so much in this cause? Can the lickspittles who couldn’t give a good goddamn about the Iraqi people or our military and who only want to hang George Bush and see this incident as another way to attack their political enemies be prevented from making Haditha a code word for failure?

Not if I have anything to say about it.

Indeed. Pretty disgusting. [linked to a Daily Kos post which has hardly surprisingly been quietly taken down since I first published. LGF gave it a thumbs down as well] Another progressive Memorial Day message you should not miss reading.

A brilliant essay by Shrinkwrapped on The War on Terror Paradoxes.

Take time to remember. Today belongs to the fallen and the brave, to who we owe our everlasting gratitude.

UPDATE: Allah has the video of the Iraqi Ambassador accusing the Marines in Haditha in a seperate incident in July last year, killing his cousin "in cold blood".

Comments

[Gang of One]

I was scouting around some of the other blogs, and found this gem at Little Green Footballs about a CNN reporterette who is not happy about the Libstream press's treatment of the Haditha story.

I hope Keith H. has a moment to check this out.

[Gang of One]

The number one thing I have had to say to those who have pointed out this event to me and used it as an idictment against everything American and especially everything Republican, is this: I was not there, you were not there, and neither was Murtha. No way can we judge what happened nor judge the people involved. I also ask for proof of a cover-up, and there is none forthcoming; only allegations and insinuations taken from the pages of the usual suspects in the Libstream press.
Further, I have to point out that if in fact there was a lapse on the part of these Marines, they will be held accountable -- not because the anti-war, anti-Bush, anti-American loudmouths wish it, but because the Marine Corp itself and all good Americans demand it. That is the basic idea that sets us apart from the rest: we do know right from wrong. We hold ourselves accountable.

What truly sickens me, is the attitude shown by some of the more virulent leftists who seem to almost WISH that there a war crime were committed. They hate the USA and the military more than they fear the enemy. In fact, they hate the Iraqis, their freedom and their respect for the USA and for what the USA has done for them. And this is apparent because these same leftists don't really care what happens to the Iraqis, as long as the USA is shown in a disasterous and miserable light.

I am becoming more afraid of the filth columnistas in our midst tahn I am of the terrorists.

[igout]

They're innocent, whether guilty or not. Period. When evidence of atrocities committed by his Russian allies came to Churchill's attention(I think it was the Katyn massacre), he is said to have said "the less said about that, the better", smiled an angelic smile, then got back to winning the damn war. An example to the wise, I think.

[gringoman]

Interesting how Murtha, who spent less time in Vietnam than I did---although admittedly he was military unlike me, and knew how to play the old "war hero" card so very, very, very useful in U.S. politics---has become the Democrats' go-to drama queen on questions of war and peace and how to attack Bush (who once snubbed him, according to reports.)

It's the media-enabled theatrics which are so suspect. If there is a criminal case against these young Marines---and let's assume there is, without knowing all the facts---the Marines will court martial accordingly. Everyone knows that. Murtha has to know that. But now he seems like a deranged old grizzly,improperly medicated, as he keeps chewing on that chewed-up bone (but not too loony to enjoy the media spotlight and adulation from the grateful who wouldn't be caught dead in the uniform of the country that fattens them.) Even on the solemn occasion of Memorial Day. To what purpose, aside from anti-Bush rage and Dem lust to regain position and office?

Which raises the question yet again: Is today's Libstream intelligent, or just hopelessly tone deaf?
Are crude polls and poll shakers and $500 an hour "consultants" convincing it that Americans will react favorably to this orgy of American Guilt and shame about the one sector of U.S. entitlement society that truly sacrifices and understands responsibility? There used to be a time, on the other extreme, when Americans focused on the war crimes of the enemy. That ended, of course, with the Vietnam War, when the World Left turned on the U.S. which was no longer pals with the "worker's states."

Do the Democrats and their media really think this will play---despite Republican failings (and the DemoPub mutual surrender of the U.S. border to Mexico and the Business/Illegal Alien Lobby?).

Do they really think that an old Murtha and his media enablers, exploiting the noble 'Duty, Honor and Country,' will be excused from the duty and honor of focusing on the daily unspeakable atrocities of the enemy, instead of grandstanding exclusively on what is, by most accounts, occasional and alleged, of his own country? They gorge on what might be aberrations (if proven) from the most courageous and disciplined Americans. Have they no sense of shame left for the beastliness of the enemy? Final question: Have they no sense of shame left about themselves?

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Gringofoto. Mekong Delta, 1973. Face to face, at last, with the Vietcong. (Black and white original.)

[Alexandra]

Hiawatha, corrected. Thank you.

[hiawatha biscayne]

my lai was an army deal...not a marine corps deal. sorry. it's a small point, but i'm sure you're interested in accuracy.

[Jeremayakovka]

Murtha was just on AM radio in Seattle as a guest of fellow Congressman "Baghdad Jim" McDermott. Murtha is a motormouth of hearsay, who ignores the Administration's Sharansky-esque foreign policy basis, ignores the benefits having removed Saddam, ignores the work of coalition servicemen, and drops phrases copied right out of the far Left playbook. This morning he compared the US in Iraq to the British in India. For him and for McDermott, they deserve nothing less than "the harder they come, the harder they fall."