Monday, June 05, 2006

SHOUT OUT -- Thoughts on Haditha

Posted by Craig Westover | 4:09 PM |  

Mark Yost posts Iraq Heroes on the situation in Haditha, providing some context from Minnesotan Andy Davis, the former Army Ranger who “shamed the University of Minnesota administration into helping him set up a Veteran's Transition Center. Davis was involved in one of the bloodiest battles of the war in Haditha. Yost also provides, among others, this insight --
Let's step back from the fever pitch of the 24 hour news cycle and look at this. First off, I would ask what other country would not only investigate reports of soldier misconduct in an area swarming with terrorists, but prosecute them as well? It's a short list.

How many genocide trials have we read about in Moscow, prosecuting soldiers from the fighting in Chechnya? And what about our Canadian friends? Didn't they cover up atrocities by an airborne unit in Rwanda? And forget the Iraq regime we just ousted. Saddam Hussein not only didn't flinch at gassing his own people, he didn't hesitate at gassing his own troops when battlefield commanders told him that winds were unfavorable and some of his own soldiers would be killed during a chemical-weapons attack on Iranian forces during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
It’s an interesting piece. Worth the read.