Murtha: Judge, Jury, Jailer

Most of the conservative blogosphere has noted that the Haditha incident, if true in its specifics, is a horrible thing, and a big moral black eye to our war effort.

Most, also, have noted the unseemly speed with which the media has accepted John Murtha as judge, jury and jailer:

In the United States, we have a civil and military court system that relies on an investigatory and judicial process to make determinations based on evidence. 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.

One would wish we could get beyond politics over this sort of thing.

It'd be a futile wish, unfortunately.

Posted by Mitch at May 30, 2006 05:45 AM | TrackBack