Investigation of Marines in Haditha

Last week Rep. John Murtha, on national television, accused American Marines of killing Iraqi civilians, which included women and children, "in cold blood." I ignored Murtha's statements because, quite frankly, Murtha has proven himself to be a man who deserves to be ignored.

Murtha was referencing was an ongoing investigation, one he had no business commenting on. The media is now investigating, which means that the Marines in question are being hung out to dry before the investigation has the chance to be completed. Unfortunately, Murtha's irresponsible and outrageous comments set the tone for the media coverage that followed. Although not one Marine has been charged, you wouldn't know that from some of the articles about the incident.

One of the news outlets that adopted Murtha's tone is the Washington Post, which completely skewed the intent behind comments made by Brig. Gen. David H. Brahms about the investigation. Mary Katharine at Hugh Hewitt explains how the Post misrespresented Gen. Brahms' quote so as to sensationalize the story:

The Post has been unable to get anyone from the Pentagon on the record on the investigation, using mostly anonymous sources. The one man they did get on the record on Friday was retired Brig. Gen. David H. Brahms, a long-time lawyer with the Marine Corps who has experience with these types of cases. His quote is in the third paragraph. See if you can guess why the prominent first-quote placement:

"When these investigations come out, there's going to be a firestorm," said retired Brig. Gen. David M. Brahms, formerly a top lawyer for the Marine Corps. "It will be worse than Abu Ghraib -- nobody was killed at Abu Ghraib."

I have a feeling someone was lying in wait for an Abu Ghraib reference. I read the quote and was taken aback because I spoke to the same Brig. Gen. David M. Brahms about the case this week, and his sentiments were very different from those presented in the Post. Which explains why he sent me this statement yesterday:

"Recent reporting on the events in Haditha, Iraq have included significant factual errors and/or misleading statements. This includes a quote attributed to me in the Washington Post this morning that was taken completely out of context and its meaning distorted. Many facts that are favorable to the Marines involved have not yet been disclosed."

When Brahms and I spoke, he made it clear that his concern is that the Marine Corps do a thorough investigation and punish severely those who did wrong, if in fact it is found that they did. He feels confident that will happen.

I don't know what happened in Haditha. Neither do Rep. Murtha or The Washington Post. Ultimately we will know what happened after the conclusion of the investigation. No matter what the outcome, whether that means the Marines are charged and tried or they are exonerated, I will still spend this weekend thinking about the sacrifices our military men and women are making for our safety and security in Iraq, Afghanistan and all over the world. And I will go back to ignoring Rep. what's-his-name.