Another Comment on Hadiitha

Originally written as a comment to another blogger's favorable post on the nation.com's article, Why Haditha Matters -

Years ago - Vietnam Era - I had a friend that was in the Marines and in Nam. - When he came back he had all sorts of war stories to share. - Instead of IED's it was feces covered punji sticks and bamboo traps. He talked of the Viet Cong (North Vietnamese) giving grenades to children and having them bring them as a gift to American soldiers. He never had to do it but he knew people that had to shoot the children to save their lives and the lives of fellow soldiers. Not to mention the old grenade in the leftenants tent.

On night we got good and drunk and he finally opened up with me. All of the stories he had told me and our friends were BUNK. He had no war stories to tell so he made everything up just to sound like a bigger man than he felt he was. His job in Vietnam was basically garbage detail behind the lines.

By the time we finished our talk we both felt better. Although we have not seen one another for years I know we are still friends.

I have the feeling that Ricardo's friend might be similar to mine. That is, that he is embellishing his story a bit. -

Regarding 'the scores of dead civilians that lay on the sides of the roads he traveled', if true, does not say who killed those people. Yes! War is Hell and bad things happen to good people. But if we pull out now the same thing that happened in Vietnam after the Americans left would happen again. As the U.S. was pulling out it was fighting the last battle. The final helicopters pulled up and were shot at as they rose in the air. The people left behind, the South Vietnamese, were left to the amusements of the Communist North Vietnamese.

Hundred of thousands of innocents were killed by the North Vietnamese. Many fled on tiny boats only to drown. Some made it to Thailand, Singapore or Hong Kong. Some eventually to the U.S.. - Do the people of Iraq deserve to be left to the terrorists? Should the U.S. pull out now or continue going forward with the plan for a free, democratic Iraq? (I don't for a minute believe it will ever look like the U.S. as far as it's government goes but I think they deserve a chance to try self rule without terrorists running amuck all over the country.)

Stories like the one we had last weekend about the School bus kids massacred by terrorists and 50 kidnapped at Iraq bus stations - Gunmen round up victims at random Should tell us who is really the enemy here.

It is NOT George Bush or Rumsfeld. They are not the enemies! There are real evil persons in this world! Good people should be standing up against the terrorists and not the U.S. military. Our side is not deliberately killing innocents like the terrorists are doing. .

We do not know what happened in Haditha as of yet because the rumors go both ways. Are the people putting out the (mis)information on those killed in Haditha of the same persuasion as the terrorists who murdered the children taken off the busses last weekend? Could it have been terrorists who killed the man in the wheelchair? We (and the MSM) do not know the truth yet. Let's kick back a bit and wait for the results of the investigation before we string up U.S. Marines by the thumbs. There are a lot of good American over there trying real hard to help the country pull itself up by the bootstraps.

Lets not cut off their legs before they have a chance to stand up.


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