John Murtha, you owe these Marines and ALL who serve our country with honor a HUGE apology. As far as I can tell, you're the one who has been found guilty.[...] Last May, John Murtha held a press conference accusing our soldiers of slaughtering 24 Iraqis – including women and children – in the town of Haditha in late November 2005. He guaranteed an investigation would determine “[o]ur troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.” His words ricocheted around the Arab world, as Al Jazeera dutifully quoted him. This “pressure,” Murtha said, could be ended by bringing troops home. The government eventually charged four men with “unpremeditated murder.”
On August 9th, the military dismissed all charges against one of the remaining three Marines accused of murder. [Note: actually against TWO of the three Marines] Indeed, Lt. Gen. James Mattis went further than finding Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt not guilty; he called the 22-year-old “innocent.” He concluded his statement by noting Sharratt “has always remained cloaked in the presumption of innocence, with this dismissal of charges, he remains in the eyes of the law – and in my eyes – innocent.” [...]
From "Innocent at Haditha" by Ben Johnson of FrontPage Magazine:
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