One thing that really struck me in this article about the Haditha massacre was a java script pop-up (called "Map"), detailing four additional "incidents" that no excuses can justify. And these were all within the last 12 to 13 months, i.e., Abu Ghraib is NOT included.
Nor are the doubtless other "incidents" that never were reported, investigated, etc., but incidents that only the naiively foolish might think haven't happened. War can and often does bring out the worst. Which is a major reason why you don't wage war if you don't have to.
Armed conflict shouldn't be a matter of ego. I wish someone in a position to do so had told this to our president. I'm certain he would've denied the accusation, and ignored the advice. But at least he would've been made aware, at least as aware as someone of his intellectual (micro) caliber can be...
Oh--unrelated, but Billmon brought together a number of his posts from 2003 that dealt with Iraq. Hmmm...come to think of it, this isn't unrelated at all. As he puts it:
If nothing else, though, the Whiskey Bar archives prove to my satisfaction that it was possible, even for a nonspecialist (which is all I'll ever be in the fields of foreign policy or military affairs) to see at least an outline of the disaster as it started to unfold. What was lacking in the corporate media was not the opportunity, but rather the insight, the courage and the independence to say what needed to be said -- at a time when the both the powers that be and the paying audience were unwilling to listen.
Well spoken.
And, don't know about y'all, but I'm planning on reading (or re-reading) most if not all the posts he cites.
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