Reports about the atrocity carried out by U.S. Marines last November in Haditha appear to be accurate — and very late in coming, as Rep. John Murtha has stated quite bravely. I don’t believe in condemning all U.S. troops. But neither should this incident be viewed apart from the disastrous overall course of this war. We must face the possibility that there have been other Hadithas — not cold-hearted “collateral damage” tallies but wanton and deliberate killings of civilians.
Meanwhile, the insurgents continue to rack up body counts on the Haditha scale — and well beyond it — practically every day. Shia-dominated security forces (a.k.a. militias, death squads) operate with apparently equal brutality and lawlessness. Saddam Hussein is gone, but Iraqis continue to die and America’s reputation is at an all-time low. Of those on the left who supported this war on purely anti-Baathist grounds, one must ask: Where has it led us? After Haditha, is the argument not over?
David Rieff, writing in TNR, doesn’t just argue against U.S. troops for Darfur; he delivers a stinging blow to the whole premise of liberal interventionism. I don’t know that I accept his argument in full, but this passage is hard to refute:
The idea that, after Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo, and Iraq, intelligent activists can still speak of humanitarian intervention as if it were an uncomplicated act of rescue without grave implications is a testimony to the refusal of the best and brightest among us to think seriously about politics.
I’ll close by stating that people like John Murtha are the saving grace of this country. For someone of his stature (and centrist bona fides) to lend weight and credibility to the Haditha accusations is a public service that history is unlikely to forget. Again, the lateness of the reports is an outrage; any evidence of a military coverup should be thoroughly exposed, and added to this war’s long catalog of shame. But we should also recognize that this story is a testament to our free press, for all its inadequacies.
[Update: I should have noted that Time broke this story in January and pressed military officials for more facts in early February. Here for more. I believe Rep. Murtha said the military investigation was extremely late in coming — he was not criticizing the media.]
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