When I wrote about the atrocity in Kandahar, my point was that those who support the American invasion of Afghanistan should be ashamed, dismayed, even outraged... but not surprised. Massacres of innocent civilians by US troops have happened before, and will almost certainly happen again.
I gave the example of the My Lai massacre of 1968, an egregious example of the premeditated and unjustified slaughter of civilians which the US military at first denied, then covered up, then tried to excuse. One "man", William Calley, was sentenced to life imprisonment, but served just three and a half years under house arrest.
Yesterday someone reminded me of the Haditha massacre, which was carried out by American troops in the middle of the glorious war against Iraq. On 19 November 2005, 24 unarmed Iraqi men, women and children were killed by a group of US Marines in Haditha, a city in western Iraq. They were all civilians.
There again, the strategy of the US military was deny, deny, deny. An initial Marine Corps communique reported that 15 civilians were during an attack on a convoy, and eight "insurgents" were killed when the Marines returned fire. However, Time magazine didn't buy the official explanation, and hassled the Marines into investigating.
The inquiry found evidence that "supports accusations that U.S. Marines deliberately shot civilians, including unarmed men, women and children". At least three officers were officially reprimanded for failing to properly initially report and investigate the killings. Over a year later, eight Marines were charged in connection with the "incident".
Another nine months went by. Then the authorities dropped charges against Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, who has been accused of murder, and Capt. Randy Stone, accused of failing to investigate the incident. Why were the charges dropped? Because it was felt that Iraqis would be unlikely to come to the USA to testify!
Let us pause here to consider that Staff Sgt. Bob Bales, the "single individual" named as the perpetrator of this week's murders in Kandahar, has been spirited out of the Middle East to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he will undoubtedly receive a fair trial... if any Afghans can make it to the USA to testify.
Getting back to the Haditha massacre... In August 2007, the investigating officer recommended the dropping of charges against Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum. However, in October, his commanding officer decided the charges should not be dropped, but lowered to involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and aggravated assault.
By June of 2008, six defendants had had their cases dropped and a seventh had (to no-one's surprise) been found not guilty. Not so Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich. In October 2007, the investigating officer recommended that Wuterich be tried for negligent homicide -- something less than murder -- in the deaths of two women and five children. Further charges of assault and manslaughter were ultimately dropped, and Wuterich was convicted of a single count of negligent dereliction of duty -- something less than negligent homicide -- on January 24, 2012. That's right... 2012!
Was Wuterich punished for murdering seven people? Oh yes indeed! He received a reduction in rank and cut in pay. No jail time.
Iraqis voiced understandable disbelief and outrage, after the six-year US military prosecution ended with not a single one of the Marines sentenced to jail. The Haditha massacre has been linked to the decision to withdraw US troops from Iraq at the end of 2011. Now Afghanistan's democratically elected (?) president Karzai has called for American soldiers to get out of Afghanistan, or at least out of the rural villages. No wonder.
Footnote: On 14 December 2011, the New York Times published excerpts from classified transcripts of military interviews from the investigation into the Haditha massacre. In the interviews, Marines said civilians were killed "on a regular basis". The deaths of 20 civilians is described not as "remarkable" but "routine. Maj. Gen. Steve Johnson described such things as "a cost of doing business". And then Americans wonder why they are not welcome in Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere else in the Middle East...except maybe Israel.
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