Pathetic Patriotism

As mentioned in a previous post to watch the media, especially tv, about the Haditha massacre. Last night on CNN, Blitzer did his pathetic patriotic duty and fused the following story with the Haditha event. I'll explain why he did this after the Raw Story.com account of Ishaqi, Iraq, March 2006.


"According to Reuters report on the incident, the 11 bodies of men, women and children, including a 75-year old grandmother and a child under the age of one, were found bound in their blown-up home. All were shot in the head; the house was riddled with bullets. At the time, "The U.S. military said two women and a child died during the bid to seize an al Qaeda militant from a house."

A military investigation into allegations that American troops intentionally killed civilians in Ishaqi, a village north of Baghdad, has cleared them of misconduct, the U.S. said Friday — even though it acknowledged the deaths of up to 13 Iraqis in the March raid.

The bloody aftermath of the attack was captured at the time in the footage shot by an AP Television News cameraman. The video became the focus of attention Friday when the BBC aired it in the wake of recent allegations of U.S. troops killing unarmed civilians.

The footage shows at least one adult male and four of the children with deep wounds to the head that could have been caused by bullets or shrapnel. One child has an obvious entry wound to the side and the inside of the walls left standing were pocked with bullet holes. A voice on the tape said there were clear bullet wounds in two people.

The video includes an unidentified man saying "children were stuck in the room, alone and surrounded."

"After they handcuffed them, they shot them dead. Later, they struck the house with their planes. They wanted to hide the evidence. Even a 6-month-old infant was killed. Even the cows were killed, too," he said.

Blitzer, the Republican ass kissing pussy that he is, dutifully told how soldiers were cleared of any wrongdoing in this transparently clear war crime. Why? To soften the Haditha blow and , I submit, to muddy the two stories.
With U.S. tv viewers it goes something like this: 'Honey, did you see that those soldiers were cleared of that war crime story. What story? You know the one about killing the children. Wolf just said our guys were cleared.'


Then this Maliki misquoted quote about Haditha from todays Akron Beacon Journal:

"Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Thursday upbraided the U.S. military over Haditha, which he called "a horrible crime," and accused U.S. troops of habitually attacking unarmed civilians.

On Friday, White House press secretary Tony Snow said al-Maliki had told U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad that he had been misquoted. But Snow was unable to explain what al-Maliki told Khalilzad or how he had been misquoted."

You see, Maliki didn't say what he said, he couldn't have.

Then we have this apologetic from ABC News about a different story:


"On Wednesday in Samarra, a pregnant woman named Nahiba Jassim and her cousin, Saliha Hassan, were killed by gunfire when their car entered what the U.S. military called a clearly marked, prohibited area near a checkpoint and observation post manned by coalition forces.
According to the military, the driver of the car ignored signals and commands to stop, so troops fired shots to disable the vehicle."

Silly me, to confuse murdering two women with disabling a vehicle. What in the Christ was I thinking?


Then this also from ABC News about yet another U.S. troops story:

"In addition to the Haditha case, in which Marines are alleged to have gunned down 24 civilians in a rage of revenge for a bombing that killed a Marine in November, seven Marines and a Navy corpsman could face murder, kidnapping and conspiracy charges as early as Friday in the April shooting death of an Iraqi man in yet another incident, a defense attorney said Thursday.

Military prosecutors plan to file the charges against the seven servicemen, who are being held in solitary confinement at Camp Pendleton, Calif., Marine Corps base, said Jeremiah Sullivan III, who represents one of the men.

The Iraqi man reportedly was dragged from his home west of Baghdad and shot. The Los Angeles Times and NBC News said troops may have planted an AK-47 and a shovel near the body to make it appear as if the man was an insurgent burying a roadside bomb. Neither suggested a possible motive."

They wanted him to be an informant and he refused. Betcha these guys get off too. After all, no motive, no crime.

Absolutely. Fucking. Pathetic.