TIME cover story: The ghosts of Haditha

[DeepModem Mom]

The ghosts of Haditha
Sunday, June 4, 2006



(Editor's note: The following is a summary of this week's Time magazine cover story.)

The killings of 24 Iraqis one morning last November may mark a terrible turning point in America's already shaky presence in Iraq.

Like the Abu Ghraib prison scandal before it, what happened at Haditha threatens to become one of the war's signature debacles, an alleged atrocity committed by a small group of service members that comes to symbolize the enterprise's larger costs.

The incident, first reported by Time in March, has sparked two major military investigations -- one into the possibility that the Marines deliberately murdered unarmed Iraqis and another into a possible cover-up that followed.

It has flung open the door to reports, some real, others already discredited, of other civilians' being targeted in battle. And it led in part to the startling charge by the Iraqi prime minister that such attacks have become a "regular occurrence." Once again, the Bush administration finds itself on the defensive about a war that is now entering its 40th unrelenting month....

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/04/time.cover/index.html

[ulysses]

1. ...

40th month. God.

"Larger costs" indeed. Thanks for posting this.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. World War 2 was 44 months for the USA, wasn't it? (n/t)

[ulysses]

4. indeed it was, and by the 40th month

the winner was a foregone conclusion.

[Demeter]

3. As Peter Segal Said on "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" (NPR)

we've turned so many corners in Iraq that we are now heading in the opposite direction compared to when we came in. (or words to that effect).


More likely is that we are going around in circles, until somebody pulls the plug on the Bush carousel.

[Stalwart]

5. Revenge Killing in a Revenge War

We have adopted their justice system.