As such we owe our fighting men and women the benefit of the doubt. We cannot excuse cruel or abhorrent actions of the misguided few but we can give the military as a whole a little leeway. The recent events in Haditha, Iraq bring that home. We have seen instances like this in every war. When people are put under the stress of combat and witness the killings of their comrades in arms, things can sometimes snap. We have no way of knowing what went on in Haditha and should wait for the whole story to come out before passing judgement. Congressman John Murtha (D- Pelosi) appears to be enjoying his role in the publicizing of this story a little too much and should be ashamed of himself, especially as a former Marine.

Every war has had such tragedies that while not excusable, are at least understandable. I have linked a recent finding about such an incidence at No Gun Ri during the Korean war. A recent AP story chronicles how it was US policy at the time to fire warning shots at refugees attempting to cross the lines and of they did not heed the warning, to shoot the refugees themselves. A big worry was that the North Korean soldiers would be hiding among the civilians.

When our enemy continues to use the civilian population as pawns by hiding amongst them, using them for shields, take them hostage for leverage and any number of other decidedly non-military and dishonorable actions that put the lives of innocents at risk, we will have these tragic incidences. Our soldiers are brave but human and when pushed to the limits of human capacity, may make these deadly and unforgettable errors. The issue is that it happens in the heat of a battle or attack on their persons or unit and is borne out of a survival instinct. Wrong as it may be, we must never excuse it but we can understand the origins of such a cataclysmic and sad event. This is in sharp contrast to our enemies in this war who use the death of civilians by beheading, suicide bombing, car bombing, assasination and various other means as accepted policy and normal tactical operations.

Rep. Murtha’s glee at scoring political points over this tragedy is reprehensible and should be remembered at the polls. The New York Times and the rest of the left leaning media is quick to condemn our troops when an incident happens that may impugn them and their mission but rarely points out how it is the exception to the rule in the case of our military while it is the rule with our terrorist enemies.

Watch your buddy get blown in half by a roadside bomb and tell me how you would react in the immediate aftermath. If you weren’t curled up in a fetal position my guess would be nowhere near as courageous as our military members do on a daily basis.

We are the good guys. Our troops deserve our support for herculean but thankless tasks they perform for us every day. Thank them for your freedom and don’t jump to conclusions. God Bless them all and God bless America.