Haditha in Perspective

There has been considerable media ink spilled in the attempt to analyze and explain the alleged killing of Iraqi civilians by American Marines at Haditha. I have not spent the time to properly research the actual events myself, so I will not comment on them here. I will also not comment directly on the possible motivations that the MSM might have for keeping this story in the regular news rotation. However, I think that it is significant to note that there have not been hundreds, or even dozens of similar allegations against American and coalition forces in the region, despite the thousands of operations that have occured there since the war began. In spite of those who would claim otherwise, it is apparent that there is not widespread abuse of Iraqi civilians by coalition forces (either that, or our guys are WAY better at working the media than they are given credit for). I think this statement by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari maintains the correct perspective. An exerept:

"Yes, civilians got killed in Haditha and other places but it is the terrorists who target civilians in Iraq...This is the solid truth which journalists cannot beat us on."

That last comment about journalists is interesting, isn't it?