Who's Really Playing Politics With Haditha?

The deaths of 24 men, women and children in the Iraqi town of Haditha have garnered front page headlines in the press recently since word has spread that some of the marines involved might be charged with crimes including murder. The reaction by any normal, rational person would be to wait for the results of the investigation while mourning for the dead. There is absolutely nothing political about this situation - unless you're an angry right-winger.

Jed Babbin, deputy undersecretary of defense for Bush's father, warns his colleagues that the antiwar left is going to use the alleged massacre for political aims. What Babbin fails to understand is that the antiwar left, of which I am a part of, was opposed to the war in the first place. We don't need horrific incidents like this and the torture at Abu Ghraib to prove that this war was illegal and unecessary. We knew it before there were any bombs or boots on the ground.

The idea that anyone on the left would use the deaths of these innocent civilians for political gain is unscrupulous. The only ones who seem to be doing that at this point are right-wingers like Babbin who will use any opportunity they can to attack the antiwar crowd. Why? Because we were right and Babbin and his ilk were so incredibly wrong and they absolutely refuse to take responsibility for that fact.

Does he honestly think we care if Bush ever admits he was wrong about this war? Clue to Babbin: we don't need him to. The world has already woken up to that fact. Bush never will. His legacy is at stake and he truly believes he's on some special mission from God. There's no way he can repent now. His head would explode.

Babbin, of course, ends his article with the 'bad apples' argument. We know these marines are not representative of the entire marine corps, but we also know that the Bush administration through its repeated deployments and policy of sending mentally ill soldiers back into the war zone must bear some responsibility as well. The complete lack of willingness by the right-wing to hold their leaders accountable for the decisions made throughout this war indicates a complicity in whatever happens overseas. No man is so sacred that he cannot or should not be held to account. Yet, Bush supporters fail to see that by not questioning their leader and his policies, they are continually allowing atrocities and injustices to occur.

What is so incredibly special about Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney that they should escape scrutiny? I'd like to see a right-winger answer that question honestly for a change instead of attacking those of us on the left who only want two things: truth and justice.