MSNBC:Do you think there's any justification for what happened in Haditha?

[sabra]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3080261/

Based on what you know, do you think there's any justification for what happened in Haditha?

* 2451 responses

Yes 23%
No 77%

[benburch]

1. Proof that 23% of all Americans are Nazis. nt

[malaise]

2. Had the same thought n/t

[atreides1]

8. Exactly

[madaboutharry]

9. Brilliant minds think alike!!!

My first thought too.

[Bucky]

19. Actually, only proof that 23% of opinionated Web users are snarky

When the facts come out, those who will justify the execution-style murder of noncombatants* will shrink to near nothing.

(*if that's what happened--I don't have the whole story either)

[karlrschneider]

3. 2493 responses now, same percentages

...

[magellan]

4. The only ones who could vote yes on this

...belong to the 29% club.

[tridim]

5. Do you think there's justification for any of Bush's wars?

MSNBC should ask that question.

Looks like about 2 out of 10 Americans think it's just fine to murder innocent Iraqis. *sigh*

[boobooday]

6. Gee, if the war isn't justified

Aren't the atrocities committed in that war like, double-unjustified?

[babylonsister]

7. Where's 'Hell, NO!"

I'd love to know how anyone could justify slaughter in cold blood.

Oh, wait...could be similar to starting an unprovoked war, I spose.

:cry:

[The Deacon]

12. Justification, No

Understandable, Yes. Once again soldiers have been placed in a situation they were not trained to deal with, denied the support they needed & now will be hung out to dry. Abu Gharib all over again. The every day grunt, forced into a position with no "out" reacted in frustration & anger - and the higher-ups who created the sadly predictable outcome will remain free to fuck up again.

[babylonsister]

13. Well, I surely don't understand, and doubt whether the majority

of soldiers or higher-ups do either.

[johnnie]

15. I agree with you

No justification, but what the hell do people expect to be going on over there?

[leeroysphitz]

10. There is an explanation but it's not a justification... nt

[Rose Siding]

11. How dare msnbc even present "yes" as an answer to that question

What they've done is present it as a legitimate option. Fools.

[sojourner]

my thoughts exactly!

and that's about what i told them in my comment to them. assholes. fucking assholes. excuse my french.

[Nite Owl]

14. Results now

Based on what you know, do you think there's any justification for what happened in Haditha? * 2754 responses

Yes
22% No
78%


Small change.
22% criminally insane!

[Epiphany4z]

16. a sad news story all the way around

of course there is no justification. Still I have to wonder what we expect things like this happen in every war. We take men we ask them to kill but be civilized about it. There really is nothing civilized about killing.

One can understand how it happened without finding it justified. I do think some people confuse the two things.

[atreides1]

21. "...we ask them to kill...."

We don't ask them anything, okay? Besides they are supposed to kill their attackers, not women and children who are in their homes, hiding themselves.

There is no justification and there is no excuse, this was nothing more the blatant murder and if some here want to provide the murderers with understanding, perhaps you'd like to publicly forgive the SS guards in the death camps, after all they were following orders and abiding by the laws of Germany.

Would those here be so inclined to understand if it were their family members!!!!!

The minute the resolve leaves is when they will try to whitewash this atrocity.

[Epiphany4z]

24. understanding is not justification

"...we ask them to kill...."
We don't ask them anything, okay? Besides they are supposed to kill their attackers, not women and children who are in their homes, hiding themselves.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
other than the we don't ask them anything..i agree...and that is probably just semantics but oh well..

I agree ...with the other point..I just understand how it can happen. That is different from justification. It was wrong. I was just kinda thinking out loud about the 23% who said they think it was justified..I think some of them mistake understanding how it happened and justification...they are two different things.

Things like this happen in every war..you can not have people killing and watching there friends get killed and not expect snaps like this...This story is sadly not a suprise......

I agree its bad , its ugly and its wrong. The story has no good outcome made even wrose by attempted cover up. I feel for iraqi family's and can only imagine how i would feel in there place....

[RevolutionStartsNow]

17. The fact that they even ask the question...

suggests complete moral bankruptcy. Sad, sad, sad.

[dysfunctional press]

18. the actions at haditha that WERE justified-

iraqi insurgents trying to rid their country of an occupying army.

[PublicWrath]

20. No. 78% n/t

[leesa]

22. Remember to send feedback.

[Ganja Ninja]

23. I'd like to know how many tours of duty the Marines involved ...

had already had.

[Cosmocat]

25. Yes, there is ...

Gosh darn it ... They absolutely need to get our boys and girls out of there ...

These guys are overthere for their third turn, and all they do is drive around the freakin country waiting to, literally, have their butts blown off ... Their civilian leadership is both completely clueless, and set the bar at toe heigth in relation to taking responsibility ... Then, earlier in the day, these soldiers lost one of their buddy's in some sort of attack ...

Of course they have to be held responsible, but they are TOTALLY set up for this kind of stuff now ...

They HAVE TO, HAVE TO, HAVE TO be brought home ...

[Carni]

26. Who (or what) in the fuck is in that 23%?

I have been taking a break from everything reality based over the weekend and just when I thought I couldn't possibly read anything more radically warped than what now passes for normal in this country.... I see THIS absolute abomination!

Where does it end?

The supreme court rules that whistleblowers against the Gov can't whistleblow...apparently per another thread the repukes have a plan to steal seats in 06 and now this.

When in the HELL is someone going to DO SOMETHING about this son of a bitch and his rancid thieving murdering cohorts?

WHEN?????!!!!????????

There is something SERIOUSLY SERIOUSLY wrong with the people in this country when 23% of people can see justification for just plain slaughtering for revenge, fun or enjoyment purposes.

Frankly even trying to keep up with what is going on in this country just seems damned pointless lately.

[Avalux]

27. Should be 100% - what the hell is wrong with people????

I can understand why it happened, but there's absolutely no justification for it. How would they like it if someone came after their family for revenge??

[newyawker99]

28. kick

Yes 22% No 78%


:kick:

[otherlander]

29. Done. Still 78%.....maybe some of the people misunderstood?

If they weren't that smart, they could have taken the question to mean was there an explanation/cause. Then again, there'll always be some fucked up people in the world.

[chat_noir]

30. proof that 22% are psychopaths

:nuke:

[DemoTex]

31. Do you think there's any justification for what happened in My Lai-4?

On the eve of the My Lai-4 attack, Charlie Company (11th Brigade, Americal Division) was advised by US military command that any genuine civilians at My Lai would have left their homes to go to market by 7 a.m. the following day. They were told that they could assume that all who remained behind were either VC or active VC sympathizers. They were instructed to destroy the village. At the briefing, Captain Ernest Medina was asked whether the order included the killing of women and children; those present at the briefing later gave different accounts of Medina's response.

The soldiers found no insurgents in the village on the morning of March 16, 1968. The soldiers, one platoon of which was led by Lt. William Calley, killed hundreds of civilians – primarily old men, women, children, and babies. Some were tortured or raped. Dozens were herded into a ditch and executed with automatic firearms. At one stage, Calley expressed his intent to throw hand grenades into a trench filled with villagers.

The precise number reported killed varies from source to source, with 347 and 504 being the most commonly cited figures. A memorial at the site of the massacre lists 504 names, with ages ranging from 1 year to 82 years of age. According to the report of a South Vietnamese army lieutenant to his superiors, it was an "atrocious" incident of bloodletting by an armed force seeking to vent its fury.

A US Army helicopter crew famously saved some civilians by landing between the American troops and the remaining Vietnamese hiding in a bunker. The 24-year-old pilot, Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, Jr., confronted the leaders of the troops and told them his gunship would open fire on them if they continued their attack on civilians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_massacre

There are those few miscreants who cling to the briefing described in the first paragraph above as justification of the massacre at My Lai-4 on March 16, 1968. The response of Lt. William Calley's platoon, no matter what those young soldiers thought they were up against at My Lai and no matter what they were briefed by superior officers, constituted a war crime. The ensuing cover-up was damnable and felonious, and criminal indictments should have been returned all the way up the chain of command (but the cover-up was whitewashed).

[Rex]

32. Justification for murder?

Sounds like MSM feeling some guilt about pimping the war. How much blood on our hands does it take?

[applegrove]

33. No excuse. Trials then jail.

[Mr_Spock]

34. Well, I hate to say this, but those 22% should be forced to walk

the streets of Baghdad for 1 month - I guarantee they would not be voting for this after a month (assuming even one of them survived).

[Raksha]

35. Well, it's 22% and 78% now

but what kind of a no-brainer is this? There may be EXPLANATIONS for what happened at Haditha (PTSD), but JUSTIFICATIONS??? Absolutely not.