Innocent Until Proven Guilty...Unless You're A Marine
By Frank Salvato
June 2, 2006

The US judicial system operates on the premise that when a crime has been committed the accused stands innocent until proven guilty. It's one of the things unique to the American system of justice that makes ours one of the best in the world. But over the past two decades opportunists have taken to trying court cases in the media. In the court of public opinion the rules of judicial "fair play" are not honored and rumor and innuendo stand as acceptable forms of evidence. If you're a Marine serving in Haditha, Iraq, you know what I mean better than most.

Last November in Haditha, a terrorist stronghold in Iraq's volatile Anbar Province, twenty-four people were killed. In a country experiencing the final stages of its liberation from a tyrannical and genocidal regime, there will be casualties of war. And when that country is also valiantly defending itself against the barbaric insanity of insurgent terrorists who place their belief in radical Islam above the right of the newly freed people to govern themselves without outside interference, there will be casualties of war who are innocents. These are ugly truths but truths nevertheless.

What makes the Haditha incident extraordinary is that those who did the alleged killing were reported to have been members of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, First Marines, who had moments before been attacked by terrorists using an IED that left one Marine dead.

Also making this incident significant are the unverified, unconfirmed mainstream media accounts of a bloody campaign of revenge waged by these Marines against twenty-four Iraqi men, women and children.

As is the standard operating procedure in the face of such allegations, Naval and Marine Corps investigators have opened an investigation into the incident. Reports have three Marine officers relieved of duty and one enlisted man detained pending charges.

While the action taken so far and the word "investigation" may appear to be benign, I can assure you; to the Marines standing accused the investigation is anything but benign. Those who stand accused by these unverified and unconfirmed reports of murder stand to lose their careers, their freedom and essentially, their lives.

What we don't know about the incident in Haditha, are all of the actualities, circumstances, specifics and actions that took place. Because the mainstream media reports of the Marines' actions are "unverified" and "unconfirmed" they hold about as much weight as Newsweek's report of Korans being flushed down toilets at Guantanamo Bay's terrorist detention facility and the "incriminating" memo manufactured by Dan Rather and Mary Mapes designed to topple a presidency. The accusations warrant investigation but they do not justify infringement on the "innocent until proven guilty" aspect of our legal system.

To anyone with a modicum of common sense, with any respect for the US legal system -- be it civilian or military, the appropriate action would be to wait for all the facts to be discovered before forming an opinion. Logic mandates that before a credible, soundly based conclusion can be made, the investigation into the facts of the matter must be concluded. Anyone who refuses to wait for the investigation to conclude, including elected officials, political strategists, anti-war activists and those in the mainstream media, are nothing more than knee-jerk reactionaries more interested in furthering their careers and their causes than getting to the truth.

Recently, US Rep. John Murtha, a rabid anti-war activist dressed up in an elected officials clothing, said of the alleged incident, "They've been there too long. We have to bring them home before they kill more babies." He also used the statement "in cold blood," referring to the unverified and unconfirmed actions attributed to our Marines by members of the media. His rhetoric conjures up memories of the ragged anti-war protesters of the Vietnam Era who would spit on returning military personnel calling them "baby killers."

Maureen Dowd, queen knee-jerk and media maven of the activist "progressive" left, recently referred to the unverified and unconfirmed reports of our Marines killing civilians as a "My Lai acid flashback" (I suppose she would know about such things). Her words confirm yet again that the anti-war activist left would like to see the United States do the same thing we did in Vietnam; achieve "peace with honor" so that after we leave millions can be slaughtered at the hands of totalitarians, this time religious fanatics whose quest is to dominate the world, not just the region.

It is all the rage to say that we support our troops. Many adorn their vehicles with magnetic ribbons that declare their support while others wear hats, shirts and pins that declare the same. There is a faction that declares their support for our troops while condemning the war, interesting as it is for one to be able to claim support for our troops when one is against their mission. And many go the extra mile to write letters and send care packages to let our men and women in uniform know that there are people back home who are supporting them, praying for them and missing them.

But, if we really want to support our troops, if we really want them to understand the commitment we have made to them in their service to our country, then we should reserve judgment of those soldiers from Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, First Marines until the investigation is finished and all the evidence and information surrounding the Haditha incident is in. Further, we should demand that everyone else do the same.

Those who don't reserve judgment of these soldiers until the facts are in; who choose to deem them guilty until proven innocent, are simply placing their agendas and their biases above the process of gleaning the truth out of chaos. They never gave a damn about our troops in the first place.

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Frank Salvato is the managing editor for The New Media Journal.us. He serves at the Executive Director of the Basics Project, a non-profit, non-partisan, 501(C)(3) research and education project. His pieces are regularly featured in over 100 publications both nationally and internationally. He has appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, and is a regular guest on The Right Balance with Greg Allen on the Accent Radio Network, as well as an occasional guest on numerous radio shows coast to coast. His pieces have been recognized by the Japan Center for Conflict. He can be contacted at oped@newmediajournal.us

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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.