I've got to say that there sure is a lot of condemnation flying around for something that has not yet been proven.
Bad stuff happens in war. Sometimes because that is the plan - war being all about killing people and destroying things - and other times because somebody made the wrong decision. In that event we have investigators, lawyers and judges to find the facts and assign blame. Something that is
suspected to have happened is not cause to condemn the entire campaign - unless of course you're just in search of an excuse to do so.
If you're relying on that piece of crap Wolf Blitzer to tell you the truth, you are dancing on air. All those folks care about is selling the drama of the news cycle and then catching the wave for the next "watch me - watch me" blitz of hype, ill-informed prognostication and pure bullshit.
If somebody did the unthinkable then they will have to pay for it. But, just because you got a lump in your boob doesn't mean it's time to schedule the mastectomy. You would feel pretty stupid to be uni-titted when you found out the lump was just a glandular cyst. Ooops.
Yipee-Ki-O said:
Even more so for an expeditionary fighting force like the U.S. Marine Corp, whose training and tradition leaves them particularly ill-suited to be serving as an occupying police force.
I’ve got to disagree.
Police forces don’t occupy, they are an embodiment of the civilian population’s lawful authority to protect and police itself and the practical arm of the government’s responsibility to act in those roles. They can handle deadly force situations of relatively small scales, and they can handle large-scale disturbances and demonstrations. But when you couple the use of deadly force with large scale disorder it is no longer in the realm of policing. It is a military action, and when faced with just that situation police forces around the world call on the military. Remember the Marines coming out of Camp Pendleton to pacify Los Angeles during the 1992 riots?
The military in Iraq is there performing a military operation. It’s no longer a full blown war (which lasted all of three weeks despite the media’s prediction of total disaster) but it ain’t peace yet.
As for pacification of uprisings, insurgencies and similar actions – well, the Marine Corps has a very long history and tradition that goes back before the Spanish American War. It was Marines from the Washington Navy Yard ended John Brown’s seizure of the armory at Harper’s Ferry before the Civil War. After that war they were involved in putting down numerous instances of domestic disturbance and uprisings – including nine separate raids into Brooklyn to deal with violent gangs of moonshiners. Fighting fires, quelling election riots, and pacifying violent railroad strikes were just some of their duties. The Marines carried on those same duties throughout the globe ever since.
The Marines are famous for the big battles like the taking of Fortress Durna (the Shores of Tripoli) the Battle for Chapultapec (the Halls of Montezuma), the Boxer Rebellion, Belleau Wood, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Khe Sanh, etc. But for all of those large and historic battles there are hundreds of engagements conducted as part of pacification campaigns battling bandits, guerillas, insurgents, rioters and petty warlords in places like Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Shanghai, Samoa, the Philippines, Panama, Egypt, Honduras, Mexico, Bosnia, etc.
Not only are most people unaware that the Marines have gone to those places to keep the peace - they are also most likely unaware that many of those places have been visited by the Corps on many prior occasions. Panama 11 times since 1856, four trips to Mexico, three to Egypt, four to Cuba, we should have just stayed in China between 1854 and 1941 and I think there are streets and towns named after Marines in Nicarauga and the Dominican Republic after all the visits there.
And yet they keep sending the Marines back to deal with smaller than war problems in those places. That tells me that as a nation we see value in those places, understand the need to deal with the problems, and that those problems don't always get fixed the first time (or stayed fixed). Not to mention that it also tells me that the Marines have long been the force of choice to deal with those situations.
Some people have a hard time understanding Marines and what they do – but I remember one great quote by a Marine officer that makes it clear. While addressing Iraqi civilian leaders in a small city he asked them to either identify any bad guys so the Marines could take them into custody, or “tell them to attack us as soon as possible so we can kill them.”
![:-\](https://www.early-retirement.org/sk/forums/images/smilies/undecided.gif "Undecided :-\")
