Marine Acquitted of Haditha Cover Up

Marine First Lieutenant Andrew Grayson was acquitted yesterday of charges that he helped cover up the 2005 killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha, Iraq. The Haditha case had become a cause celeb for anti-war liberals and some Democratic members of Congress, who said that it demonstrated the strain that U.S. forces were under in Iraq and amounted to Iraq's My Lai. But the facts of the case have always been in dispute. Eight Marines were initially charged with various crimes in the incident. That list is down to three as military prosecutors dropped charges against five of the Marines. Grayson was the first to face court martial for his alleged role.

On November 19, 2005, Marine convoy traveling through Haditha came under attack as a roadside bomb killed one Marine and wounded two others. Prosecutors alleged that the Marines then fanned out through the town, entering two homes and killing the civilians in revenge for the death of their comrades. But the Marines accused have always maintained that they were following the rules of engagement and were acting to prevent further attacks on the convoy.

Democratic Congressman Jack Murtha (PA), a leading anti-war member of the House, said a little over two years ago that the Haditha Marines killed the civilians, "in cold blood," using the incident as evidence of his contention that the troops were coming under increasing strain. "There was no firefight, there was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them," he said. Murtha made his comments in the midst of the Democratic campaign to take control of Congress in the November elections. Democrats were making the case that the Iraq War was hopelessly lost and that the United States should withdraw its forces. Democrats won that election, but the troop surge and the resulting reductions in violence in Iraq have thwarted their efforts to bring an end to the war. To date, Murtha has not apologized for his comments.