Det er med en vis tøven, at jeg skriver om den påståede massakre i Haditha, for hvis påstanden er sand, bør de involverede soldater straffes. Det er endvidere vigtigt, at sagen forfølges og ikke søges kvalt med undskyldninger om, at der sker så meget i krigens hede.

Men i de seneste dage har der været et stigende antal historier i de amerikanske medier, inkl. blogs, der betvivler, at der overhovedet var en massakre.

Da vi ikke kan stole på, at danske MSM giver os begge sider af sagen, bringer vi her et lille uddrag af de seneste indlæg, der så vidt muligt er repræsentative for kritikken af påstanden om en massakre.

Her er dagens leder fra New York Post (ikke at forveksle med NY Times):

Now is the time to start asking whether the “massacre” at Haditha is another Jenin. Readers might remember the “Jenin massacre” from April 2002, when Israeli soldiers were accused by the Palestinian Authority of killing of thousands of innocent civilians, only for the world to learn later that the casualties were lower by orders of magnitude and that the soldiers besmirched by the press actually took extraordinary risks to clear a West Bank suicide bomb factory and avoid the kind of mass killings of which they were accused. (mere)

Her er en artikel fra Washington Post 11/6, hvor de involverede soldater fastholder deres uskyld:

A sergeant who led a squad of Marines during the incident in Haditha, Iraq, that left as many as 24 civilians dead said his unit did not intentionally target any civilians, followed military rules of engagement and never tried to cover up the shootings, his attorney said. (mere).

Blandt de blogs, der har beskæftiget sig med denne vinkel er American Thinker. Her er et indlæg fra Clarice Feldman fra den 13/6:

I have no inside knowledge of what happened in Haditha, of course, but I can examine media stories for sourcing and quality of reporting. When the reports in Time Magazine and others are subjected to close scrutiny, there is much less solid evidence than one would expect a major media enterprise would require before making sensational charges against our military in wartime. All the more reason to presume the Marines’ innocence until proven guilty, and to read with suspicion reports that condemn Kilo Company’s actions in Haditha. (mere)

Og fra samme blogger en opsamling dateret 9/6:

Evidence accumulates of a hoax in Haditha. The weblog Sweetness & Light has done an estimable service gathering together the articles which cast substantial doubt on the charge of a massacre of civilians at Haditha . Because the blog is too busy gathering and fisking the news, I offered and the publisher accepted my offer to put what he has uncovered in a narrative form.

Vi må se, hvordan sagen udvikler sig. Skulle det vise sig at være en massakre, skal vi nok få det at vide af MSM og godt det samme. Skulle det vise sig at være fup, er det godt, at vi har blogs.