Links and Minifeatures 05 19 Friday

Local News is treating the Marine Investigation as if guilt were an established fact, rather than merely under Investigation



Report: Local Marines Killed Women, Children

Military officials said Thursday that a criminal investigation into a firefight in western Iraq that left at least 15 civilians dead is not complete, but they did not dispute a congressman's charges that the attack by the Camp Pendleton-based Marines was far worse than originally reported.

This is a feature of any serious investigation. They don't eliminate suspects, much less publicly, unless they're certain of innocence, and probably not even then until the investigation is complete. If they did, one of the key questions the defense attorney would ask is why they said that. Some investigations exonerate their targets and the investigators themselves still never admit it to the media. What the military spokesman said was:

"There is an ongoing investigation, therefore any comment at this time would be inappropriate and could undermine the investigatory and possible legal process," said Marine Lt. Col. Sean D. Gibson, spokesman for the Marine element of U.S. Central Command.

In other words, precisely what proper procedure says they should say, no matter what the investigators think at the moment.

Officials in the Pentagon and at U.S. Central Command declined to say whether Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., was correct in saying that the Marines killed innocent women and children "in cold blood" during the attacks last November. Murtha said U.S. troops overreacted and that nearly twice as many people were killed than first reported.



Time magazine reported in March that an Iraqi civil rights group said Marines barged into houses near a bomb strike in Haditha, Iraq, throwing grenades and shooting civilians.



Murtha told reporters Wednesday, "It's much worse than was reported in Time magazine," according to the Army Times newspaper.



There was no firefight. There was no [bomb] that killed those innocent people," Murtha said in the Army Times report.

Isn't that what the investigation is intended to establish? If the military doing the investigating does not yet know themselves, how can Rep. Murtha possibly know? It is possible he's made up his mind because he wants it to be true? Google Representative Murtha for the past couple of years (since the Iraqi invasion) and decide for yourself if you think it might be likely that the above quotes are politically motivated. I notice the article failed to report previous incidences of Murtha accusing people of things that might have been politically motivated. Accusations that investigations did not bear out.

Murtha, a former Marine and veteran of combat in Vietnam, has been a consistent ally of the armed forces as a member of Congress. He has called in recent months for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.



He said combat stress prompted the Marines' alleged rampage, according to the Army Times report.



"It's a very serious incident, unfortunately. It shows the tremendous pressure that these guys are under every day when they're out in combat," he was reported as saying. "One man was killed with an [improvised explosive device] and after that they actually went into the houses and killed women and children."

My opinion hidden. Click when you've dug up enough evidence to have made up your own mind.







Opinion Journal has more



Argghhh! has the statement of a participant in the taking of prisoners.









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Former Fed Chair Says Housing Boom Over But Sees Stable Prices I respectfully disagree with the latter prediction, but must admit he's got a certain level of qualification I don't.



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Fed's Hoenig warns of rate overshoot risk Good to know the Fed is considering what most people who work financial retail have known for months. I've said they probably overshot by about a full percent here, before the most recent hike.



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Immigration measure said likely to pass If this bothers you because you want it more strict, consider what happens if no bill passes: The status quo. I may want more, but this bill is preferable to that. Who knows: This could be enough. If there's still a perceived problem in a couple of years, we can go after more.



So long as they actually enforce it, of course.



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EU asks US to consider plane sales to Iran



This is why the eventual conquerors of France will be flying Mirage jets.



They want new airplanes? Here are some suggestions: one two three four



Maybe we should sell them some forked tail doctor killers? Allah forbid their population of lawyers should become too high!



(lest I be misunderstood, the above aircraft are probably safer than most commercial aircraft when operated within their limitations by a conscientious pilot. However, having worked a few years in the industry, I'm also familiar with how people in certain professions often fail to take intelligent precautions when it comes to small aircraft.)



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Wizbang notes that BellSouth has demanded a retraction of the USA TODAY story that claimed call pattern monitoring.







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Dr. Sanity shreds the reporting from the front about 105 casualties in Afghanistan which "just happened" to fail to mention that 80+ of those were enemy casualties.



Big Lizards has more details



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Many places are reporting, like Jawa Report that Iran has passed a law mandating clothing for everyone and different styles/markings for religious minorities (Yellow stripe for Jews, blue for Zoroastrians, red for Christians). I hope that I don't have to sketch the most obvious of many historical precedents for you. On the other hand, I've seen one story purportedly by an Israeli calling the story a hoax (can't find it again). So keep your outrage in check pending further confirmation.



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Captain's Quarters note that there may now be proof that the biggest class action lawfirm in the country paid named defendants kickbacks of lawyer's fees. This has been obvious to students of economics and logic for years; who would go through all that court plaintiff rigamarole for fifty-one cents and a coupon for a small order of fries? It costs more than that to ride the bus to court one morning. Needless to say, finding evidence is a welcome development.



His story focused on campaign donations. I'd rather focus on the good to the economy not having to deal with these shakedown artists.



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An exercise in perspective from Victor Davis Hanson



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Volokh Conspiracy fact checks Slate.



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"Tell the truth but not all of it" Michelle Malkin adds some relevant facts to an LA Times Story.



Oh. THAT leftwing media bias.



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Funny site: Dear NSA.com Mining your data since 2001!



HT enrevanche