Haditha.

On the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer last Friday, Brooks discounted the killings in Haditha. "In past wars there have been bigger massacres." "Massacres like this always happen in wars." Blah, blah, blah. In so many words, Brooks said it was no big deal.

If the way we "win" this war is by winning the "hearts and minds" of the people of Iraq, this is a HUGE deal. No matter how much good we do, it will all be undermined by scandals and coverups like Abu Ghraib and Haditha. People like Brooks dont want to see that but we can see it right here in our country when companies cover up scandals.

How is Enron's reputation these days? What about Anderson Consulting? Remember when people died taking Tylenol? What would people think about Tylenol if the company had covered it up and said it was "no big deal"? What about Merck and Vioxx. Only a few people were negatively effected, did the public think that was no big deal?

Come on, Mr. Brooks! Senseless political spin is going to get us nowhere.

On the one hand, I agree that mistakes and atrocities happen in every war. That is one reason why war is supposed to be the very last recourse (Not the first or second, Mr Bush). War is a blunt, brutal instrument. One may not learn that from Hollywood, but people with an education, a sense of history and half a brain all know this.

When there are atrocities, we need to immediately confess them and deal with them. Cover ups are great when they work (Im sure there are MANY things we dont know about), but they are terrible when they fail. Cover ups undermine your credibility on EVERYTHING you say, forever. You can spend years building up goodwill and then lose it all in a day when the other parties find out you have been lying. (Just like cheating in a marriage.)

In a sense, I agree with Brooks that the massacre itself is not a huge deal but the coverup is. These killings took place last November. People knew. An internal investigation began last February and the President was briefed last March. People knew. Now it is June and the only reason we found out about it is because someone leaked the story to Time magazine.

When the public found out about this issue, US officials immediately reacted by saying they will "start an investigation immediately". They will "get to the bottom of this issue". ?!?!?

You are going to start an investigation now? What the fuck have you been doing since February? Since last November? Are there a lot more of these incidents that are being "investigated" so that we will never hear about them? For a President that ran an election based on his "superior morale character", these continued cover ups (which we only learn about through leaks) continue to contradict his self-professed virtue.

Another observation here is that the people who are most eager to discount these crimes are the ones with the least military experience. Congressman Murtha, Paul Shields and Jim Leherer, all of whom are former Marines, are the first to say this is a huge problem and the cover up was a huge mistake. Chickenhawks like Brooks and Rumsfeld however dont see a problem...

Which is why we are going to lose in Iraq. Civilians, lost in their own dreamworld, are in charge and the military doesn't speak up.