Haditha screams a message
Re “The warrior’s way,” Opinion, June 6
David. J. Danelo cautions against “placing too close an association on the Haditha massacre with the war’s politics,” but the connection is too important to ignore. Haditha is a perfect microcosm of the entire Iraq war. Some Iraqis killed a Marine, and his mates allegedly took revenge not on the killers but on the nearest defenseless Iraqis.
On 9/11 some Arabs killed our citizens, and we took revenge not on the killers but on the nearest defenseless Arabs. The Marines at Haditha took their cue from their commander in chief. President Bush’s condemnations of their acts therefore sound hypocritical.
ILYA SHLYAKHTER
Princeton, N.J.
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Danelo states the obvious: Not all Marines are guilty for the actions of a few. But in doing so, he lessens the horror of the 24 civilians killed in Haditha. One innocent is too many, and we all have their blood on our hands. When will we stop justifying murder in the name of peace?
MURRAY RUBINSTEIN
Los Angeles
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