Haditha evidence mounts ... and in my humble opinion, lends strong argument for immediate withdrawal from the failed occupation ...

The execution-style killing of five unarmed men ... whose hands were locked over their heads ... outside of their car and homes ...


... was followed by the indiscriminate killings of their wives and children inside their homes ...

All told, twenty four civilians were murdered in Haditha and only now is the full truth coming out in bloody driblets. In this week's hearings a US marine told the court that he had "pissed" on the head of one of twenty four dead Iraqi civilians killed by his unit and watched a superior officer kill the five Iraqis shown on the ground in the first photo above ... as they tried to surrender.

"I know it was a bad thing what I've done, but I done it because I was angry TJ was dead and I pissed on one Iraqi's head!" are the exact words that Sergeant Dela Cruz told the court. They tell me a lot more than exactly what happened eighteen months ago.

Whether or not the accused marines are ultimately punished isn't what concerns me today. Hell, this happened back in November of 2005 and the far more heinous crime is that we are still in Iraq a year and a half later, still killing and still causing young marines to be confused as to what exactly is "right" or "wrong."

The dead men, women, children and elderly of Haditha will have served some purpose at least if the ongoing trial at Fort Pendleton will help bring the entire larger crime to a quick and relatively painless end. The guilt or innocence of individual US marines eighteen months ago will probably never be known, but the underlying guilt of those of us who have permitted this occupation to continue is without question.