http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1174649,00.html I took a quick look through the last couple of pages' worth of threads and didn't see this. Good god, if it's true it's horrifying.
It may be related to DoctorJones24's thread, but the title & lack of link make that unclear. From the article: "The available evidence does not provide conclusive proof that the Marines deliberately killed innocents in Haditha. But the accounts of human-rights groups that investigated the incident and survivors and local officials who spoke to Time do raise questions about whether the extent of force used by the Marines was justified—and whether the Marines were initially candid about what took place." The famous saying "shocked but not surprised" may apply here. It's not surprising that a sudden & overwhelming reaction to the ambush death of a comrade in an insurgent-infested area also claimed noncombatant lives. It is shocking when children are killed during this reaction.
Yep, that's the story. Obviously, it's tough to imagine that the Iraqi police version of the story is true. In an intellectual/moral sense, it doesn't jibe with what we know about our fellow Americans. But then you think back on My Lai, on Tiger Force, on Abu Ghraib, and you remember that none of those sounded possible either. War simply as ugly as humanity gets. Rumsfeld can talk about how this is the most compassionate war in history all he wants. Only complete moral cowards buy it. Sadly, they aren't exactly a rare breed in America (or anywhere). Also, it should give us all pause to think that those images are what the world's billion Muslims wake up to in their media every day. ETA: Actually, I spoke too quickly. This TIME story is about a similarly hazy report from a massacre in November. The photos were from a raid last week, which killed 11 innocents. Similar claims about execution-style killings vs. collateral damage exist in this one as well: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11819857