Two and half years later, the government has finally seen fit to drag three Iraqis to the States to testify against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani in the Haditha case. Perhaps it took them that long to find three in the area that weren’t insurgents. Maybe it took the government that long to get their stories to match.

Two doctors and a nurse from Haditha are giving depositions, said attorney Brian Rooney. He represents Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, who is accused of not properly investigating the killings…Rooney said the two doctors are expected to testify about a Haditha town council meeting, during which Iraqis demanded that Chessani investigate the 24 deaths.

Perhaps most heartbreaking about the entire affair–and the Pendleton 8, and Iron Triangle, and Captain Roger Maynulet, and Lt. Ilario Pantano–is not even that we repay our most honorable warriors with accusations and ruined lives. Perhaps it is comments like these, written by a Marine in the comments and echoed a hundred times to me by troops all over the world in the last two years.

“wow, here we go again, making our troops look like cold blooded killers. why join the military to defend this country if you are going to prosecute us for shooting people that are shooting at us?”

These trials do not take place in a vacuum. The entire world sees that the United States has taken to eating its own. In an effort to appease those who have no right to demand it, we have instead shown ourselves as weak, ineffective, incompetent, and unwilling to stand behind the men we send into war. How dare we? More importantly, with evidence so blatantly proving these men innocent, why is everyone so afraid of speaking the truth?

Every day that these cases go on, and every day that the men behind the this mockery of justice are not exposed, is another measure of shame that we all bear as a nation. I challenge you to educate yourself. I challenge you to have the testicular fortitude to speak the truth.

Send post as PDF to