the military lied about this incident and now we are to wring our hands about not judging the people involved? what about the point in the video where they make cracks about those "dead bastards down there"? i found the marine veteran's comment condescending. yes, war is tragic. yes, in war civilians will die. Regardless of the mythical 'babykiller' charge, many people opposed to this war understood that the administrations fantasy about a 'surgical' war was just that. civilians dying in our voluntary war from stray bullets is one thing murdering people from a few miles out by a couple of jackasses in green is another. we are constantly told we need to support the troops , does that extend to those two?

I think believe that, as part of our basic civics responsibility, witnessing war as nearly first-hand as possible should be MANDATORY. We fund the world's largest military machine, and we should be made to see what it really does. The leaked footage shows how terribly unjust our policies are in Iraq. It clearly shows the cold-blooded murder of a group of unarmed men. I wish Obama would fulfill at least one of his campaign promises, and get us out of Iraq completely and immediately. I can't imagine we're doing much more than creating the kind of hatred that will inspire reprisals against Americans somewhere, sometime.