[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 104 (Monday, June 23, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H5845]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           HADITHA, IRAQ, FIREFIGHT THE MARINES AND THE PRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, the New York Times called it the ``nightmare'' 
killings of Haditha, Iraq, and the ``defining atrocity'' of the Iraq 
War. Maureen Dowd of the New York Times referred to the incident as the 
``My Lai Acid Flashback.'' Another New York Times reporter filed 36 
stories on what he called the ``cold blooded killing,'' saying, ``This 
is the nightmare everyone worried about when the Iraq invasion took 
place.'' Self-proclaimed expert and ``worst person ever,'' Keith 
Olbermann of MSNBC, called it ``willful targeted brutality.'' Nation 
Magazine said of the event in Iraq that ``members of the 3rd Battalion, 
1st Marine Regiment perpetrated a massacre.'' And even a Member of this 
House of Representatives said, ``Our troops overreacted . . . and 
killed innocent civilians in cold blood.''
  It has become the largest investigation in the history of Naval 
Criminal Investigative Service, which has 65 government agents assigned 
to this one case. Mr. Speaker, as a former judge and prosecutor, I have 
never heard of 65 criminal investigators assigned to one case except 
the 9/11 attack.
  What is the terrible atrocity these news sources are talking about?
  Well, Mr. Speaker, the Haditha, Iraq, incident took place in November 
of 2005 when our Marines were attacked by the use of a roadside bomb 
that exploded, killing one Marine and wounding two others. The Marines 
were then engaged in a firefight. Twenty-four Iraqis were killed, 
including some civilians.
  After the gun battle was over and the smoke cleared, our government 
charged four Marines with murder and four others with not properly 
investigating the case. In a rabid rainstorm of criticism by U.S. 
journalists who were looking for the scalps of these eight Marines, the 
eight Marines were tried by a hysterical jury of journalists in the 
press and apparently found guilty on all charges.
  But normally, Mr. Speaker, in America we try folks in our justice 
system and give them a trial before we send them off to the hangman and 
the gallows. Be that as it may, now, 2\1/2\ years after expensive, 
intense, and thorough investigation, the facts as portrayed by the 
sensational National Enquirer-type journalists are not as they were 
portrayed to be.
  According to columnist Michelle Malkin, who covered these cases in 
depth, seven of the eight Marines have had their cases dropped or 
dismissed. The eighth is awaiting trial in a real court, rather than 
the court of yellow journalism.
  These journalists, ironically, are the same ones wanting to close 
down Guantanamo Bay prison and are worried about the treatment of those 
alleged terrorists there who may get cold blueberry muffins for their 
breakfast. But these writers could care less about the presumption of 
innocence for these eight U.S. Marines, seven of which have had their 
cases dismissed already. Only in America does the press get teary eyed 
about the Gitmo detainees but is blissfully ignorant about the justice 
in the prosecution of our Marines.
  Meanwhile, the U.S. Marines are still in the midst of battle in Iraq 
and Afghanistan and standing vigilant in other places of the world 
protecting American interests and values. Those values include the 
freedom of speech and the freedom of the press to say anything it 
wants, even when the press is totally inaccurate and unfair in the 
expression of those fundamental rights. And for the U.S. Marines, we 
say Semper Fi. Semper Fi.
  And that's just the way it is.

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