This past week, 60 Minutes broadcast a story on the massacre of 24 Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha by four Marines led by 25 year old Staff Sargeant Frank Wuterich. Wuterich was charged with unpremeditated murder (killing without military justification), which will be decided by a military jury.
If anyone should have been in the seat, answering questions of responsibility his actions it would be President Bush, who is largely responsible for the conditions and policies that prompted Sgt. Wuterich to be in Iraq.
Unless someone forgot, Haditha was a war zone. Sgt. Wuterich’s company had just sustained a casualty; one of their Humvee’s had been blown up by a bomb embedded in the road that was detonated by remote control. While no gun was pointed at them, the driver, Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, was dead nonetheless.
Sgt. Wuterich, had immediately responded by killing five Iraqis who got out of a car that was in visual line of sight of the explosion, weren’t compliant, and had attempted to flee. He described the death scene:
“…basically a pile of flesh, in essence. That may be a sight I’ll never forget. He was missing one of his arms. His legs were completely severed from his body, but they were still attached because for some reason his Cami’s didn’t rip completely.”
The story goes on to say that Wuterich and the surviving soldiers, who were now under fire, eventually killed 19 more people, mostly men, but several women and children. They stormed two houses. Each time, they tossed a grenade first, then entered the space.
Sanctimoniously, 60 Minutes correspondent, Scott Pelley asks Wuterich the following question:
“Frank, help me understand. You’re in a residence, how do you crack a door open and roll a grenade into a room?”
I really wondered if Pelley was serious. This was not like taking a stroll on a street in peaceful suburbia, picking a home at random, breaking in and tossing a hand grenade. They were engaged in the War on Terror. They were seeking “victory”. They were “protecting American interests.”
How could Pelley seriously be asking a 25 year old why he did what he did, when a 60 year old, who ought to know better, is the one who insisted that we needed to send him?
How could what Sgt. Wuterich’s actions be labeled as murder, when President Bush’s were not?
While the president didn’t pull any triggers, or push any buttons that led to death, he argued for, and secured the means to provide the guns, bullets, bombs, and to divert national and world attention toward Iraq in an antagonistic way. He also had the power to direct attention in a conciliatory and diplomatic way, with cooperation from the world community, but did not have the patience for that, or simply didn’t think it was necessary.
The Sgt. faces imprisonment, whereas impeachment hasn’t even been considered for the President, much less any kind of criminal prosecution.
I’m not suggesting that President Bush should be impeached, or prosecuted. However, if he is not, then Sgt. Wuterich is certainly no more culpable. His choices are in a direct line of progression from the choices of our president. You could say that he could have sought certainty before opening fire on people who, under the cirumstances, might have been innocent. On the other hand, he and the rest of his men could have been killed. Then he would have been spotlighted on the ABC Evening News, as some of the 3200 who have given their life for freedom, and the president — still singing the same tune — would be seeking more troops to replace the ones who have fallen.
The wheel of grief keeps on turning.
War is not a win/lose event. It is a loss for all parties.
