With the most recent accusations of murder and rape against U.S. troops in Iraq, somebody eventually had to ask if this behavior is due, in part, to repeated deployments.  Well, our friends over at CSMonitor finally did.  Their interviews with military personnel suggest that, along with the uncertainty of the War's duration and the everyday stress of combat, frequent redeployment seems be a contributing factor.
     Yet when John Murtha suggested back on May 17th that, "The tremendous pressure and the redeployment over and over again is a big part of this," he was attacked by the Washington Times Op-Ed page as "irresponsible".  Meanwhile, Bill O'Reilly called Murtha's comment "unconscionable".  Seems that the Right just couldn't believe that a veteran might understand that an open-ended war does terrible things to our troops.
     This really goes back to what John Kerry talked about in the third Presidential debate back in '04.  He spoke about how Bush's decision to enter into a unilateral military action had overextended our forces.  Bush's response?  "The best way to take the pressure off our troops is to succeed in Iraq." Now THERE'S and solution!

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This Haditha story, this Haditha incident, whatever, this is it folks, this is the final big push on behalf of the Democratic Party, the American left, and the Drive-By Media to destroy our effort to win the war in Iraq. That's what Haditha represents -- and they are going about it gleefully. They are ecstatic about it... Folks, let me just put it in graphic terms. It is going to be a gang rape. There is going to be a gang rape by the Democratic Party, the American left and the Drive-By Media, to finally take us out in the war against Iraq. Make no bones about it. - Rush Limbaugh

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I've avoided discussing the Haditha incident before now because it is disturbing at so many levels.  

Under the fold: another tangled web...

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It's been said that military or imperial occupation destroys not only the life and property of the occupied, but -- much more terribly -- the soul of the occupier.

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