Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Murtha's Claim

TIME.com: Did Marines Kill "in Cold Blood"?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Murtha's claim? According to the article, it seems that the Pentagon is about to place American soldiers under arrest for homocide--so isn't Murtha merely telling us what the Pentagon claims?

Tom said...

Jeff,

First, we generally use "soldier" for members of the U.S. Army and "Marines" to describe members of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Second, if you want to take exception to the title "Murtha's Claim," take it up with Time. From the article:

"When a Congressman makes the extraordinary claim that U.S. troops killed innocent civilians "in cold blood," Washington takes notice...."

"Murtha made his claims after being briefed on an ongoing U.S. military investigation sparked by TIME's story...."

"Murtha claimed that "about twice as many" Iraqis were killed as had been reported."

The Pentagon made no claims at all, although Time claims that Pentagon sources say three Marines may face criminal charges, including homicide--the circumstances of which have not been made public.

Murtha's claims may very well be right--although I expect they are exaggerrated; how does he know they were killed "in cold blood"?--but they are still his claims.

Stephen said...

Hey, if they are guilty string them up. But this is the kind of issue that politicians should handle carefully and perhaps wait for the investigation to run its course. As of right now, it is "Murtha's claim." This is the first I am hearing about it.