Through Haditha Darkly....

In the wake of the Haditha killings, I would expect to see alot more reports of questionable killings by US forces. Take, for instance, the horrible killing yesterday of the two Iraqi women at a checkpoint, one pregnant and on her way to the hospital for delivery.

Questionable killings at checkpoints have been going on since day one in Iraq and have been largely underreported. Now, looking through the filter of Haditha, these events are going to be presented very differently.

Also, other allegations of questionable killings will start coming out.

SAMARRA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. forces denied on Wednesday a new accusation, from Iraqi officers, that American troops killed unarmed civilians in their home this month.

And, every action will now be reframed.

KABUL, Afghanistan, May 31 -- U.S. military officials acknowledged Wednesday that American troops had fired at an angry mob that surrounded the scene of a traffic accident in the Afghan capital Monday morning. Officials previously had said the troops fired only into the air.

My point is this. What happened in Haditha was absolutely horrible, and those involved should and will be punished, but that event may act to reframe alot of the violence in Iraq and Afghanistan that has been going on for a long time.

I'm just a bit fearful that Haditha may broaden to stain the honorable service of so many men and women. There's certainly some bigger questions of overall policy and strategy that need to be addressed, but, as these reports pile up on the front pages, I'm just hoping that it doesn't turn into the kind of situation that touched almost every vet from Vietnam.

Let's not let that happen.

(Elsewhere, William Arkin has an interesting post on Haditha and the broader picture. I don't know if I agree with him point by point, but I found it very thought provoking.)