Haditha Signals Beginning of End of Iraq War

Haditha Signals Beginning of End of Iraq War. Interesting points raised here as to why Haditha is far worse than My Lai - even though the dead in My Lai far outnumbered those in Haditha.

What allegedly was done at Haditha was not done by raw draftees, or conscripts, but by elite professionals — that is, by highly trained and highly disciplined troops.
That the Marines would be edgy and angry at the death of a comrade is understandable. They didn't, though, then go on a rampage. Instead, their alleged killings were spaced out and deliberate.
First they apparently stopped a car with four students in it, ordered them out and shot all. Then, they entered three houses and killed almost everyone in it, of whatever sex and age.
The second critical differences between the two outrages is that the alleged crime in Haditha happened after Mai Lai took place.
This means that all the publicity about that earlier crime, and all the shame so many Americans then felt about it and expressed so clearly and loudly, and all the systems and controls instituted by the military to make sure it could never happened again, made not the slightest bit of difference.
Indeed, it appears that one new practice instituted by the U.S. military since the Mai Lai massacre amounts to a technique for covering up crimes like it. This relates to the way the cover story about the alleged Haditha massacre began to fall apart.
The killings happened last November. Once it was realized that some of those shot down could not have been insurgents — the dead included women and children, one as young as 2 years old — approval was given for cash payments to be given to survivors as compensation.

But there is one similarity - at least we hope...

The alleged Haditha massacre, once its full details are made public, will undoubtedly push American public opinion toward the same tipping point.
Abu Graib. Guantanamo. Haditha. And most probably many others which now will come to light. We are witnessing the beginning of the end of the Iraq war.

... We hope!