Haditha

The latest media feeding frenzy is now focused on an alleged massacre by the U.S. Marines in Haditha, Iraq. On the way home from work today, I listened to Hugh Hewitt read the moving story of Lance Cpl. Miquel Terrazas' death in this firefight.

Terrazas' father, Martin, explains what happened:

Exactly what happened that day remains unclear. Miguel Terrazas' father, Martin, said the Marines his son fought with told him that after the car bomb exploded the Marines took a defensive position around his son's battered vehicle. Insurgents immediately started shooting from nearby buildings, and the insurgents were using women and children as human shields, Martin said he was told.

The Marines shot back because "it was going to be them or" the insurgents, Martin said of what his son's fellow Marines briefly described to him.

Read the full story here, and for more indepth reporting on this, read Hugh Hewitt's blog here.

Hugh strongly encouraged everyone to give the Marines accused of this massacre their due process before jumping to conclusions (as the media and Murtha have already done).

Having heard reports at the beginning of the war that the terrorists were using women and children as human shields, it certainly makes more sense than a rogue unit of Marines going on a killing rampage. Until the investigation is over, they will be given the benefit of the doubt here.