The Haditha massacre

Let’s engage in a simple thought experiment.

Imagine you’re a parent sleeping soundly in the same room as your young children. Suddenly, a group of armed men burst into your home shouting in a foreign language. They force you and your terrified children to your knees. Then they execute you and your children.

Now, imagine you’re an Iraqi and your executioners are U.S. soldiers. This is exactly what happened during the Haditha massacre in 2005.

A group of marines led by Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich went on a rampage in which they murdered 24 Iraqi civilians, including women and children asleep in their homes.

At one point, the occupants of a taxi were forced to their knees before being executed.

Wuterich ordered the soldiers under his command to shoot first and ask questions later, perhaps forgetting that mutilated corpses of children answer few questions. Seven years have passed since the massacre, and no justice has been served. Of the eight soldiers connected to the massacre, only Wuterich was convicted of a crime. The other seven were released without punishment.

Worse, Wuterich was not charged with murder, manslaughter or even assault. Instead, he faced a military trial for charges of negligence.

The man who led the slaughter of 24 innocent human beings was simply negligent.

This is a slap in the face to the families of the dead. Of course, they’re quite used to being slapped in the face by the U.S. government. The United States initially offered $2,500 to the families for each family member killed.

The sheer arrogance of that offer is staggering.

But we haven’t reached the final insult yet. Wuterich was found guilty of negligence and sentenced Tuesday. His punishment? Wuterich was demoted to private and formally sentenced to 90 days in prison. However, he won’t actually serve any time in prison due to arcane legal procedures.

A man who ordered and helped carry out the vicious murders of men, women and children is free to walk the earth. Wuterich and his entire unit are like rabid dogs that need to be locked behind bars, not given a finger-wagging and a demotion.

Of course, it would be too easy to assign the entirety of the blame on Wuterich and his unit. They’re members of a military force that systemically devalues human life and treats civilian casualties like a game.

The drone war has killed at least 175 children in Pakistan since 2004, but our government insists it’s an effective, precise and, above all, necessary form of warfare.

Counting adults, the number of Pakistani civilians murdered by our fleet of drones rises into the hundreds, perhaps even the thousands.

There is no excuse for these vicious crimes. Drone pilots are not heroes. Wuterich and all the scum who followed him are not heroes. They’re vicious animals masquerading as humans, as are the aloof generals and politicians who order them into battle.

The next time President Barack Obama praises the success of the war on terror, remember that the price is paid in children’s blood.

­— atcrane@indiana.edu