Haditha Versus Falluja

The Sunday Herald says Haditha "will go down in US military history as the worst deliberate atrocity carried out against unarmed civilians by American forces since the notorious massacre at My Lai in Vietnam."

If so, that would be very unfortunate, because it would mean that US military history will forever overlook the far worse massacre of an entire town, Falluja. Of course, that was a fully state-sponsored atrocity, with all the media on board, so at this stage it seems quite probable it may stay out of the official US history books, just as it seems Bush and Blair may avoid imprisonment as War Criminals.

What's interesting about Haditha is that the "feral" soldiers responsible were also heavily involved in the front-line assault on Falluja. It must be quite confusing when your leaders whole-heartedly endorse mass slaughter of an entire city, but then take you to task when you reproduce the feat on a smaller scale.

I wonder what these soldiers will have to say for themselves, when and if they get a chance to speak? I wonder what they will have to say about Falluja? I wonder if they might not accuse their military leaders (and the White House, and the media) of double standards? And if so, I wonder how the public will respond...