Spin?

[chickenfeet]

According to the BBC charges are expected to be announced in relation to the activities of US Marines in Habitha last November. The US authorities in Iraq and Washington have been putting out 'cover stories' on this incident ever since and so one is forced to wonder how they are going to spin it when and if serious charges are laid. My guess is that the spin will be that this is an isolated incident (like all the others!). In that context, an apparently unrelated story from the BBC becomes very interesting. Here's a quote:

Ben Griffin was a member of the elite SAS. He told his commanding officer, earlier this year, that he was not prepared to return to Iraq because he said he saw American forces carrying out what he thought were illegal acts.

I can scarcely imagine how illegal an act has to be before a member of the SAS is affected in this way but it does raise questions about what is 'normal behaviour' in the view of the US military.

Comments

[scarletdemon.livejournal.com]

Frightening isn't it?

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Yes, though I'm less than surprised. I have occasional social contacts with British and Canadian officers and for the last year or so their comments about the US forces in Iraq have been rather less guarded than one might expect from serving officers talking to a civilian about an ally. The general tone, which makes sense to me, is that the Americans are seriously out of their depth rather than particularly vicious.