This is just really, really bad.

Murtha: Iraqis were killed 'in cold blood'

WASHINGTON, May 17 (UPI) -- A Pentagon investigation will show that U.S. Marines killed 15 civilians in Iraq "in cold blood" a U.S. congressman said in Washington.

Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., confirmed Wednesday that Iraqis in Haditha said Marines killed the unarmed Iraqi civilians, including seven women and three children, NBC News reported. Military officials told NBC the Marine Corps' own evidence appears to confirm Murtha's statement.

A Marine spokesman issued a statement in November saying a roadside bomb had killed 15 civilians and a Marine, but U.S. military officials later retracted that account.

Murtha said military sources have told him the Pentagon investigation will show the troops "overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood."

Three officers in a California-based Marine battalion involved in the incident were relieved of command. A spokesman for the 1st Marine Division said the officers were removed "due to lack of confidence in their leadership abilities stemming from their performance during a recent deployment to Iraq," the Marine Corps Times reported last month.

I so want to believe that this is all a big misunderstanding.

If it's true, it's awful and the full measure of the law should be brought to bear against those directly responsible. That does not include Rumsfeld or Bush although the Left will protray it that way.

Also, I hope that those on the Right who try to put this event into perspective and our soldiers (99.99% of who have followed the letter of the law) are not all called baby-killers.

Of course if Murtha has leaked the story incorrectly, he should resign immediately. In fact even if the report turns out to be inconclusive, Murtha should resign.

Should this affect our decision whether to stay in Iraq if it is true? Of course not. To me logic says that one illegal action, no matter how heinous, should undo an entire operation involving hundreds of thousands of people which will effect tens of millions. If such was the case, major urban police departments would have been taken off the streets long ago.

I pray that this didn't happen as the news is reporting - for all of our sakes.