Civilian death, atrocity and modern warfighting, all grew up in the same house. The "greatest generation" helped set the benchmark for this by making a high civilian death toll part of their air war policy. The fact that we can sit and be "shocked" by these events is laughable, we should have known and accepted that they were going to occur. Some of us did, but were called defeatist.

I seriously doubt, as the author states, that we have the moral authority, sitting in our offices and homes, to make the moral call on what these men, and others have done.

What this incident and others like it prove once again is that our elected officials, the civilians we pay to understand and make these decisions, neglected their responsibility in failing to plan for the beginning, the end, and the aftermath. In doing so they are as culpable as if they had pulled the trigger themselves. And, to a lesser degree, so are the rest of us who will scroll past this article on our way to you tube.

Bruce Catton wrote that the moment you begin a war, it fundamentally changes the country you are trying to preserve, thus, fighting to keep something safe is impossible, because what it becomes is different than what it was when you began fighting. Any number of historians could and did, predict this progression, it's not hidden, the fact is that the administration chose not to investigate it fully. In this case, despite what the PFC said, shit should roll uphill.

I find it very revealing that the Marines, who came into this campaign as the only fighting force with experience in insurgency type warfare, the only force that actually made it part of their staff training curriculum, is now so strung out and thin that this is the obvious result.