Streched Out & Stressed Out, Part II

A second report of Marines engaged in cold blooded killing of an innocent has hit the media.

As many as seven Marines are accused of dragging an innocent Iraqi man from his home in April, killing him in cold blood and then trying to cover up the crime, NBC News has learned.

Further, military officials tell NBC that at least one of the Marines has reportedly confessed in the killing, saying they find the allegations especially disturbing because the case appears to have been a premeditated killing and not carried out in the heat of combat.

The revelations come on the heels of a visit to Iraq by the commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps to address concerns that Marines are becoming indifferent to killing and death.

There is no doubt that the vast majority of troops are not engaging in cold blooded killings or other human rights abuses in Iraq but are busting their asses to do the best they can to make Iraq secure. The various insurgent groups and militias are also engaging in such atrocities to a far greater extent than coalition troops.

Yet, one would have to be naive not to have expected incidents like this, though rare and exceptional, would occur among troops being asked to do so much without sufficient resources. This is another cost that when piled on top of all the other loss of life and limb, the enormous monetary expense, the lost opportunity costs of being able to address other foreign policy, the damage to our international credibility made this war not worth it from the outset.