Yesterday Tony Snow said Bush did not learn of the Haditha massacre by Marines until Time published an article in their March 27, 2006 issue. For something this big to be kept from the commander in chief (if they are being truthful), lends even more credibility to Murtha’s statements that this has been a cover up:

CONGRESSMAN JOHN MURTHA (D-PA): “Well, what I worry about Wolf is [that] this happened six months ago and you heard nothing about it. As a matter of fact, the original story was that an [improvised explosive device] killed these 15 people. It became very confusing to the public. Time Magazine came out with an article and they still tried to cover it up.

“Now, there were payments made to victims which aren’t made unless we kill them one way or the other. And secondly, they knew about it the day afterwards…

“And the longer it goes the worse it is for us, because it looks like it’s our policy to do something like this…

“This helps [al Qaeda] recruit terrorists.”

You can also view the video of Murtha’s interview at Raw Story.

So is this the kind of media exaggeration that Bush is always talking about then? Perhaps he should have someone in his staff start surfing the internet because there were stories of the massacre online before the Time article appeared. Either Bush (through Tony Snow) is lying about when he learned about it or he is truly out of touch with the realities of Iraq.

Yesterday the Pentagon released a report saying the insurgency would remain solid at least into 2007. Ironically this report came out on the one year anniversary of Dick Cheney’s now infamous “last throes” statement on Larry King Live. One reason the Pentagon is now claiming a stronger hold for the insurgency is because they are “collaborating with al-Qaeda terrorists”.

Al-Qaeda was not in Iraq prior to our investigation. The administration has tried to lie about this and make the American public believe they are but the facts have been proven and Iraq had nothing to do with al-Qaeda. Anyone with any knowledge on the Middle East and the Muslim religion should be able to figure this one out. Saddam was a brutal dictator who killed his own citizens (we heard Bush say that time and time again). Osama is a Muslim extremist.

So why would Osama join forces with Saddam? Was it for money? Not when Osama has a steady flow of cash coming in. Was it for weapons? Well we never found any weapons and Bush has even admitted those claims were wrong. The fact is Saddam and Osama were not partners in crime and as matter of fact were more like oil and water – incapable of mixing.

Jack Murtha understands the volatile situation in the Middle East and this is why he is being outspoken on the massacre of Haditha. He knows that the longer we let the military cover up this horrendous incident the more empowered the insurgents and al-Qaeda would become. This was the unjustified killing of innocent Muslims and the same reason Osama would not do business with Saddam comes into play here.

With Bush not knowing about the incident is also an indication of the seriousness of what is going on. Bush’s only concern was being a “war time” President. This of course played right into the hands of a cabinet built of PNAC people who wanted nothing more than to overthrow Saddam. These PNACers, like Cheney and Rumsfeld, had developed a twisted affection to the idea of us going to war with Iraq. This has made for the perfect group to run our country and lead us into one of the darkest chapters of our history.

Yesterday I said the only possible cure we have for the crisis in the Middle East now is to impeach Bush and Cheney and hand Bush over to the Hague to stand trial as a war criminal. Bush did invade a sovereign nation and the reasons for that invasion have been proven wrong time and time again. Further more, this invasion has lead to a world whose peace lies in the most delicate balance imaginable. Since we invaded Iraq, terrorist incidents have risen sharply along with the tensions between the east and west.

Impeaching Bush and handing him over would in fact send a message to the Middle East that we will not tolerate this renegade behavior. We need to let the world know once again that America is the beacon of hope, freedom and human rights. America can not allow Bush to go on any longer. Every single person involved in this massacre and the subsequent cover up must also be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. If this goes all the way to the White House, so let it be. No one is excused from this because how we handle it is the tipping point for everything in the Middle East.

We have been acting like a bully to the world and after awhile the bullied end up fighting back. When that happens America is done.