"Marines: Allegations undercut us"
Del Gaudio said he made a tough call after a roadside bomb killed four of his men in April. While securing the scene, he was shot at by a machine gun in a follow-up attack. When he aimed his weapon to return fire, he saw that the gunmen had a line of children standing in front of them and two men filming with video cameras. He held fire until the children moved out of the way but was shot in his hand, which was only inches from his face.
"Restraint almost cost me my life," he said.
This kind of thing is not uncommon, and there are even news stringers out there in Iraq and elsewhere (no Americans so far) that are straddling both sides of the fence, to put it generously.
The facts aren't all in on the Haditha case yet, but one thing is certain: Those in Iraq who want to push fake or misleading information are going to have an easy time of it, with so many in this country eager to leap on everything negative they can find about the military and the war (see also: "Tailwind.")
Link via Wretchard, who has more here.