I find myself thinking "Why do they lie?" since, after all when it comes out the lies make it all so much worse. How can we believe that episodes like My Lai were not a reflection of official policy when official policy was to cover up what happened, until that became impossible because of the courage of a few soldiers who refused to be silenced.

But then I look at the pictures, and read the stories, in that link I gave about how torture and murder was carried out by British soldiers in the early Cold War period - here it is again - and I realise that this had been successfully covered up for nearly 60 years.

The truth is, cover-ups succeed. How can we ever know how many atrocities get concealed for every one that comes to light? Was there really anything that unusual about what happened at Habitha? Or My Lai? We can hope there was, but how can we ever know?
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Here's the latest on this from "The Marine Corps Times today:

Three officers - including an infantry battalion commander and two of his company commanders - were fired April 7 for lack of confidence, a Corps spokesman said. Relieved were Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, who commanded the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines; India Company commander Capt. James Kimber; and Kilo Company commander Capt. Luke McConnell, said 2nd Lt. Lawton King, a spokesman for 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton.

Officials previously have confirmed that Chessani's battalion was under investigation for an alleged Nov. 19 rampage by the battalion's Kilo Company Marines in the Iraqi city of Haditha that left 15 civilians dead, including seven women and three children.