The war in [tag]Iraq[\/tag], unfortunately, features daily [tag]violence [\/tag]and bloodshed. I expect the [tag]president [\/tag]to be [tag]informed[\/tag], but it’s unreasonable to think that Bush will get briefed on every single [tag]incident[\/tag]. There are, alas, just too many.<\/p>\n
That said, the alleged [tag]massacre [\/tag]in [tag]Haditha [\/tag]was not just another routine incident in Iraq — and it’s hard to understand why it would take four months<\/a> for [tag]Bush [\/tag]to hear of it, not from Pentagon officials, but from reporters.<\/p>\n President Bush learned of reports that U.S. Marines killed two dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians only after reporters began asking questions, the White House said Tuesday.<\/p>\n Asked when Bush was first briefed about the events in Haditha, an insurgent stronghold in western Iraq, White House press secretary Tony Snow replied Tuesday: “When a Time reporter first made the call.”<\/p>\n Time magazine was first to report, in March, that the U.S. military was investigating a dozen Marines for possible war crimes in the November incident. The killings, which included women and children, came after a bomb rocked a military convoy on Nov. 19, killing a Marine.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n According to the White House, after Time began asking questions, Stephen Hadley briefed [tag]Bush[\/tag] on the incident and investigation into what occurred. This came four months after the event itself.<\/p>\n No matter how routine the violence, an incident in which several Marines stand accused of methodically killing<\/a> [tag]unarmed [\/tag][tag]Iraqi [\/tag][tag]civilians[\/tag], including [tag]children[\/tag], in cold blood, is the kind of thing that might be of interest to the president, isn’t it? “When these investigations come out, there’s going to be a firestorm,” said retired Brig. Gen. David M. Brahms, formerly a top lawyer for the Marine Corps. “It will be worse than Abu Ghraib.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n For that matter, failing to keep Bush “in the loop” on these stories isn’t exactly a new problem. In 2004, the White House said Bush wasn’t aware of the reports of torture at Abu Ghraib until five months after the incidents were documented<\/a>, and even then his knowledge came by way of news accounts, not military briefings.<\/p>\n
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\nEven putting aside the human element, Bush needed to know about Haditha, if for no other reason, because the alleged murders are poised to increase violence in the country<\/a>.<\/p>\n