Andrew Sullivan is credulous

Wow. Andrew Sullivan will believe anything bad about the U.S. military. He's got Abu Ghraib on the brain and everything the military does is colored by it. He even tries to tie in torture with the supposed Ishaqi massacre by U.S. forces.

Sullivan's post is a hyperactive, melodramatic embarrassment. What evidence does he have that our military is guilty of this so-called atrocity? He links to Raw Story, which has a blurb about the supposed occurrence.

According to Reuters report on the incident, the 11 bodies of men, women and children, including a 75-year old grandmother and a child under the age one one, were found bound in their blown-up home. All were shot in the head; the house was riddled with bullets. At the time, "The U.S. military said two women and a child died during the bid to seize an al Qaeda militant from a house."

"A senior Iraqi police officer said autopsies on the bodies, which included five children, showed each had been shot in the head. Community leaders said they were outraged at the killings and demanded an explanation from the U.S. military," Reuters reported. "Television footage showed the bodies in the Tikrit morgue -- five children, two men and four women. Their wounds were not clear though one infant had a gaping head wound."

Wrote Floyd, "We know from photographic evidence that the corpses of two men, four shrouded figure s (women, according to the villagers), and five children – all of them apparently under the age of five, one as young as seven months – were pulled from the rubble of the house and laid out for burial beneath the bright, blank desert sky. We know that an Associated Press reporter on the scene saw the ruined house, and a photographer for Agence France Presse took the pictures of the bodies."

"We know that two Iraqi police officials, Major Ali Ahmed and Colonel Farouq Hussein – both employed by the U.S.-backed Iraqi government – told Reuters that the 11 occupants of the house, including the five children, had been bound and shot in the head before the house was blown up," Floyd added. "We know that the U.S.-backed Iraqi police told Reuters that an American helicopter landed on the roof in the early hours of the morning, then the house was blown up, and then the victims were discovered. We know that the U.S.-backed Iraqi police said that an autopsy performed on the bodies found that "all the victims had gunshot wounds to the head." We know that the U.S.-backed Iraqi police said they found "spent American-issue cartridges in the rubble."

So, what do we know from this incident? Well, we know that some photographer took pictures of some dead bodies. When? We don't know. Right after the military blew up the house? No, because the bodies were already decaying. We know that there are bullet holes in the skulls of some of these bodies. Is that the cause of death? We don't know. Did the gunshot wounds happen during the incident or did someone shoot the bodies afterwards? Not mentioned. It is said that the bodies were pulled out from the rubble for burial. Were they witnessed being pulled out right after the house was blown up? Unclear. Two Iraqi officers said that those bodies were bound and shot before the house was blown up. Were they there with the U.S. military when it happened? Nothing is said about that.

So, what do we know? Not much at all. And yet, Andrew Sullivan is ready to hang the U.S. military out to dry on this 'evidence'. I'd be very afraid if a guy like him were to be on any jury.

**UPDATE** 06/02/2006 5:24PM

Aaaand the military has cleared those involved in the raid of any misconduct. Thanks again, Andrew!