Findings of a recent military investigation into last November’s massacre of 24 civilians in the Haditha city in the Anbar province of western Iraq showed that military commanders in Iraq failed to follow up on signs of inaccuracies in early accounts of the deaths.

Investigators stated that the problems with the initial accounts of the Marines should have received attention from commanders. Did the U.S. military attempt to cover up the massacre by U.S. Marines of as many as two dozen Iraqi civilians, including old people, taxicab passengers, women and children?

The fact that the probe findings came less than two weeks after the outbreak of news that the U.S. forces in Iraq killed Abu Mus’ab Al Zarqawi, the man who rose from obscurity to prominence with the help of the U.S. propaganda machine, prompted political experts to suggest that the timing of the killing of America’s number one enemy in Iraq was cunningly chosen to shift the focus away from the Haditha massacre.

We are told that the American forces were hot on the trail of Zarqawi for some time- Then why was it so difficult for the U.S. Army, the most powerful ground force in the entire world that is the equipped with the most sophisticated equipment and weaponry on earth, to capture Al Zarqawi and kill him, or was the timing well maneuvered by the U.S. to distract media attention from Haditha massacre? asked an editorial on The Daily Star. Media reports over the past few weeks uncovered numerous scandals involving the U.S. soldiers’ conduct in Iraq. Are the American forces set loose with no restraining codes of conduct?

It seems that the U.S. military noticed just now, after three years of scandals, ranging from abusing Iraqi detainees, to killing civilians, that its troops need to be put on "ethical training" course. The Time Magazine recently quoted retired U.S. Army officer, Barry Mcferry, as saying that "our forces cannot continue that way, and I'm afraid that the American people have started giving up on this war."

The Daily Star’s article suggests that the killing of Al Zarqawi might be well-timed to coincide with the military probe into Haditha massacre to fix the tarnished image of the U.S. forces in Iraq.

It’s become clear to all the world that the U.S. is not the great liberator as it claims to be- on the contrary- its unjustified military presence in Iraq is the root and cause of all the horror and destruction the Iraqis now have to live with.

The extended presence of the U.S. troops in Iraq is the sole reason for the continuous rebel attacks, and attacks by gangs and outlaws, that claim scores of civilian lives every day.

Now that the U.S. killed Al Zarqawi, what will be its next reasoning for extending the occupation? Elections were conducted, the alleged Al Qaeda man in Iraq had been killed, the Iraqi army is now trained, if we assumed that the reason the U.S. came to Iraq in the first place is to install democracy then we should expect the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq soon.

(Source: Aljazeera.com)