Chris At Home

Uno, via Tim Blair (Peace Be Upon Him), an article that discusses the terrorist Class of 2004. The group is based on an AP analysis of terrorist leaders around the world.

They rose up quickly to take up Osama bin Laden's call for jihad, ruthless men in their 20s and 30s heralded as the next generation of global terror. Two years later, 40 percent are dead, targets of a worldwide crackdown that claimed its biggest victory with the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida's front man in Iraq.

Manhunts in Asia, Africa and Europe have pushed most of the rest deep underground — finding refuge in wartorn Somalia or the jungles of the southern Philippines. While there are still recruits ready to take up al-Qaida's call to arms, analysts say the newcomers have fewer connections than the men they are replacing, less training and sparser resources.

Smiling, aren't you? The Guardian (yes, the Guardian, one of Zarqawi's favorite newspapers) reports that we are winning the War on Terror:

But, even if it is impossible to say that we have won the war on terror, it is equally the case that the terrorists are not doing too well. Bin Laden's strategy has not succeeded. The 'awakening' has not started - at least not yet. And that is not because of 500lb bombs dropped on militants in Baquba, useful in the short term though they might be, but because of the millions of ordinary men and women in the Islamic world who, despite what has happened to them, despite their anger and frustration, their despair and their hopes, have decided that violence is not the answer.

And, finally, the first real report of the Marines' versions of Haditha. The stories told by the Iraqis can almost fit into the Marine version, if you leave out the civilians begging for their lives and being shot execution style, that is.

Wuterich's version contradicts that of the Iraqis, who described a massacre of men, women and children after a bomb killed a Marine. Haditha residents have said that innocent civilians were executed, that some begged for their lives before being shot and that children were killed indiscriminately.

Wuterich told his attorney in initial interviews over nearly 12 hours last week that the shootings were the unfortunate result of a methodical sweep for enemies in a firefight. Two attorneys for other Marines involved in the incident said Wuterich's account is consistent with those they had heard from their clients.

And Wuterich's account of how it happened:

A corporal with the unit leaned over to Wuterich and said he saw the shots coming from a specific house, and after a discussion with the platoon leader, they decided to clear the house, according to Wuterich's account.
...
A four-man team of Marines, including Wuterich, kicked in the door and found a series of empty rooms, noticing quickly that there was one room with a closed door and people rustling behind it, Puckett said. They then kicked in that door, tossed a fragmentation grenade into the room, and one Marine fired a series of "clearing rounds" through the dust and smoke, killing several people, Puckett said.
...
Although it was almost immediately apparent to the Marines that the people dead in the room were men, women and children -- most likely civilians -- they also noticed a back door ajar and believed that insurgents had slipped through to a house nearby, Puckett said. The Marines stealthily moved to the second house, kicking in the door, killing one man inside and then using a frag grenade and more gunfire to clear another room full of people, he said.

According to a source in the article, the Marines probably were following the Rules of Engagement if this account is true. Note that civilians in an open area were not harmed while chasing other suspects soon after the house-to-house hunt.

So...40% of the badass 2004 Class at Terrorism High are dead.
The friggin' Guardian says we are winning the War on Terror.
And there might be a simple explanation for Haditha.
Overall, a pretty great evening here in the deepest, darkest province.

Update: Allah also discusses the Haditha article.

Update: Castro says killing Zarqawi was barbaric. Friggin' Castro raises his attention from beating and torturing dissidents to defend the indefensible.

Update: Greyhawk says:

The accounts given are actually consistent - on the broader story - with reports from Iraqi civilians (houses were entered, non-combatants were killed). But the Devil's in the details, as they say, and in this case (as with most such cases) that's where divergence occurs.

The issue will indeed be settled by a determination of whether the Marines followed rules of engagement for the circumstances. Two questions that are key to that issue are 1) did they correctly assess the situation and 2) did they respond appropriately to that assessment. On-the-scene decision makers have broad latitude to act in response to attack (this is not to imply they can shoot children with reckless abandon), must rely on training and experience to do so (the Marines had both), and obviously can't pull out an instruction manual to determine what to do in any combat situation.

Update: Sweetness & Light has details of Time's climbdown from their original story.