Evidence mounting that Haditha charges are a hoax?

It is no secret I am hoping and praying that the terrible charges of a massacre at Haditha by our marines is false. I have pushed to give them the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. John Murtha in his quest for the #1 spot in the House (correction: under Speaker) if Dems take the majority seems willing to step on our marines to reach his goal.

In the meantime more keeps coming out that is beginning to smell like a hoax. Claurice Feldman writes a piece for the American Thinker called Haditha: Is McGirk the New Mary Mapes. McGirk is the Time reporter who broke the story. He is the same reporter who dined with the Taliban on Thanksgiving Day right after 9/11. In this story he lobbied the Time editors to use the word "massacre" in the story.

Additionally, it is pointed out that McGirk misrepresents a key source for the report. According to Feldman:

A key source for McGirk’s report that US Marines in Haditha had deliberately attacked civilians was Thaer al-Hadithi. whom McGirk inexplicably described as “a budding journalism student”. He is a middle-aged man, and was subsequently described by the AP as an “Iraqi investigator.”

Feldman raises key questions about the camaraman who taped the aftermath of the incident. He claims that he waited to videotape what would occur, but did not tape the incident itself. He watched it from a window having the same opportunity to tape it but did not. There are also questions of the length of time it took to release the tape as well as an odd interview before the release:

The actions of his partner al-Mashhadani are equally puzzling. On December 15, 2005 Mashhadani was interviewed by the Institute for War and Peace which described him as “an election monitor.” In that interview he expressed great satisfaction with the election turnout (which in fact was terribly low in Haditha). Why did he not mention to this apparently sympathetic group one word about the supposed “atrocity” which he claimed had occurred three months earlier?

Feldman then describes inherent issues with the "witnesses" in the incident. There is a doctor who has documented anti-American "animus to the US troops". The other Iraqi witnesses are providing 4 different accounts of the incident. There is also a marine "witness" who was injured and evacuated before he could witness anything. He apparently only spoke of the incident after he was arrested for stealing and crashing a truck when under the influence.

There is a lot more in the article than can be given justice in this post. The fact is that Haditha was a hotbed for the insurgency. The staging of a "massacre" is both possible and supported by sufficient incentive in this area. The more that comes out about this, the more I sense that at a minimum John Murtha and the media jumped the gun too soon. The tendency of the media to think the worst of our soldiers until they are proven innocent is becoming more and more disgusting.

Feldman takes the same conclusion I came to in a previous post. The consequences to the media will be disastrous if our marines are cleared in this matter. This cannot be tolerated by them, so mark my words: if our marines are cleared in this, you can bet the media spin will be that there was a cover up (as they attempt to cover up their incompetence and hatred of our military).