This is what is going wrong in Iraq

I was never in favor of the Iraqi invasion and in hindsight it was a correct call. However, this article on the military opening an investigation into a fire fight involving 12 marines and some insurgents bothered me.

WASHINGTON - The military has opened a criminal investigation into a firefight between U.S. Marines and insurgents last year that left 15 Iraqi civilians dead, defense officials said Thursday.

The inquiry will attempt to determine whether the Marines acted appropriately when they fired back at insurgents following a roadside bomb attack in Haditha, near Baghdad, in November 2005, said a military official who requested anonymity because the investigation has not been announced yet. The civilians were hit during that battle.

The firefight started

...began when a roadside bomb detonated next to a joint Iraqi-U.S. squad patrolling Haditha. Immediately after the explosion, insurgents attacked the patrol with small arms

The focus of the investigation is to

...determine whether the Marines positively identified or tried to identify the enemy and whether they determined there was hostile intent, as they are supposed to do.

What was the line from Apocalypse now? "charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding tickets in the Indy 500."