Presumption of Innocence

Michelle Malkin did a post today on the presumption of innocence as it relates to the Camp Pendleton 8. Michelle concludes:

Contrary to the moonbat Left, “innocent until proven guilty” applies to our troops, too.

Of course, our troops don’t always get that presumption, as Thomas Smith points out:

Haditha has been transformed into an issue of political opportunity for the cut-and-run crowd, including Congressman John Murtha (D, PA.) who on May 18 publicly accused the Marines involved in the Haditha tragedy of killing in “cold blood.”

In a May 28 interview for ABC’s “This Week,” Murtha added, “I will not excuse murder, and this is what has happened.” and “There has to have been a cover-up of this thing. No question about it.”

Mad Jack is the most notorious example of a public figure who has convicted the Marines accused of wrongdoing in Haditha before any evidence has been offered, but he is hardly the only one: the drive-by media have gleefully joined in. And all of this reminded me of something–an audio clip I heard over the weekend. Here it is, an exchange between borderline moonbat Victoria Jones of the White House press corps and Tony Snow. Ms. Jones objects to President Bush’s characterization of some of the inmates at Guantanamo as “cold blooded killers”–coincidentally, the same phrase Mad Jack used to describe our Marines. She wonders whether the Guantanamo detainees are entitled to a “presumption of innocence.” Here is the exchange:


Now, as a matter of fact, the detainees are not entitled to a presumption of innocence. They are not defendants in a criminal proceeding, they are enemy combatants who were, for the most part, captured on the field of battle. There need be no “presumption of innocence” under such circumstances.

If our military’s procedural code nevertheless chooses to accord these terrorists and would-be terrorists a presumption of innocence, fine. But see the pass at which we have arrived: liberals are avid to ensure that terrorists captured in battle are presumed to be innocent, while they deny the same presumption to American soldiers who are fighting for our freedom in Iraq.

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