The allegations of what happened at Hadifa are so horrific that is like I had the wind knocked out of me. I am left gasping.

Then the NY Times reports,

“The commanders have told investigators they had not viewed as unusual, in a combat environment, the discrepancies that emerged almost immediately in accounts about how the two dozen Iraqis died, and that they had no information at the time suggesting that any civilians had been killed deliberately.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/03/world/middleeast/03h aditha.html

The report of the civilain deaths had not been viewed as unusual.

Can we grasp what that means? Going back at least to the battle for Fallujah?

An account about how TWO DOZEN civilian Iraqis were killed under questionable circumstances was not viewed as unusual?

Google “Fallujah” to learn more about the roots of Hadifa:

“The six weeks of fighting ended in a truce, amid reports of hundreds of civilian deaths. The agreement turned over security to a force—the “Fallujah Brigade”—led by former officers of Hussein’s demobilized army. This enitity quickly collapsed, and control of the town has passed into the hands of insurgents.”
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/fall ujah.htm

“Al-Nazzal told us about ambulances being hit by snipers, women and children being shot. Describing the horror that the siege of Fallujah had become, he said, ‘I have been a fool for 47 years. I used to believe in European and American civilization.’ “
http://www.empirenotes.org/fallujah.html

How many more will they find, I wonder?

At least four similar incidents to Haditha are being investigated by the military at the moment.