InstaPundit channels Hugh Hewitt re. the "slandering" of the U.S. Military over the Haditha incident. They talk of the "rare exception" being used to "paint broadly".

What they are missing is the broader issue of the dysfunctional chain of command, which reaches all the way up to the Secretary of Defense and the White House. And the corruption of American values that has allowed this.

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I haven't been in the military, and neither has InstaPundit (don't know about Hugh Hewitt, and don't care). But what little I know from talking to people who have been in the military, and in combat, suggests that a big part of the training is that it's not about God, Country, the Constitution, or Freedom and Liberty, or anything else. It's about your buddy in the foxhole next to you, who will watch your back if you watch his, who is willing to die for you as you are for him. How else could you get good, moral people to kill or die for an idea?

These Marines lost a buddy. They apparently retaliated, in a way that is horrific to those of us who weren't there or haven't been through Marine boot camp, who have never been shot at, or who haven't had an IED blow up a friend sitting next to us.

There is no excuse for it, but there is an explanation for it. Soldiers are trained to kill. That's what they do, and that's what they signed up for. The chain of command, under the same civilian political leadership that authorized and sponsored their training, is supposed to keep them on a leash.

That chain of command has broken down, morally and functionally. As a result, we have Abu Ghraib, and countless victims of the lies about WMD that sent these guys there in the first place, tens of thousands of innocent civilian casualties, thousands of U.S. troops who have given their lives, right down to these poor civilians and the Marines whose chain of command apparently lost control of the unit.

It's all comes down to command and control. According to values. A self-proclaimed wartime president should be held accountable for what happens on his watch as Commander in Chief. And so should his Secretary of Defense. And so should every general and commander on down the line. If an SEC football team had this lack of morals and discipline, everyone would be calling for the Coach's resignation.

Anyone who questions the patriotism of anyone who questions how this could happen or questions whether someone should be held accountable is not an American who believes in our Constitution or our values our guys are supposedly over there fighting for. America is supposed to be better than this. It's not a "few bad apples" problem. We are the apples, and we are all in the same barrel together. We are all responsible.

OK, then.