The root cause of the over reactions to the incident lie with the initial report about an IED being inaccurate. Whoever sent out the first
PR statement from the Marines started all of this.
lest you forget
In the same LA Times story, Republican Representative John Kline of Minnesota was quoted as saying:
There is no question that the Marines involved, those doing the shooting, they were busy in lying about it and covering it up — there is no question about it. But I am confident, as soon as the command learned there might be some truth to this, they started to pursue it vigorously. I don't have any reason now to think there was any foot dragging.[25]
Anyone who jumped the gun with accusations without real basis needs to be accountable.