Amid what seems a growing international scandal over charges that Marines were involved in atrocities, coupled with the news media trying to flesh out the story by finding more allegations, the Marines have been officially cleared in one allegation that was making the rounds:
Horrific images of Iraqi adults and children have fueled new allegations that U.S. troops killed civilians in the Iraqi town of Ishaqi. But ABC News has learned that military officials have completed their investigation and concluded that U.S. forces followed the rules of engagement.
A senior Pentagon official told ABC News the investigation concluded that the allegations of intentional killings of civilians by American forces are unfounded.
Military commanders in Iraq launched an investigation soon after the mid-March raid in the village of Ishaqi, about 50 miles north of Baghdad.
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell will make a statement about the Ishaqi allegations today in Baghdad, ABC News has learned.
In Ishaqi, American forces were going after a high-value terrorist target they succeeded in apprehending. The U.S. military reported in March that four people died when the troops destroyed a house from the air and ground.
But previously unaired video shot by an AP Television News cameraman at the time shows at least five children dead, several with obvious bullet wounds to the head. One adult male is also seen dead.
A U.S. military probe has exonerated U.S. troops in the deaths of Iraqi civilians in the town of Ishaqi in March, finding American forces followed standard procedures and committed no misconduct, defense officials said on Friday.
The Ishaqi incident was one of a handful involving civilian deaths being investigated by the U.S. military, including the deaths of 24 civilians in the town of Haditha last November.
Police in Ishaqi, 60 miles north of Baghdad, have said six adults and five children were shot dead in a U.S. military raid on a home on March 15.
The U.S. military maintains there were four dead in the incident, including a guerrilla, two women and a child, and said they died after troops were fired upon from the house as they arrived to arrest an al Qaeda suspect.
The defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said an investigation found no wrongdoing by U.S. forces.
The officials said a military fact-finding inquiry determined that U.S. forces followed proper procedures and that the civilian deaths were unintentional.
In the Haditha case, which some commentators are comparing to the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam, the military is investigating civilian deaths in the town west of Baghdad on November 19.
The military is investigating whether U.S. Marines went on a rampage after a comrade was killed by an insurgent roadside bomb and shot dead two dozen civilians, including women and children. U.S. defense officials have said Marines could face charges including murder.
So one allegation has fizzled but a big one remains — so this story’s theme will remain in the news, probably for some time to come.
There are several things at play in a story such as this:
- Once the press gets wind of a possible cover-up in a story on a question involving something like Haditha being asked by assignment editors of major news outlets then ask: “Then what else is being covered up? Let’s see if there’s more.” So overall scrutiny will become more intense.
- There is a certain segment of Americans who’ll say “See? This is what the military does to people!” even though these cases are actually counter to the actual training that the people involved received.
- There is a certain segment of Americans who’ll also say “See? Look how the Left pounces on this and tries to make it an issue” and then try to justify or minimize what happens in a case like this. This does NOT represent everyone on the Right (or the middle).
- Government can do some no-nonsense quality-control by prosecuting those alleged to have been involved to the fullest extent of the law.
- The danger in a case like this is that perceptions and politics can combine to tar ALL military with the same brush — when the bulk of military do not indulge in the kinds of activities others are being charged with doing. The happened during the Vietnam War.
These cases will also be played out in:
- The press. There is huge interest in this kind of story and if there are more cases out there, they will materialize.
- Courtrooms and government press rooms. Trials and official findings.
- The court of INTERNATIONAL opinion: every step of the government and every future military operation will be watched by the press and some members of the public to see that the killing of innocent civilians is not being condoned or tolerated.
The biggest issue for the United States is that it has long been perceived as a moral leader in the world. Even as some here and abroad condemn the Iraq war, the U.S. is not seen to be on the same level as terrorists who behead tied-up, screaming victims or murder and incinerate 3,000 men, women and children with hijacked airplanes.
So morality, law and imagery will be in play as the military does its job (tighter quality control on training), the government presumably does its job (prosecute anyone deemed guilty) and the press does its job (greater scrutiny to ensure there are not more cases out there that have been swept under the proverbial rug).
And as the press tries to do its job, there will be occasions — such as this one — where it might think about doing some enhanced quality control of its own.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.