Military investigators have come to a truly sickening conclusion: some members of a Marine-unit with an excellent reputation killed unarmed Iraqi civilians — big and small — and then tried to cover it up, reports The Los Angeles Times’ Tony Perry.
(Personal note: TMV can personally vouch for the accuracy and objectivity of Tony Perry who was his friend and sometimes editor on the San Diego Union before Perry left to join the L.A. Times):
Marines from Camp Pendleton wantonly killed unarmed Iraqi civilians, including women and children, and then tried to cover up the slayings in the insurgent stronghold of Haditha, military investigations have found.
Officials who have seen the findings of the investigations said the filing of criminal charges, including some murder counts, was expected, which would make the Nov. 19 incident the most serious case of alleged U.S. war crimes in Iraq.
And so you get the multi-faceted tragedy and fallout: the horror of what reportedly happened to those people; the probes into why; and the use of this incident in both the political realm and international realm.
But this is an incident that should draw the condemnation of people of all parties and all ideologies because of the human toll, the damage it does to the institution of the military, and the fact that it is a gift for those seeking propaganda to use against the U.S. MORE:
An administrative inquiry overseen by Army Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell found that several infantry Marines fatally shot as many as 24 Iraqis and that other Marines either failed to stop them or filed misleading or blatantly false reports.
The report concludes that a dozen Marines acted improperly after a roadside bomb explosion killed a fellow Marine, Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas.
Looking for insurgents, the Marines entered several homes and began firing their weapons, according to the report.
In its initial statement to the media, the Marine Corps said the Iraqi civilians were killed either by an insurgent bomb or by crossfire between Marines and insurgents.
But after Time magazine obtained pictures showing dead women and children and quoted Iraqis who said the attack was unprovoked, the Marine Corps backtracked on its explanation and called for an investigation.
The Guardian puts this into a larger context
Members of Congress briefed by the Marine Corps have been horrified. Last week, John Murtha, a former marine and Vietnam veteran and a Democratic Congressman who opposes the war, issued a statement saying the civilians had been killed in cold blood by marines who had snapped under the pressures of war.
The episode has also led to serious concern within the Marine Corps about an erosion of values and morale in the midst of a long and brutal insurgency. On Tuesday, the top marine commandant, General Michael Hagee, left for Iraq to deliver speeches on “the American way of war”.
However, human rights officials and some members of Congress say they are deeply troubled by the Marine Corps’ response to the Haditha killings.
The killings at Haditha mark at least the third time US military officials have presented shifting official versions of events in Iraq, a record that, critics say, has damaged the Pentagon’s credibility. Over the last year, the Pentagon has been embarrassed by its campaign to concoct a hero’s death in Afghanistan for the football star Pat Tillman, although he was in fact killed by his fellow US Rangers in friendly fire.
The Pentagon also fabricated tales about a wounded and captured private, Jessica Lynch, that were later debunked.
Allegations about what happened are shocking enough, but what is also startling is that this unit enjoyed an excellent reputation, the AP reports:
OCEANSIDE, Calif. – The Marine unit known as the “Thundering Third” earned a reputation for heroism on battlefields that include Guadalcanal and Okinawa during World War II, Vietnam and Iraq. The unit’s honorable background now is sullied as military investigators probe the possibility that some members murdered two dozen Iraqi civilians.
People who live and work in Oceanside, a city bordering the unit’s home at the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base, expressed dismay Friday at the allegations.
“I don’t want people to get the interpretation that is what Marines are like. There’s a lot of variables in each situation. But this is a severe black eye for the Marine Corps,” said Juan Duff, a retired Marine sergeant major.
And lower down in the AP piece there’s this:
Oceanside resident Rochelle Hoyt said questioned whether the Marines had lowered their recruitment standards.
“I support our country but I think it’s just a select few that do that,” Hoyt said. “They should investigate people before they join the Marines so you don’t just have people that join up and kill unarmed bystanders.”
But there’s no evidence screening, psychological testing could make much an impact. Sadly, past cases suggest that is more of a spur-of-the-moment thing, perhaps a combination of ire and a group-think that overrides traditional values. The United States military is said to be among the best equipped, best trained in the world. When something like this happens, it represents training being thrown out the window.
Next questions become: if there are charges, what kind of trial will there be? Will those involved (if found guilty) get off relatively easy due to the military context in Iraq or will they given stiff?
UPDATE: Time writes:
Although the numbers of dead in Haditha come nowhere near My Lai, in an era of instant communications, the impact for the United States could be far worse. And given that the revelations of the possible massacre comes as Saddam Hussein is standing trial for ordering the massacre of Shi’ites when he was leader of Iraq, the timing couldn’t be much worse.
SOME OTHER VIEWS ON THIS STORY:
This makes me physically ill. We can say it happens in every war, and that would be accurate, but it doesn’t excuse it in the least. Our military has the reputation of high discipline and morale, and 99.9% of our troops live up to that standard. As with Abu Ghraib, only on a much less serious scale, the actions of one undisciplined unit will reflect horribly on those who have done their best to protect Iraqi civilians, especially the children. Those 99.9% of our troops provide the best possible security for the United States. If these men turn out to be war criminals of the most despicable variety, they will have damaged the work done by our armed forces immeasurably. I keep hoping that this report will say something different when it gets publicly released, but I know it won’t.
—QandO:
Thought it happens in almost every conflict, it’s never, ever excusable. Nor is a cover-up, the possibility of which is also being investigated. The military first attributed the deaths to “a makeshift bomb”, then to “cross-fire between marines and attackers”. One hopes that heads will roll as far up the chain of command as participation in the cover-up went. That inquiry is “expected to report its findings in coming days.”
It’s difficult to estimate the kind of damage this does to the United States. For one thing, this may increase the pressure on the Iraqi government to push US troops out of Iraq more quickly and more completely. And of course, the propoganda value of this action to anti-US interests is enormous.
—Gary Farber looks at the way criticism was heaped on Rep. John Murtha for raising this issue — and he offers a host of links from varying weblogs.
I don’t have time to be sure I am expressing myself correctly, but I don’t want to duck this, either, so let me blurt this out – this sort of incident is a deplorable but predictable consequence of putting people in a violent and confusing situation. Obviously, almost all of our troops conduct themselves with a high degree of professionalism and appropriate restraint, but this sort of incident can not be a complete surprise. Folks who supported this war (as I did) need to shoulder some responsibility for the consequences.
I want to see justice done here – not only for those Marines involved, but for the families of those who lost loved ones in the incident. If this is indeed as claimed in the news stories, the Corps, and indeed this country, have been dishonored by the actions of those involved in this incident. They have done a grave disservice to all men and women in uniform and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
The Haditha story is a tragedy for the victims and their families. It is another tragedy for the people of Iraq, as the blowback from this story will play into the terrorists’ hands. It is a tragedy for the armed forces of the United States, who will be tarred by the actions of a few. It is a tragedy for the people of the United States, as it will help inflame global terrorists; our own security is weaker today due to this story.
Conservative bloggers who supported the war in Iraq should face this story head on, and report it vigorously. I also recommend we lay off the whole “who said what about whom in relation to their earlier comments about …, etc..� This is too tragic and important to devolve into an ever-widening pissing contest over Murtha’s word, Malkin’s words, TBogg’s words, etc..
—Kolateral: “If the US were fighting a defensive war, such horrific acts would be judged in that context. Some undisciplined rage against the aggressor might then be expected, even to some degree tolerated. But this is an illegal American war of aggression. In this case, these acts serve only to establish the developing worldwide characterization of the American nation as a criminal nation.”
—Midtopia:
The killings will evoke comparisons to Vietnam’s My Lai massacre, and the parallels are there: Frustrated troops fighting an elusive enemy taking their frustration out on innocent villagers. But there are differences: the scale (hundreds died at My Lai), the level of command involvement (the troops at My Lai were practically invited to kill civilians) and the response (My Lai was covered up for a year before an investigation began, and then for another six months while charges were prepared).
—Intelligent Discussion: “Sounds like a My Lai massacre to me. But My Lai sparked protests of hundreds of thousands of college students across the country back in the Viet Nam era. Where is the outrage today? 70% of Americans disapprove of the way the war is being handled, why aren’t we out in the streets expressing our anger?”
The Iraqi civilians murdered at Haditha died because George W. Bush needlessly put them in harm’s way. Bush didn’t pull the triggers. John Gotti probably didn’t pull many triggers either. Wars beget war crimes. This war is a particularly stupid one. The Marines who murdered Iraqi civilians in Haditha may well spend a decade or two in jail and are eligible for execution. George W. Bush put them in Haditha. He should keep them company, spend some time at the courts martial, go over the evidence with the defense attorneys.
This is not about whether we are for or against the war. It is about a crime, perpetrated in our name. I don’t even want to think about the international implications, but there will be many. I am personaly very saddened by all this. Sad for the victims, sad for the families and loved ones of the Marines involved, sad for our international image, and sad for the retribution that is sure to come.
I will not participate in a political pissing contest about all this. This was not American Policy, this was a few perhaps stressed to their limits soldiers, going over to the dark side. While some will use this a football to pass blame. The blame lies squarely on the shoulders of those who pulled the trigger AND those who commanded them.
It should be pointed out that if you have 100,000 people, a certain number of them are going to turn out to be lawless murderers. Even with Marines.
Add to that the stress of combat, the stress of the asymmetrical warfare and daily terrorism in Iraq, the frustration caused by culture shock and language barriers, and the fact that this report seems to suggest a squad leader was the ring leader, this is not surprising. It is yet another stain on America’s honor, and it makes me sick to my stomach. I hope those, if found guilty, spend the rest of their lives in a military prison.
—Polimom: “To kill, as we’ve asked our children to do in Iraq, requires hate, and whatever comes of the investigation in Haditha, we cannot forget that along with all the other losses and deaths, this is also the price we pay to wage war. We sent them into hell, and the devil is running free. Surely we didn’t expect something different… did we?”
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.