Legitimacy and military operations: the views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, or any of its agencies

Military Review, July-August, 2008 by James W. Hammond

Bargewell further noted that the regimental combat team commander "expressed only mild concern over the potential negative ramifications of indiscriminate killing based on his stated view that the Iraqis and insurgents respect strength and power over righteousness. (37) While Bargewell does not suggest that the chain of command directly condoned any of the actions at Haditha, he reported some fault with the command climate within the 2d Marine Division at the time.

As an isolated event, Haditha is a tragedy and potentially a crime that tarnishes the reputation of all who serve. It was the culmination of a number of factors, triggered by the death of a U.S. Marine by an IED and stoked by the tensions of operations and a command climate that seems to have implicitly condoned the attitude that Iraqi civilians are different from U.S. civilians and suspect. The real problem, however, is that Haditha was not an isolated incident.

On 26 April 2006, a group of U.S. Marines reportedly took Hashim Ibrahim Awad, a disabled father of 11 children, out of his home, beat him, and then shot him to death. Authorities charged seven Marines and a navy hospital corpsman with crimes ranging from murder and kidnapping to conspiracy, making false official statements, and larceny. (38) Again, this incident is clearly a criminal act, perhaps as some suggest, the act of a few "bad apples" that does not reflect the conduct of the vast majority of coalition Soldiers in Iraq.

Nevertheless, like most such events, it resulted from multiple factors, including a command climate that either condoned mistreatment of Iraqi civilians or at the very least, was unable to enforce the Marine Corps' commitment to its core values. (39) As they collected evidence, they discovered other unrelated assaults, some weeks before the Awad murder. (40) In one case, Second Lieutenant Nathan P. Phan allegedly beat, choked, and threatened detainees in Hamdam earlier in 2006. Phan acknowledged ordering his men to choke a detainee because he believed it was necessary to gather information from suspected insurgents. He also pressed an unloaded pistol against the mouth of another detainee to frighten him. In an unsubstantiated but telling admission intended to justify the assault, Phan's attorney stated that "the information [Phan] gained from these terrorists was highly important and valuable in saving Marine's lives." (41) Not only can this justification not be proven, but also such acts are contrary to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, The Law of Land Warfare (FM 27-10), the Geneva and Hague Conventions, the U.S. Constitution that officers swear to defend, and, significantly, the core values of the U.S. Marine Corps. Such actions supplied subordinates with a leadership example that would have tragic consequences for all concerned.

Some suggest that the attitudes displayed toward Iraqi civilians in the above incidents are simply the tip of an iceberg. In his book Assassin's Gate, George Packer describes the detention of two suspected insurgents at a U.S. airfield in Iraq. After witnessing the verbal abuse heaped on two detainees, Packer wrote, "It wasn't Abu Ghraib, just the ugliness of a bored and probably sadistic young man in a position of temporary power. But I left the airfield ... with an uneasy feeling. I'd had a glimpse under the rock of the occupation, there was bound to be much more there." (42) While it may be that the two detainees were insurgents, the unprofessional handling techniques Packer observed did nothing to gain the detainees cooperation or conversion. The acts simply added to their disdain for America and the U.S. military.