Collateral damage on the 21st century battlefield: enemy exploitation of the law of armed conflict, and the struggle for a moral high ground

Air Force Law Review, Wntr, 2005 by Jefferson D. Reynolds

[FIGURES 3-10 OMITTED]

   To sum up, we are now observing an activity that has
   been going on for over 10 years. The Iraqis have regularly
   placed air defense missile systems and associated equipment in
   and around civilian areas, including parks, mosques, hospitals,
   hotels, crowded shopping districts, and even in cemeteries.
   They have positioned rocket launchers next to soccer stadiums
   that are in active use, and they've parked operational
   surface-to-air missile systems in civilian industrial areas.
   This is a well-organized, centrally managed effort, and its
   objectives are patently clear: preserve Iraq's military
   capabilities at any price, even though it means placing innocent
   civilians and Iraq's cultural and religious heritage at risk. (221)

Iraqi forces were in many cases very well integrated with the civilian community, even to the point of commingling with civilians on buses during combat. (222) Iraqi civilians regularly reported seeing Iraqi troops out of uniform. One witness expressed concern that the practice resulted in numerous civilian casualties. Dr. Abd al-Sayyid, director of al-Nasiriya General Hospital, said "Fedayeen were among the civilian homes.... [T]he problem was with the Iraqi troops and Fedayeen dressed as civilians." (223) Iraqi witnesses in al-Najaf and in the al-Yarmuk neighborhood of Baghdad reported similar practice among Iraqi forces. (224) Almost every member of the Coalition interviewed by HRW commented on the practice. One senior officer observed, "By March 24 [the fourth day of the war], we were already seeing a large number of irregulars out of uniform. It was clearly a combination of systematic and conscious [strategy]." (225)

The Iraqi strategy to conceal military assets with civilian objects, wear civilian clothes, and commingle with the civilian population was problematic to operations, creating a high potential for civilian casualties and increasing stress on U.S. forces instructed to spare civilian life when engaged. (226) Soldiers from the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division opened fire on an unidentified four-wheel drive vehicle as it was approaching a U.S. checkpoint near al-Najaf on March 31, 2003. (227) Personnel in Bradley Fighting Vehicles attempted to direct the vehicle to stop, then opened fire with 25mm cannons, killing seven of the fifteen civilian passengers. (228) The London Times reported Iraqi soldiers in civilian dress used women as their scouts to lure U.S. Marines into a firefight. Sixteen Iraqi soldiers were killed in the battle along with twelve civilians. (229) In another event, Marines shot a speeding civilian truck that failed to halt, killing three men only to find bags of rice and no weapons inside. (230) Commenting on the Iraqi Regime's methods, Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan threatened: "This is the beginning, and you will hear more good news in the coming days. We will use any means to kill our enemy in our land, and we will follow the enemy into its land." (231) In a measure to minimize civilian casualties, Coalition forces routinely dropped leaflets from the air advising Iraqi civilians of pending attacks, and to stay away from military assets. The Iraqi regime responded by issuing erroneous warnings that the leaflets were coated with harmful chemical residue. (232)