Blog from Iraq: a second Haditha probe
Senior Editor Anna Mulrine is reporting from Iraq this week.
A spokesman for the multinational force in Iraq told U.S. News over the weekend that in addition to the naval criminal investigation into allegations that marines executed civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha, a separate military administrative investigation will focus on "all factors that could have contributed to the alleged incident to see if we have it right. Are we missing something? Does something need to be changed?"
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell says that the investigation will examine, among other things, rotation policy. "Were these first-time deployers, two-time deployers?"
Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell, a former Delta Force commander who is heading up the investigation, will include final recommendations in his report, says Caldwell. These might include addressing questions such as "Is a year too long [for marines to serve in Iraq]? Should it be seven months rotating in and out of the field? That could come out of that administrative investigation," he adds.
Caldwell recalled that during his time as commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, deploying and redeploying some 8,500 troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, "we spent a lot of time looking at escalation of force-type scenarios" for troops with responsibilities for, among other things, conducting patrols, running roadblocks, and doing searches. From the beginning of the war to the end, he adds, "escalation of force was something we became much more aware of and talked a lot more deliberately about."
In a war today with no clear battlefront, in which concerns about post-traumatic stress among U.S. forces is fast on the rise, the military's administrative investigation into Haditha will further consider if training was "adequate in preparing troops for the things that they will have to deal with over here before they come," says Caldwell. "I mean," he adds, "it's only prudent to do that. I think that the American public would expect us to do that."
advertisement
