US marines 'devalued Iraqi lives'

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6579511.stm

The US Marine Corps fostered a climate that devalued Iraqi lives, a US general investigating the 2005 killing of Iraqi civilians in Haditha has said.

The report, submitted in 2006 but now declassified, said the US military had ignored signs of "serious misconduct", according to the Washington Post.

A total of 24 men, women and children were killed at Haditha by marines who said they were attacked by insurgents.

A criminal investigation into the incident is continuing.

The Haditha inquiry is just one of a number the US military has been conducting into incidents of alleged unlawful killings by US forces in Iraq.

Maj Gen Eldon Bargewell's report is an indictment of actions throughout the whole chain of command, from the general in charge to the men who carried out the killings on 19 November, 2005.

"All levels of command tended to view civilian casualties, even in significant numbers, as routine and as the natural and intended result of insurgent tactics," the US newspaper quotes him as saying.

Gen Bargewell said statements taken from those involved suggested the marines thought "Iraqi civilian lives are not as important as US lives, their deaths are just the cost of doing business, and that the marines need to get 'the job done' no matter what it takes".

The US military's initial statement on Haditha said that a marine and 15 civilians had been killed in a roadside bomb. A subsequent firefight had left eight insurgents dead, it said.

However, a local journalist took video footage showing men, women and children shot in their homes. Locals said the marines had gone on a rampage.

The US military instigated investigations and confirmed that 24 Iraqi civilians had died, none of them killed by a roadside bomb.

Three marines have since been charged with unpremeditated murder and four with attempting to cover up the incident.

Gen Bargewell is quoted as saying officers had tried to protect themselves and their troops by wilfully ignoring reports of civilian deaths.

There was no interest in investigating reports of a massacre, although there was also no specific cover-up, he is reported to have said.

The general's report, filed in June last year, does not address the specifics of the killings, which are the subject of the criminal case, rather it tackles the command structure and investigation procedure.

Gen Bargewell found that the marines had not identified targets properly, the Washington Post says.

The report also says the marines' story was passed up the chain of command and at all levels signs that the incident was significant were ignored.

A military judge has yet to decide if there is enough evidence against the seven accused marines to convene a court martial.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6579511.stm

Published: 2007/04/21 14:57:36 GMT

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