Rules of Engagement

What actually happened at Haditha, and why?

Last night the Washington Post published an account laying out the soldier's side of the story: Marine Says Rules Were Followed. I've been thinking about this for a few weeks, and I went to see what I could find out. What exactly are the "Rules of Engagement" in Iraq? A lengthy Lexis Nexis search turns up next to nothing. In disputed incidents going back to Fallujah, the army and the marines frequently cite ROE and state that they've been followed, without ever disclosing what exactly they are.

The WAPO's account of Haditha gives us a window into what is really going on, and it's not pretty:

A sergeant who led a squad of Marines during the incident in Haditha, Iraq, that left as many as 24 civilians dead said his unit did not intentionally target any civilians, followed military rules of engagement and never tried to cover up the shootings, his attorney said.

Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, 26, told his attorney that several civilians were killed Nov. 19 when his squad went after insurgents who were firing at them from inside a house. The Marine said there was no vengeful massacre, but he described a house-to-house hunt that went tragically awry in the middle of a chaotic battlefield.

-snip-

Wuterich told his attorney in initial interviews over nearly 12 hours last week that the shootings were the unfortunate result of a methodical sweep for enemies in a firefight. Two attorneys for other Marines involved in the incident said Wuterich's account is consistent with those they had heard from their clients.

Kevin B. McDermott, who is representing Capt. Lucas M. McConnell, the Kilo Company commander, said Wuterich and other Marines informed McConnell on the day of the incident that at least 15 civilians were killed by "a mixture of small-arms fire and shrapnel as a result of grenades" after the Marines responded to an attack from a house.

So there it is. The marines felt threatened, and the ROEs, as they understand them, allow them to "clear houses" and with an apparent disregard for any civilians in the way. Another marine agrees:

Gary Myers, a civilian attorney for a Marine who was with Wuterich that day, said the Marines followed standard operating procedures when they "cleared" the houses, using fragmentation grenades and gunshots to respond to an immediate threat.

-snip-

The defense attorneys said the rules of engagement -- which vary depending on the mission, level of danger and other factors -- are likely to become a central element of their cases because those rules guide how troops can use deadly force on the battlefield. One Marine official said such rules usually require positive identification of a target before shooting but noted that the rules are often circumstantial.

"Once you go back over it, you have to determine if they applied the rules," the Marine official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the Marine Corps does not discuss rules of engagement. "Did they feel threatened? Did they perceive hostile intent or hostile action?"

The article goes on to describe just what "clearing a house" entails:

A four-man team of Marines, including Wuterich, kicked in the door and found a series of empty rooms, noticing quickly that there was one room with a closed door and people rustling behind it, Puckett said. They then kicked in that door, tossed a fragmentation grenade into the room, and one Marine fired a series of "clearing rounds" through the dust and smoke, killing several people, Puckett said.

Although it was almost immediately apparent to the Marines that the people dead in the room were men, women and children -- most likely civilians -- they also noticed a back door ajar and believed that insurgents had slipped through to a house nearby, Puckett said. The Marines stealthily moved to the second house, kicking in the door, killing one man inside and then using a frag grenade and more gunfire to clear another room full of people, he said.

Iraqi survivors disagree with this account, but isn't this account bad enough? Even if they were following the "rules," this is hideous and barbaric. At least some marines agree.

Marine Reserve Lt. Jonathan Morgenstein, who served in Anbar province from August 2004 to March 2005, said that the account offered by Wuterich's attorney surprised him a bit.

"When I was in Iraq," Morgenstein said, "the Anbar-wide ROEs [rules of engagement] did not say we had the authority to knock down any door, throw in a hand grenade and kill everyone." Still, he said, if someone in a house in Haditha was shooting at them, the Marines' response may have been within procedure. "If they felt they took fire from that house, then that may be authorized."

A Marine who served near Haditha in November said it was not unusual for Marines to respond to attacks "running and gunning" and that it was standard practice to spray rooms with gunfire when threatened. "It may be a bad tactic, but it works," he said. "It keeps you alive."

If the american public is in the dark, you can bet that the iraqis are as well. Imagine, you're an iraqi living in a small village and an IED goes off nearby killing an american soldier. The patrol dismounts and storms into your village. What do you do? The soldiers are coming, do you run? Iraqis who did that died. Do you stay indoors with your family, keeping your head down? People that did this died as well, blown to bits when american frag grenades were tossed into their homes.

As I'm typing this, Wuterich's attorney, Puckett, is on CNN giving this same account. He asserts that Wuterich followed instruction from instructors and higher ups in the chain of command and that these ROEs are no different that what was in effect for Falluja. And that all the civilian deaths can be chalked up to "the fog of war." Really? Listen to what he's saying- the army and the marines have made a clear calculation that civilian casualties, while unfortunate, are part of the price. And that american lives are clearly more precious than iraqi lives.

It would have been nice to ask the iraqi public if they were willing to pay this price before we went in and blew the fuck out of their country.