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From The North County Times, December 22, 2006: Charges not expected to seriously damage morale

CAMP PENDLETON ---- The charges filed Thursday against eight Marines in the shooting deaths of 24 civilians in Haditha probably won't have much effect on troop morale, U.S. policy or public opinion toward the military, according to defense and military analysts.

John Pike, a leading defense analyst who founded the group Globalsecurity.org, said that despite the alleged crimes in Haditha and other instances of criminal acts by U.S. troops in Iraq, he doesn't sense that most Americans have negative attitudes toward service members.

"The U.S. military continues to be a very highly esteemed institution, among the highest ranked in America," Pike said in a telephone interview. "Some people will say American troops are just a bunch of trigger-happy cowboys with no regard for life. But in the U.S., those people would be in the distinct minority."

Retired U.S. Army Gen. William Nash said he doesn't think the charges will worsen the already negative public opinion toward the war.

"I think the American public is sophisticated enough to understand the difference between things associated with misdeeds and the overall policy of the war," said Nash, a senior fellow with Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations.

However, "I suppose (people) are pleased that these Marines will face a proper court," he said.

Pike said the incidents at Haditha and at Hamdania, where a squad allegedly kidnapped and murdered an unarmed civilian, appear to be isolated cases. That tells him that combat stress levels for troops on their third or fourth assignments in Iraq are manageable, he said.

"Whatever loss of will has taken place in Washington has not occurred among the troops," Pike said.

As much as some people try to compare the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan to Vietnam, Pike said he doesn't see the kind of combat stress that occurred in Vietnam leading to repeated instances of civilian abuse, rampant drug use and the refusal by some troops to go into battle.

By historical standards, Iraq and Afghanistan pale in comparison to other major conflicts, Pike said.

"It's just not that bad," he said. "A hundred killed in action in Iraq is a bad month. In Vietnam, it would have been a good week and in World War II, at times, a good day."

Retired Gen. Nash said the legal system is now properly addressing the Haditha killings.

"I am not worried about the American military ---- when justice is being served, we all win," he said.

The fact that many of the Marines at Haditha were on their second or third deployments and had seen many of their buddies killed or injured by an enemy who doesn't wear a uniform and easily mixes in with the civilian population may have contributed to what happened.

"Shame on us for putting them in that predicament," Nash said.

But while troops can be pushed to the breaking point, "it does not justify in any way criminal acts or the cover-up of criminal acts," he said.

Scott Silliman, executive director of Duke University Center for Law, Ethics and National Security, said he believes the Marine Corps will react in two ways. Some will say the alleged misconduct is an aberration while others will point to the fog of war.

The latter group, he said, will reason: "We are in a very difficult war, being asked to make decisions in a very fluid battlefield environment, and you just can't apply the same legal rules on what is right or wrong that you did in World War II ---- you have to cut us some slack."

National Institute of Military Justice President Eugene Fidell said the charges are "both a blessing and a curse."

The charges also show the military is willing to take appropriate action.

"No military unit is perfect, just as no human being is perfect," he said. "The point is to ensure that through training, discipline and sanctions, misconduct is kept to an absolute minimum."

Haditha and other criminal cases have contributed to a growing level of discomfort for many Americans about the continued presence of U.S. troops in Iraq, he said.

"But do I think the (Haditha) case will prove a tipping point? No," he said.

People should be careful about jumping to conclusions and news coverage should be cautious and responsible, he said, adding he does not expect troops to start second-guessing themselves.

"GIs are capable of distinguishing between times when pulling the trigger is appropriate and when (it's) not," Fidell said.

Ivan Eland, a senior fellow with a think tank known as the Independent Institute in Oakland, said the charges will not have an effect on the larger U.S. policy in Iraq, and that most Americans may be only "dimly aware" of the Haditha case.

"The public is fed up with Iraq, period," Eland said. The Haditha charges, he said, are "just one more day of bad news."

U.S. forces are immune from prosecution in Iraqi courts, but Eland said the prosecutions will be watched by Iraqis.

"Anything short of a full prosecution will be looked upon by the Arabic world as (the United States) saying that we have to charge them with something but not go all out," Eland said. "That's how it is perceived there."

"In the Arab world, they won't be satisfied until they are convicted."