And even in the chaos of the first day of house-to-house fighting, Marines were told they could not fire freely at anyone, the attorney said.
But if it were a few days later, ROE's were loosened to get the job done.
In many of the cases where Marines have faced charges of "war crimes", they are simply a difference in interpreting the Rules of Engagement. Herschel Smith has written various articles concerning ROE. Here is but one example,
More Evidence Against the Rules of Engagement..... a little snippet.
From an NCO in Kirkuk: You make the wrong move and kill civilians though, you not only have to live with the mistake, but you will be ridiculed unmercifully by the media/big army. You will be buried in proceedings and paperwork the remainder of your deployment, and you will not be the same. Your buddies will be affected as well. Cpl. X will see how bad it could be to make the wrong decision, and will hesitate just a hair too long when there is a real threat… and more men will die. The fear of failure leads to hesitation, and hesitation in war is a lesser form of suicide.