Posted on 05/27/2007 7:24:50 PM PDT by radar101
Faced with a series of war crime cases and a recent survey finding that a majority of troops would not report the slaying of an innocent civilian, the Marines are getting a renewed lesson in battlefield ethics.
In the wake of that survey, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway set up a values and ethics panel this month and has ordered new ethics lessons for troops.
"I have put out guidance to my commanders that we need to go back to the basics, and we need to make sure every Marine understands the importance of ethics as an American trooper and the importance of maintaining these core values as we go about a counterinsurgency fight," Conway said in remarks to reporters in Washington on May 17.
The directive comes as a hearing gets under way at Camp Pendleton on Wednesday for a Marine officer accused of failing to order an investigation into the largest civilian killing case arising out of the conflict in Iraq.
Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani was commander of the base's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment when 24 civilians were killed in the city of Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005. Chessani and three other officers face dereliction charges for not ordering a probe of the incident. Three enlisted men from the battalion face murder charges.
Court proceedings are also scheduled to continue soon for two of three remaining defendants in the April 2006 abduction and slaying of a retired Iraqi policeman in the village of Hamdania. Five of eight Camp Pendleton troops charged in that incident have pleaded guilty.
Those two high-profile cases were joined by a third earlier this year, causing more angst for Marine Corps leaders. In the third case, members of a Marine Corps special operations unit based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., are under investigation for possible criminal wrongdoing in the deaths of 12 civilians in Afghanistan on March 3.
Civilian killings and detainee abuse cases have put a tarnish on the U.S. involvement in Iraq in Afghanistan. Some of the cases have been blamed on frustrations coming from confronting a nontraditional enemy ---- one that doesn't wear a uniform and mixes in with the civilian population.
Survey raises concerns
When he issued the new directives on ethics training, Conway did not cite those cases but did make reference to a survey released two weeks ago that found 40 percent of more than 400 Marines questioned would not report a fellow Marine for killing or wounding an innocent civilian.
Seen as equally troubling from commanders was a finding that 39 percent of the respondents said torture should be allowed to gather information from an insurgent despite it being against the law in the handling of enemy combatants and detainees. The survey was conducted by U.S. Army researchers last fall and released May 4.
Gary Solis, a former Marine lawyer who teaches military law at Georgetown University, said he was encouraged by Conway's edicts.
"The survey results require some kind of response and as a Law of Armed Conflict teacher, I'm glad to see it," Solis said. "Although we are not a nation that shoots unarmed people and we are not a nation that tortures, our recent history demonstrates there is reason for concern."
Conway's directive calls for combat-experienced, noncommissioned officers to teach the rules of engagement and battlefield ethics. The rules allow troops to respond with appropriate force when under attack or threat, but require steps to identify the enemy before an attack to limit civilian deaths or injuries. The rules forbid assaults of any kind against noncombatants.
His memo also called for re-emphasizing what he termed the "essence of the Marine Corps warrior ethos."
"Our core values do not diminish our ability to fight and win," he wrote, adding that ethical conduct can win over the civilian population.
Initiatives include reviewing the entry-level ethics training recruits now receive and improving the service's ability to measure the effectiveness of its laws-of-war training.
In the end, the general said, it is each Marine who is ultimately accountable for his or her own actions. And in a line seemingly applicable to the ongoing Haditha prosecutions against officers for dereliction, Conway wrote: "Accountability for a unit's performance rests with its leaders."
Balance elusive in combat
Thad Coakley, an Iraq war veteran and former Marine Corps lawyer now working in private practice, said the new emphasis on ethics strikes him as a "muscle" exercise.
"In a firefight, they're certainly not going to be thinking about ethics," Coakley said last week. "But this is about how you translate thought into action. The purpose of all this reinforcement is not to pull out a rules of engagement card and write 'justified' and 'ethical' in each action. The purpose is because combat happens so quickly and this is to imbue a sense of muscle memory to support all the other training."
The law-of-war doctrine holds that warring parties will do their best to prevent unnecessary suffering and destruction and establishes guidelines for protecting civilians and treatment of prisoners and the wounded. The Defense Department requires the instruction for all service members.
Marines first get the training at boot camp and each unit sent to Iraq or Afghanistan receives additional training as they prepare to deploy.
An adviser to commanders on legal issues during his time in Iraq, Coakley said that using combat-experienced officers makes sense.
"Marines are big believers in training by personal example, so a key will be making sure the NCOs are correctly trained themselves and can transfer that knowledge," he said. "The fact they have combat experience gives them instant credibility because they can talk about what they did in certain situations.
"The flip side is they have to know the rules and be very clear in what they are teaching.
'You're going to be tested'
Solis said that despite what Americans may think, all is not fair in war and the rules are intended to minimize any unnecessary suffering.
"There are limits on the battlefield and as time goes on and the world becomes more civilized, the rules become more exacting," he said.
Lt. Gen. James Mattis recently told Marines in Iraq's dangerous Anbar province to make contact and wave at civilians even if a fellow Marine has just been killed or injured.
Mattis and other commanders stress that mistreatment of civilians helps the insurgency.
"They want us to become racist and to hate every Iraqi," Mattis told Marines, according to a dispatch from a Los Angeles Times reporter traveling with the general. "You're going to be tested, and there are going to be some tough times. We're defined by those who keep their cool."
The Times story also quoted Mattis as telling his Marines to "kill the right people and protect everybody else. Protect, protect, protect."
Ethics issues confront Mattis on a regular basis as head of Marine Corps forces in the Middle East and commander of Camp Pendleton's I Marine Expeditionary Force.
He also is the convening authority over the Hamdania and Haditha cases under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and must review and approve all case results as well as decide whether Marines charged with a crime should stand trial.
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com
This is BULL!
The Code of engagement should not even exist!
There are no innocent civilians in either Afghanistan, nor Iraq. Every mother-loving person there for two cents would gladly kill one of our soldiers.
These rules that our military now must use should never have been enforced.
War is about breaking things and killing people.
Torture to extract information, in my opinion, should be encouraged if it saves one American Soldiers life.
We did not win two World Wars by asking our enemies, “mother may I?”
grrrrrr.
The Marines need a LEADER, not a PC General-wanna-be.
I believe General Conway is on the right track. However, let's not scare these young Marines who are about to engage in combat for the first time, to not fire back, when fired upon. Some I have talked to have been following the K/3/1 & K/3/5 incidents and appear to have become gun shy for fear of the consequences that await them if they make the wrong decision.
My answer to them was Marines,at all levels, make, have made and will continue to make wrong decisions, but that's war. Marines who hesitate will end up in a body bag and cause many of their brother Marines to end up there also. We were always trained to "make a decision" and "immediate obedience to orders", provided it is not an unlawful order.
Jim, forget ethics, just tell the guys to shoot to kill, win the war, and come on home. Stop acting like a damn politician. Their are Marines for heavens sake, not girl scouts.
You notice the post above this one? Man this is panzy training.Thank God there were no jag lawyers on the beaches in the pacific during WW2.Marines now need sensitivity training going into battle.Im gonna go throw up in a bucket now.
Much of the world may be becoming more civilized, though I doubt it. However, the Jihadies are stuck in the 7th century, and training our Marines to be concerned with anything other than killing the enemy and defending themselves, is to guarantee a bunch more dead Marines. After those two prerequisites are taken care of, then and only then can they concern themselves with other considerations.
Yeah, a one-finger wave.
This "battlefield ethics" crap makes me throw up in my mouth a little. If one Marine dies because he hesitated just long enough to wonder if he was being ethical, or to review his thirteen rules of engagement, scum like Petraeus, Mattis and Conway should hang.
Semper fidelis,
LH
The supporters of the current limited war policy are as blind as Baghdad Bob was. Also, these generals are likely gearing up for a Democratic administration in two years, and want to sound as PC as possible to hold onto their careers.
It’s a pity our fighting men and women are being led by such fools as these.
That is a frightening post. (I’m nervous enough as it is.) Where on earth did the Marine Corps come up with these sh!tbird officers (Petraeus, Mattis, and Conway) who are apparently little more than PC political hacks?
Or is this all just a big turd rolling downhill from the White House, the result of Bush’s obscene incompetence as demonstrated by his putting ACLU lawyers in charge of the war effort?
I just want to throw up.
Our nation has signed its own death warrant.
Well said. Right on.
But it's even worse than that - - the PC hacks in charge of the Marines are wringing their hands that enlisted Marines aren't ratting out their brothers-in-arms!
When he issued the new directives on ethics training, Conway did not cite those cases but did make reference to a survey released two weeks ago that found 40 percent of more than 400 Marines questioned would not report a fellow Marine for killing or wounding an innocent civilian.
I don't know what sickens me more - - that only 40% of Marines understand the meaning of "semper fidelis" or that Conway and his ilk are disappointed that 40% DO understand the meaning.
This ain’t your Daddy’s Marine Corps, is it?
Then whom are we spending thousands of lives and billions of dollars to liberate and bring democracy to? What the F are we doing there?
Think twice before you pull that trigger can get you killed. This is bullcrap that our men on the battlefield don’t need. We need to fight more wars without the rules. A little more rubble, a lot less trouble. Faluja should have been B-52’d.
Innocence or guilt are established in a court of law—not in a fire zone where the enemy engages human shields and dress in Burkhas and have female suicide bombers and use children to attack sentries.
Where were these paragons of morality when we destroyed Cologne, Dresden, Tokyo, Hirshima, Nagasaki, and Berlin?
Answer—they weren’t even born yet... What arrogance.
>>values and ethics panel<<
Feminism in the military and the fear of the MSM. Get rid of both and our troops can take off the shackles and get this job done right.
“This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.
My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will...
My rifle and myself know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit...
My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will ever guard it against the ravages of weather and damage as I will ever guard my legs, my arms, my eyes and my heart against damage. I will keep my rifle clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will...
Before God, I swear this creed. My rifle and myself are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We
are the saviors of my life.
So be it, until victory is America’s and there is no enemy, but peace!”
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Well Jarheads, looks like we need to add a new enemy: “sensitivity training” by a politically apologetic CMC.
Semper Fi
I posted this to see what the reaction would be.
First, the troops in Iraq are being held to a standard stricter than the law enforcement here in the States. I Know because I was one for thirty years. Times you can shoot -HERE in the US:
1. When the attacker is shooting at you—regardless of who is in the line of fire.
2. To stop a fleeing Violent Felon (A guy who has just shot at me, then ditched his weapon qualifies) —NOTE item #1 about the BOOK below.
IN Sgt. Major BRAD KASAL’S BOOK “My Men are my heroes”, he talks about
1. Jihadi’s in Fallujah stored weapons in many different locations. This way, they could shoot at the Marines, lay THAT weapon down, then run to another defensive location BECAUSE—The Maribnes were told that they could not shoot at an “Un-armed Civilian”.
2. Kasal took a Senior JAG Officer into Fallujah to SHOW HIM, that they could never hope to take Fallujah UNDER THE “RULES OF ENGAGEMENT”
3. After Kasal lost one man killed, and himself and two other nearly killed, the Rules that said you had to enter and investigate was altered: Explode—then enter.
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