Free Republic

WASHINGTON, July 7, 2006 – The coalition corps commander in Iraq has completed his review of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 24 Iraqis around Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005, and has passed his findings and recommendations to the coalition commander in the country. Officials said Army Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell reported on the circumstances surrounding the deaths and the subsequent actions of Marine leaders, focusing on "training and command climate," to Multinational Corps Iraq Commander Army Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli. Chiarelli completed his findings and recommendations and passed them and the report to Army Gen. George W....

May 30, 2006, 6:33 p.m. Men@WarHadithah in context. By Mackubin Thomas Owens The basic aim of a nation at war is establishing an image of the enemy in order to distinguish as sharply as possible the act of killing from the act of murder.—Glenn Gray, The Warriors It seems like only yesterday. It was 1991 and a U.S.-led coalition easily expelled Saddam Hussein’s army from Kuwait, signaling to some the emergence of a “revolution in military affairs” that would “transform the very nature of war.” Americans at home watched their TV screens in awe as precision-guided munitions flawlessly struck...

With a new general in charge, the U.S. military's plans to fight Iraq's insurgents are expected to emphasize improving Iraqis' quality of life, rather than killing or capturing guerrillas. The goal, he said, is to "deprive insurgents and terrorists of their support base" among disaffected Iraqis part of a strategy that parallels U.S. political overtures to the Sunni Arabs. Experts criticize the Bush administration's preference for expensive capital rebuilding schemes such as large power stations that have largely been scuttled by insurgent attacks and whose benefits have often not trickled down to Iraqis. Sadr City residents today credit American forces...

BAGHDAD, Iraq — What Maj. Gen. Peter Chiarelli says he dreads most after a year in Baghdad at the head of the First Cavalry Division is going home. He will leave by the end of the month, walk out of the headquarters his troops have built near Baghdad International Airport, stride past the sign saying “Complacency kills – don’t become a statistic,” and head for Fort Hood, Tex. The Third Infantry Division, which stormed into the airport almost two years ago at the spearhead of the American invasion, will take over. Some things come full circle. But other things do...