Haditha Prompts Reflection Among Marines

U.S. Marine Sgt. Gideon Hornung, 23, assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Regiment, takes a break while other Marines, unseen, establish a lookout post in a local resident's home during a patrol through Haditha, 220 kilometers (140 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2006. Allegations that Marines deliberately killed 24 civilians last November in this troublesome city, including several women and children, has prompted reactions ranging from shame and anger to disbelief within the Marine Corps. (AP Photo/Antonio Castaneda) (Antonio Castaneda - AP)

Perez said insurgents in Ramadi had been increasingly firing from mosques to try to "lure us into doing something that we don't want to do."

Commanders in the field have echoed an array of challenges stemming from the Haditha case. Arab television networks have regularly covered the investigation's progress.

"The Iraqi people are going to perceive that everybody does business this way, and that's not the case," said Capt. Andrew Del Gaudio, 30, a New Yorker who leads a company of Marines in Ramadi. "We inherently have a responsibility to apply our craft with humanity ... and to apply a proportionate amount of force to a threat."

Many grunts in the field privately complain that outsiders unfamiliar with the pressures of a counterinsurgency war unfairly condemn the accused men. Some expressed anger at what they considered political attacks directed at the Marines _ instead of against policy-makers in Washington.

"Institutionally, it's sad because we've been prejudged by many. Many who have qualms against the (Bush) administration use this," said Col. Juan Ayala, a 26-year veteran of the Marine Corps who now trains the Iraqi army. "You see an institution that you really love taking slaps ... but if guys are guilty of disobeying the law of armed conflict, they should face justice."

U.S. commanders were concerned enough by the investigation's initial findings to order U.S. troops in Iraq to undergo refresher training in "core values," including how to treat Iraq civilians.

"The core values training that we just completed is one of those things that I think we need to do from time to time again just to make sure we understand the complexity of the environment that we are in, and how our training fits, how our values fit into a different culture," said Maj. Gen. Richard C. Zilmer, the top Marine commander in Iraq.

Other changes have been implemented as a result of the investigation. After a Marine spokesman repeatedly defended the accused Marines _ reportedly going as far as to accuse a Time magazine reporter of believing al-Qaida propaganda _ official statements now undergo greater scrutiny before they are released.

Some Marines privately speculated that the troops under investigation probably unleashed their anger on civilians who likely knew who planted the bomb that killed a young lance corporal, triggering the bloodletting. In most parts of Iraq, civilians stay silent after insurgent attacks, either out of fear or sympathy for militants.

"We are not tasked with doing something simple," said Del Gaudio _ just as a suicide car bomb exploded down the street from his base, shattering windows and wounding four soldiers. A few minutes later Del Gaudio continued.

"I've told my Marine since Day One: I will always stand beside any decision they make. ... Anytime they shoot someone I want them to have a clear conscience," he said. "It is too dangerous to foster that type of (second-guessing) environment. It's inherently a relationship of trust with me and my Marines. I trust that we have trained them the right way."

Since the accused battalion in Haditha was on its third tour in Iraq in three years, some have blamed repeated deployments for sparking the killings. Seven Marines and a sailor from another battalion also on its third Iraq tour are accused of unjustifiably killing a man in the western town of Hamdania. Both battalions took part in the storming of Fallujah in Nov. 2004.

But some have pointed out that the senior officer accused of overseeing the alleged killings in Haditha was only in the third month of his first tour in Iraq. Some commanders contend that multiple deployments were likely not a factor in such incidents.

"These guys enlisted after 9/11. And to a man I'd say they wanted to go to war," said Lt. Col. Patrick Looney, who commanded Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment charged in the Hamdania killing. "They knew they were going to war."