The Haditha massacre that wasn’t
July 16, 2007 05:20 PM
The hearing officer responsible for the military equivalent of a preliminary hearing against one of the marines accused of murdering innocent civilians has concluded that the government’s case was “based on unreliable witness accounts, insupportable forensic evidence and questionable legal theories. He also wrote that the case could have dangerous consequences on the battlefield, where soldiers might hesitate during critical moments when facing an enemy.” The findings of the hearing officer still needs to be accepted by the commanding general but indicates that the rush to judgment against at least this marine was unjustified.
Can a counter-insurgency be won by a military that plays by the modern rules of war against an enemy that recognized no rules at all?
We are relying on the presumption that if we act righteous and the enemy acts barbaric, the people will eventual recognize the difference and side with us. (This may finally be happening in Al Anbar) Nevertheless, realists such as Machiavelli or American Civil War General Sherman might argue that such a tactic is more likely to be seen by the people of Iraq as weakness, which will ultimately lead to them despising us -- better to have them fear us. Or maybe Sherman recognized that the velvet glove approach would take too long and would loose support back home. Thus, the iron fist is required to get the necessary results before the politicians back home went wobbly.
UPDATE: The charges are dropped against two Marines, now a third. Murtha, time to be a good ex-Marine and eat some crow.
Can a counter-insurgency be won by a military that plays by the modern rules of war against an enemy that recognized no rules at all?
We are relying on the presumption that if we act righteous and the enemy acts barbaric, the people will eventual recognize the difference and side with us. (This may finally be happening in Al Anbar) Nevertheless, realists such as Machiavelli or American Civil War General Sherman might argue that such a tactic is more likely to be seen by the people of Iraq as weakness, which will ultimately lead to them despising us -- better to have them fear us. Or maybe Sherman recognized that the velvet glove approach would take too long and would loose support back home. Thus, the iron fist is required to get the necessary results before the politicians back home went wobbly.
"[T]hat we will remove and destroy every obstacle, if need be, take every life, every acre of land, every particle of property, everything that to us seems proper; that we will not cease till the end is attained; that all who do not aid us are enemies, that we will not account to them for our acts.... I would not coax them, or even meet them half way, but make them so sick of war that generations would pass away before they would again appeal to it." -- William T. Sherman
UPDATE: The charges are dropped against two Marines, now a third. Murtha, time to be a good ex-Marine and eat some crow.
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