How many Hadithas?

The accusations by the Iraqi government that the US has often committed Haditha-type offenses is a significant thing. It would especially mean trouble if the Bush adminstration decides to bomb Iran.

In Multiply Haditha By Thousands Inter Press Service 06/02/06, Aaron Glantz and Alaa Hassan write:

"The crime and misery of Haditha is a terrible crime where women and children were eliminated," Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told reporters. Maliki also said his government would set up a joint task force with the U.S. military to examine how foreign armies in Iraq carry out raids.

Violence against civilians is "common among many of the multinational forces," the new Iraqi Prime Minister said. Many troops had "no respect for citizens, smashing civilian cars and killing on a suspicion or a hunch."

That the occupation forces do this is well known. "We describe this kind of incident as 'normal' because it has happened over and over, not because it is normal or because the Iraqi people accept it," Iraqi lawyer Nezar al-Samarai told IPS.

That same attorney claims personal experience with a similar form of illegal conduct by the Americans:

Nezar al-Samarai has had his own run-ins with the U.S. military. He was severely beaten by troops while driving his family to the hospital in 2004. On May 5 of this year, he says he was tied up and beaten up in his own home during a raid by American forces.

During that raid, U.S. soldiers also attacked a neighbouring home for the disabled. "The military killed three and injured another two," he said. "That was not because they did anything, of course. They were disabled. The other two are still in hospital, and we do not know what will happen to them."

Because the security situation is so bad, direct investigation by Western reporters of such incidents are often difficult.

Based on the reports we do have, I would say that Haditha-type incidents are happening far more than they would if the administration in general and Rummy's Defense Department in particular had been insisting on better accountability in cases like the Abu Ghuraib torture.

I don't see any clear evidence of a wholesale breakdown in discipline.

There are a couple of factors relating to the Iraqi perception of American conduct that don't get nearly the attention they deserve in the typical press reports from Iraq.

One is the presence of around 50,000 mercenaries in Iraq employed by private security firms, working for the Iraqi government, for businesses and probably some directly for the US military or the CIA. Most of them are Americans and support the American positions. We hear virtually nothing about their activities in the news.

The other is the large amount of bombing the US is still doing in Iraq, more than three years after our great President declared "major combat operations" to be open. The amount of US bombing has even increased significantly over the last year. There are probably many, many more civilian noncombatants being killed by the bombing than in Haditha-type incidents. The legality of the bombings may be murkier than the clear-cut laws prohibiting the kind of massacre reported at Haditha. But the hatreds generated by the deaths from bombing are very much a factor in the Iraqi public's attitude toward the Americans.

Time magazine's initial reports on Haditha include:

Collateral Damage or Civilian Massacre in Haditha? Time Online by Tim McGirk 03/19/06

After Haditha, the Silence Time Online by Aparisim Ghosh 03/23/06

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