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"I think there are a number of cases that never make it to the reporting stage," said Solis. |
CAIRO – The number of cases involving civilian killings by US troops in Iraq represents only the tip of the iceberg as many such crimes go unreported or investigated, senior US military officers and experts have said.
"I think once people started seeing the reality of what can happen, when something did happen, they wanted to bury it," former commander of the 3rd Platoon in Iraq Lt. Erick Anderson told The Washington Post on Monday, August 28.
Anderson forced the battalion's officers to start a probe with two soldiers of his platoon for killing two unarmed Iraqis during a security sweep.
"In the very beginning, no one wanted to do anything about it," said Anderson, 27, who has left active duty and is living in Kansas.
He asserted that during his tour there were many cases of slain Iraqi civilians that never drew scrutiny.
"I think there were many other engagements that should have been investigated, definitely," agreed another army major who served in Iraq in 2004, requesting anonymity.
"But no one wanted to look at them or report them higher. . . . It was just the way things worked."
Reluctance
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| "Rape is pretty clear, but death of civilians can be a part of the fog of war," said Hutson. |
Analysts agreed it seems commanders were reluctant to investigate and hold troops accountable for taking civilian lives.
"I think there are a number of cases that never make it to the reporting stage, and in some that do make it to the reporting stage, there has been a reluctance to pursue them vigorously," said Gary D. Solis, a law professor at Georgetown University and a former Marine prosecutor.
"There have been fewer prosecutions in Iraq than one might expect."
According to a review by The Washington Post, the majority of US service members charged in the killings of Iraqi civilians have been acquitted, found guilty of relatively minor offenses or given administrative punishments without trials.
Thirty-nine servicemen were charged with crimes in connection with the deaths of Iraqi civilians or for covering them up since the start of the war in March 2003 through early 2006.
Twelve were convicted of crimes and received jail sentences. Only two received a 25-year jail term each.
Others were tried at courts-martial, resulting in one acquittal and three convictions with no confinement.
In many cases charges against some of the troops were dropped altogether, according to the review.
Soldiers frequently said they fired because they perceived a threat, or because they believed that their actions were authorized by the rules of engagement or other orders.
"It's not an easy call to make. It requires getting into the head of a serviceman," said retired Rear Adm. John D. Hutson, a former Navy judge advocate general and incumbent dean of the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, N.H.
"Rape is pretty clear, but death of civilians can be a part of the fog of war, or it can be the result of inexperience or misjudgment."
A 2005 survey by the Iraq Body Count (IBC), an independent group that advocates more extensive investigation of civilian deaths, found that US-led occupation forces were behind 37 percent of civilian deaths.
The Post said it undertook the review after recent accusations that US forces had killed significant numbers of civilians in places such as Haditha, Hamdaniya and Mahmudiyah, with many of the victims women and children.
The US army is investigating charges that US Marines killed 24 civilians, including 10 women and children, in the Euphrates valley town of Haditha last year after a roadside bomb killed a comrade.
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