Rumsfeld says ethics, culture training under way for all U.S. forces in Iraq
By Jacquelyn S. Porth
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said military investigations into allegations that U.S. forces in Iraq murdered unarmed civilians will proceed through normal channels and the results then will be released publicly.
Reporters questioned Rumsfeld when he arrived in Singapore June 2 to attend the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Asia Security Summit -- also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue conference. He said 99.9 percent of U.S. military forces perform in an exemplary manner, but aberrations can occur in stressful and confusing combat situations.
U.S. military personnel are trained in advance of their deployments to behave properly, the secretary said. Now, additional mandatory training on core values is being conducted for all units serving in Iraq, Rumsfeld said.
“My impression is that the Marine Corps is handling it well and that [Marine] General [Peter] Pace [chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] is taking appropriate steps to make sure that our forces are fully aware of the high standards to which they’re being held,” he said.
Marine Corps Commandant General Michael Hagee flew to Iraq May 25 to express his concern about serious allegations against some Marines and to reinforce Marines’ understanding of the kind of ethical behavior he expects from those under his command. His goal was to travel around the country and talk about rules of engagement, the Geneva Conventions and the Law of Armed Conflict.
Pace was asked in a May 29 interview by CNNabout allegations that some renegade Marines might have killed as many as 24 unarmed Iraqis in Hadithah, Iraq, November 19, 2005. “We will find out what happened and . . . make it public,” he pledged.
Pace said it will take several weeks for the investigations to conclude and that “we should not pre-judge the outcome.”
U.S. FORCES ARE GUESTS IN IRAQ
Army Major General William Caldwell told reporters in Baghdad June 1 that commanders are emphasizing to their troops that “we’re here as guests of the Iraqi government . . . of the Iraqi people, and, as such, that’s exactly how we should conduct ourselves.”
Pressed for further details about the investigations, Rumsfeld said he is limited in what he can say now because his comments might be construed as an attempt to influence the outcome, thus adversely affecting any possible litigation.
President Bush has pledged that justice will be carried out should any allegations be verified.
In the meantime, U.S. Army Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, commander of the Multi-National Corps - Iraq, ordered refresher training June 1 for all 150,000 U.S. forces serving in Iraq to emphasize moral, ethnical and legal standards of behavior.
Chiarelli’s chief of staff provided more information about that training during a June 2 telephone conference between his post in Baghdad and reporters at the Pentagon. U.S. Army Brigadier General Donald Campbell said unequivocally, “We cannot and will not accept behavior that is legally, morally or ethically questionable.”
REFRESHER TRAINING SEEKS TO SENSITIZE U.S. TROOPS
Since U.S. troops arrived in Iraq, Campbell said, “[W]e have emphasized the importance of raising cultural awareness and working to find ways to decrease escalation-of-force incidents.” Now, he said, it is time for reinforcement training.
Commanders have been given a slide presentation that will be used for several hours of training on the importance of values, laws that govern conduct in combat, Iraqi culture and possible scenarios that they may
