disturbing the comfortable

Internal report on Iraq massacre found Marines had little concern for Iraqi life

04/21/2007 @ 12:21 pm

A report in Saturday editions of the Washington Post reveals an internal Army general's investigation of the 2005 massacre in Haditha, Iraq found that Marine commanders "fostered a climate that devalued the life of innocent Iraqis to the point that their deaths were considered an insignificant part of the war."

According the Post, which acquired a copy of the report, "Maj. Gen. Eldon A. Bargewell's 104-page report on Haditha is scathing in its criticism of the Marines' actions, from the enlisted men who were involved in the shootings on Nov. 19, 2005.

"Bargewell's previously undisclosed report," the article continues, "found that officers may have willfully ignored reports of the civilian deaths to protect themselves and their units from blame."

Bargewell found no specific coverup, the Post said.

"All levels of command tended to view civilian casualties, even in significant numbers, as routine and as the natural and intended result of insurgent tactics," Bargewell wrote, according to the Post. "Statements made by the chain of command during interviews for this investigation, taken as a whole, suggest that Iraqi civilian lives are not as important as U.S. lives, their deaths are just the cost of doing business, and that the Marines need to get 'the job done' no matter what it takes."