Description of investigations in Iraq

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell:

...

First, I'd like to express our heartfelt condolences to the families that lost a loved one in that accident. We mourn the loss of all innocent life, and the loss of any life is always very tragic and very unfortunate. But let me be very clear about one point. The coalition does not and it will not tolerate any unethical or criminal behavior. Any allegations of such activities will be fully investigated, and any members found to have committed these violations will be held accountable.

It would be inappropriate for me to comment upon the specific matters under investigation, however, I can tell you in general terms what is going on. On February 14th, Lieutenant General Chiarelli, commander of the Multinational Corps, directed an investigation into the events in Haditha, where Marines assigned to the Marine Expeditionary Force responded to an IED attack on their convoy. On March 9th, Lieutenant General Chiarelli was presented with the initial findings of that preliminary investigation. Based on the recommendations of the investigating officer, he directed further review of the incident, and that subsequent review is now ongoing. In addition, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is investigating allegations of misconduct stemming from the Marines' actions. The findings of that criminal investigation will be reported to the commanding general Marine Forces Central Command for appropriate action.

The difference between these two investigations that are going on is that the Multinational Corps Iraq investigation is looking at policies and procedures, such as those pertaining to training and reporting, whereas the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is looking into allegations of criminal misconduct. (Emphasis added.)

This tragic incident is in no way representative of how coalition forces treat Iraqi civilians. Any allegations of unethical or criminal behavior against Iraqi civilians by coalition forces will be thoroughly investigated, and anyone found to have committed violations will be punished as appropriate.

...

This is from the weekly briefing, so obviously there is much more. One observation I had on reading it is there appear to be many more reporters present than usual and they are mostly interested in Haditha and any similar events. Caldwell did indicate there were three or our other investigations underway, and he did discuss the shooting of the pregnant woman whose driver did not stop at a check point. While these reporters sometimes sound like sharks circling around the events at Haditha, it is interesting to not that Antonio Castaneda of the AP give a pretty positive picture of the Marines who were in Haditha. You can find excerpts of his story here. A CNN reporter who was embedded with the Kilo Company Marines recently wrote a piece similar to Castaneda's, but I have not been able to find a link yet.