Haditha, a way point on the the rat line from Syria

Rowan Scarborough:

It is the deadliest province in Iraq per capita, an expanse of desert, small towns and the rich Euphrates River that combine to attract some of the worst of America's enemies, the kind that 2nd Marine Division troops were hunting Nov. 19 when things went terribly wrong in Haditha.
Sunnis loyal to Saddam Hussein quickly staked out Anbar province's biggest cities, Fallujah and Ramadi, as garrisons against the rule of the U.S.-led coalition that toppled Saddam.
Foreign suicide bombers then discovered the isolation of the place, suitable to establish "rat lines" from Syria, down the river and into Baghdad, where they got their assignments for mass murder.
Anbar's Sunni Muslim residents mostly have been hospitable to these bands of jihadis led by Abu Musab Zarqawi, who was killed Wednesday in a U.S. air strike in Diyala province. The locals provided the terrorists with a garage or spare bedroom to hide and make their bombs, and to lay in wait for patrolling Marines.
Now some residents accuse Marines of deliberately killing 24 civilians -- men, women and children -- in cold blood.
Marines of the 1st and 2nd Marine Expeditionary Forces, which alternate seven-month stays, head out daily into towns such as Husaybah, New Ubaydi and Haditha. Press releases from the U.S. command in Baghdad routinely include a brief two paragraphs on another Marine in Anbar falling to an improvised explosive device (IED).
"Imagine the gall and the fortitude of an enemy that is willing to blow up their own children to kill or even discredit you," said retired Marine 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano, who led his platoon on scores of raids in Anbar in 2004 before the Marines accused him of murder in the deaths of two insurgents.
Lt. Pantano was exonerated by an investigative officer, resigned from the Corps and has published a book on his ordeal, "Warlord: No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy."
The town of Haditha, one of Anbar's rat-line stops, was the site of what is now a well-publicized Marine patrol Nov. 19 by squads of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment. Their mission: "persistent presence" to make Anbar safe for the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections.
The Marines grimaced as another comrade died when an IED exploded under his armored vehicle. Hours later, after a battalion counterattack, 24 Iraqi civilians, including women and children, lay dead.
A criminal investigation by the military that could lead to capital murder charges against one or more Marines is expected to be completed in August. A source close to the investigation said that, if Marines are charged, defense attorneys will cite Anbar's hostile environment and the chaos of door-to-door raids.
But U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in Iraq, has imposed strict rules of engagement designed to protect noncombatants from the kind of atrocity that may have occurred in Haditha. Each Marine repeatedly is reminded before and during deployments about protecting noncombatants.
Rules state troops may use lethal force only if the enemy displays a hostile act or hostile intent. But at the unit level, what is "hostile" can fall into a gray area.
A Marine officer who served in Anbar said some commanders allowed Marines to shoot to kill someone suspected of planting an IED. Others did not.
"Marines today have to fill out more paperwork and statements after they use force than cops on the streets of Philadelphia," the officer said.

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This is the closest I have seen to a description of the Rules of Engagement. It would clarify this issue if a definitive copy of the rules were produced. The interview with Pantano does disclose a little of the flavor of the wickedness of the enemy we face in Anbar province. Later in the story he describes the enemy's attempt to explode an IED that would kill children at a ceremony opening a rebuilt school.