Taking out "safe house" with civilians OK

Washington Times:

The Pentagon announced yesterday that soldiers have been cleared in the March 15 deaths of four Iraqis in the town of Ishaqi, while a source close to the investigation into the killing of Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines in Haditha said that probe will not end until August.
Officials said Army criminal investigators determined soldiers acted within the rules of combat when they fired on a house in Ishaqi and called in air strikes by an AC-130 gunship, because they were first fired upon by an al Qaeda in Iraq suspect inside.
The finding is a significant development for the U.S. command, which is under intense pressure from the international press and Iraqi politicians about three recent civilian killings in Haditha, Ishaqi and Hamandiya. In the latter, seven Marines and a Navy hospital corpsman are expected to be charged in the April 26 death of an Iraqi civilian.
Iraqi police said U.S. Army soldiers deliberately killed 11 Iraqi civilians in Ishaqi. But commanders said at the time that the police report was part of an attempt by some elements to discredit American troops and stir up resentment among locals. The United States said three civilians and one insurgent died as soldiers fired on the house.
Commanders also say insurgents spread rumors, through friendly press and over the Internet, of civilian killings that never happened.

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We should keep that in mind as the stories on Haditha come out. Questions have already been raised about the doctor who is supposed to have done the autopsy on the "victims." This case, using recycled enemy propaganda was used by the BBC to slander the US war effort. The case is also another example of how the enemy exploits the media. In the past Zawahiri has said that 50 percent or more of the battle space is in the media and this appears to be the only battle space where they are dominating the US. It is rather amazing since they obey no rules of war yet they constantly get the media to accuse the US of violating the rules.

It is a major failure that the Defense Department has failed to address in a systematic way. It is a battle space without a commander, leader or strategy. Since no one is responsible, the US is constantly behind the enemy and the media's OODA loop. Until something is done to get inside the media news cycle and the enemy's media OODA loop we will continue to be losing this aspect of the war. It is not something that a public affairs unit can address by itself.

There needs to be someone in charge with a trial lawyers since of urgency in making objections before an issue is waived. What is happening is that the enemy is effectively throwing a skunk in the jury box and it is taking the US military weeks and months to respond, by which time several more skunks have been thrown at the jury of public opinion, undermining support for the war, which is the enemy's primary objective. If a commander's response time was this slow in a kinetic combat situation he would have a lot of dead troops before he responded to the enemy threat.

This is one of the most urgent needs that secretary Rumsfeld and Gen. Pace need to address.

In the Washington Times story the command in Iraq is only beginning to tell the side of the story that should have been put forward three years a go and repeated on a daily basis:

"When you're in the combat theater dealing with enemy combatants who don't abide by the law of war, who do acts of indecency, soldiers become stressed, they become fearful," said Army Brig. Gen. Donald Campbell, chief of staff for Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the top tactical commander in Iraq. "It's very difficult to determine in some cases on this battlefield who is a combatant and who is a civilian. It doesn't excuse the acts that have occurred, and we're going to look into them. But I would say it's stress, fear, isolation, and in some cases they're just upset. They see their buddies getting blown up on occasion and they could snap."

This story in the Washington Post also does a good job of shooting down the enemy propaganda on the "safe house" case. The BBC jumped on this story as part of the media feeding frenzy over Haditha. There will probably be more stories that the US will have to shoot down as the media sharks circle for chum.

Update: The Belmont Club looks at counter insurgency operations and how they interact with the media. He appears to suspect cooperation between some in the media nad the enemy though the use of the stringer system for reporters. It is a post worth reading.