Haditha Diplomacy
I traded emails Friday with Dr. Demarche (formerly of the DailyDemarche) and Mark Safranski (of zenpundit) The good doctor of diplomacy occasionally posts on this website—and his posts always draw comments (usually emails) from the foreign service community. Mark’s blog is a nexus of geo-strategic discussion.
As Eric Umansky pointed out on the latest Blog Week in Review, the alleged atrocities in Haditha, Iraq are a huge story, a critical story, and an expanding story. The justice system will arrest, prosecute, and –if they are convicted—sentence war criminals. Haditha, however, has extraordinary political and geostrategic implications. Both Demarche and Safranski had been thinking about Haditha. I asked Dr Demarche and Mark Safranski about those implications, and particularly, the diplomatic elements involved.
Here are their responses.
Haditha, and what is says about us.
by Dr. Demarche
Much of the world’s media is rejoicing in the death of twenty-four people in a small town in Iraq– not because those people are dead, of course, but because it gives them a chance to point at the United States and call us an out of control Goliath further trampling the already downtrodden peoples of the world. How, diplomatically speaking, can we respond to the deaths in this village?
First and foremost, we must continue to do what we have only belatedly begun to do- fully investigate the allegations and pursue the matter as far up the chain of command as it goes. If our Marines are guilty of intentionally killing civilians, and if there was a concerted effort to cover up the killings those culpable must be held accountable. The investigations must be complete and transparent, there can be no room for doubt (though of course regardless of the outcome there will always be some delusional conspiracy theories).
Human beings under intense pressure may “snap” and lose control, it happens all the time in situations far less intense than combat. Nations, however, may not “snap.” Nations are held to standards that exceed those of individual men, America above all others. Our message must be that we will vigorously pursue the truth, no matter how much to our disliking it may be, and that we will punish any and all parties involved. And we must do so. There is no alternative.
The war in Iraq has revealed many ugly truths about the world we live in- from the failure of the U.N. to enforce the many sanctions levied against Iraq to the discovery of Saddam’s mass graves, the insurgents crossing the border to kill aid workers and the “torture” of Abu Ghraib, the lack of any support in the Arab world for a free Iraq and the ready willingness of politicians of every stripe in many nations to use the War to advance their own agendas- all are stains on our collective conscience. Haditha cannot be another.
Our only recourse as a nation is to search for the truth of what occurred in Haditha, and then to face that truth. While we should inform the world that this our intention, we must not, however, do this for the rest of the world; our goal should not simply be to still the clamoring. We should do this because it is right, and that is one of the key tenets of the concept of America- we will always do what is right, to the best of our ability. Our diplomatic message should be just that- we are in Iraq because it is the right thing to do, and we will discover the truth about Haditha for the same reason.
Dr Demarche’s diagnosis: “face the truth, do what is right.”
Next up: Mark Safranski.
Diplomacy and Haditha
By Mark Safranski
The shocking charges of wanton murder of Iraqi civilians, including women and children, by U.S. Marines at Haditha have prompted many people to leap to conclusions well ahead of those provided by military investigators or prosecutors. As with many incidents, opinions seem to be driven by the overall view one has held about the invasion of Iraq or about America itself. British journalist and noted anti-American fundamentalist Robert Fisk slammed U.S. troops as “ the Army of the Slums” while Richard Pyle, former AP bureau chief in Saigon during the Vietnam War, has already equated events at Haditha with My Lai. Congressman John Murtha, himself a Marine veteran and antiwar activist, was in the lead of convicting the accused soldiers in the press.
Our eagerness as a society to deal with the political fallout of Haditha creates the temptation to ensure that the investigation of alleged war crimes produces the “ right” results to appease a diverse audience of onlookers and critics. Our long term diplomatic interests are best served by allowing justice to take its course unimpeded by the overt political machinations that clouded My Lai and with the greatest possible level of transparency. Abu Ghraib was a genuine travesty but other inflammatory charges made against troops fighting Islamist insurgents have often proven completely false. Israelis did not massacre civilians during the battle of Jenin, American troops did not intentionally desecrate al Qaida dead in Afghanistan or flush a Quran down a toilet. With this in mind, and the awareness that every army in every war contains soldiers who “snap” and commit crimes, we should let watch the judicial process unfold, sternly punish any soldiers found guilty and compensate the families of any innocent victims. Even if their deaths only resulted from normal “collateral damage” according to the laws of war.
To do more than this would be to invite the contempt of the enemy and the multiplication of Islamist “Black propaganda”; to do less would be to fail to live up to our own ideals in the eyes of the world.
Many thanks to Mark and Dr. Demarche for their thoughtful –and quick—replies.
Cong. Murta is a disgrace to this country,using this for political reasons and not even waiting for the final results.
Comment by Richard — 6/3/2006 @ 11:38 am
Thanks for publishing the remarks of these two fine analysts. I’ve linked to you here: http://consul-at-arms.blogspot.com/2006/06/re-haditha-diplomacy.html
Comment by Consul-At-Arms — 6/3/2006 @ 7:29 pm
Exactly how does punishing soldiers who fight an enemy who violates the tennets of civilization going to earn us the respect of our enemies or those who do not respect us? How does it put us closer to victory? How does it protect our troops? The way to defeat those who engage in this type of war is clear and has worked whenever and where ever it is applied, to make war so horrible, so terrible, that any alternative to it seems so attractive that hostilities cannot even be considered. Until the West learns this lesson we will go through this ridiculous kabuki whenever our foes decide its time to pull our strings or whenever our troops having endured the unendurable conduct themselves in a manner not to the satisfaction of Emily Post.
Comment by Thomas J. Jackson — 6/3/2006 @ 9:40 pm
Before this latest round of accusations against U.S. Military, the troops were tip-toeing around trying not to kill civilians. After this, if the Marines are proven guilty or possibly even if the are proven innocent, our Military is not only going to be trying even harder not to kill civilians, they will be sorely pressed to even fire their weapons. We are our own worse enemy. Between our rules, regulations and the media, we are not only going to be defeated in Iraq and the Afgan, we are going to be defeated world wide. Here is an example of the media coverage we will have to contend with from now on. Michelle Malkin has the story. Papa Ray West Texas USA
Comment by Papa Ray — 6/3/2006 @ 10:12 pm
[…] Haditha Diplomacy… occasionally posts on this website and his posts always draw comments (usually emails) from the foreign service community. Mark s blog is a nexus of geo-strategic discussion. As Eric Umansky pointed out on the latest Blog Week […] […]
Pingback by The blog swarm, Chinese style.”Many draw disturbing parallels to the -- Centplus Tech — 6/4/2006 @ 12:08 am
TJJ and PR appear to be dreaming of tyranny. Yes, let’s blow the bad guys to bits and everyone else who stands in our way! — but we are ill-equipped to secure our own borders (while dreaming that we are not) and bad guys will return the gesture. I know that the bad guys are going to try to do this anyway. The problem is in marginality, since total war will give even the ambivalent dissenters and mild opponents reason to escalate. If America began killing willy-nilly, I wouldn’t be surprised if many non-Muslim and non-Islamist Americans began to turn on the U.S. from within our borders. These dreams of mayhem are altogether evil.
Comment by Curtis Gale Weeks — 6/4/2006 @ 12:35 am
Some war crimes get a lot of attention. Some do not. Â
Comment by M. Simon — 6/4/2006 @ 9:40 am
Meanwhile… UN order fuels cover-up claim
Comment by b — 6/4/2006 @ 2:10 pm
Thomas Jackson says
Comment by Casey Tompkins — 6/4/2006 @ 9:06 pm
Whoops. Don’t want to put words in Tom’s mouth. The first line quoted was his, the second two are mine, and should not have been indented. My bad! That’s what I get for following the Wordpress “allowed tags” form.
Comment by Casey Tompkins — 6/4/2006 @ 9:09 pm