Lack of Leadership

There may be reasons for the Haditha murders (assuming the investigation shows we committed a crime), but no defense for the Marines involved.

Even intense stress does not relieve the Marines in question from responsibilty for obeying the laws of war and their rules of engagement. The leaders especially failed to control their men and keep them from harming themselves by committing crimes for which they will be punished.

Making sure their men fight lawfully is as much about protecting their men as it is protecting innocents. It is the same as making sure they hydrate, wear approporiate body armor, watch their sectors, and stay alert. Failure means their men may end up in Walter Reed, Arlington, or Leavenworth, rather than back on the block with stories of duty performed honorably. A leader has much responsibility for what happens in the stress of combat.

But Wretchard is incorrect when he notes that the unit in question was decapitated when two lance corporals were hit in the IED blast--killing one--that may have triggered what is supposed to be a massacre of innocents.

Lance corporals are not NCOs. They are E-3s, the Army equivalent of a private first class. They did not reperesent the leadership of ther unit.

I'm not really picking on Wretchard. When I was in signal school, one Army E-6 in my class seemed to have no clue that our Marine lance corporal did not outrank me, a PFC. Indeed, I knew my time in service made me rank the Marine. But since I did not want to be class assistant leader, I let it slide. I got stuck standing in front of the platoon enough as it was.

Anyway, the unit may not have been led that day, but there were leaders present. And they failed to protect their men by making sure they fought clean.