Rotten Apples

The military is fessing up about a bad shooting in Iraq a little while back:

The American military admitted Sunday night that a platoon of soldiers raked a car of innocent Iraqi civilians with hundreds of rounds of gunfire and that the military then issued a news release larded with misstatements, asserting that the victims were criminals who had fired on the troops.

The thing you need to remember when you hear this kind of story of misconduct is that literally hundreds of thousands of foreign personnel have served in Iraq since the invasion in 2003. In that context, it really and truly is just a small handfull of bad apples who've done this kind of thing while the overwhelming majority have exhibited exemplary conduct by historical wartime standards.

But by the same token, what you see is that when such a massive undertaking goes on for years and years then even in a military where the overwhelming majority are well-behaved, a certain number of terrible things happen. And that is why Iraqis, quite rightly, don't want to see a foreign military operating on their soil and not subject to their laws. No sensible country would want to see such a thing happen, precisely because even under the best case it's still going to lead to the occasional tragedy. And of course the Defense Department, also quite rightly, has no intention of letting American military personnel engage in active operations on Iraqi soil while subject to Iraqi criminal jurisdiction rather than to American military law. Which is precisely why it makes sense for both countries for us to begin the process of packing up and leaving. Completely apart from the quality of the troops' performance (generally very high) or the quality of their tactical missions (seemingly very high recently) the overall situation is inherently untenable.

DoD photo by Senior Airman Julianne Showalter, U.S. Air Force

Comments

that the military then issued a news release larded with misstatements

People forget that this constant lying on the part of the military had a great deal to do with the public's disenchantment with the VietNam War the discrediting of the military as an institution for a generation. While there is much honor is serving to protect one's country - there is absolutely no honor in an institution that continually lies to the American people. It is wrong and fundamentally offensive to democracy for the military to continually hold itself from being held accountable. If people become anti-military, it is not because of some inherent philosophical or moral flaw but more like a disgust at constantly being lied to.

Posted by Ethel-To-Tilly | July 28, 2008 12:58 PM

>In that context, it really and truly is just a small handfull of bad apples who've done this kind of thing while the overwhelming majority have exhibited exemplary conduct by historical wartime standards.

What makes you so confident that we know how many such atrocities have been committed by the US in Iraq? We only know about this one because the military decided to inform us of it. We have no idea how many cases have never seen the light of day.

Posted by Doug | July 28, 2008 1:03 PM

Actually, over the past years, especially in the first months of the Invasion, it was pretty clear that, in fact, discipline in some units was fairly poor. LOTS of civilians were shot at - remember that Italian journalist who was nearly killed (and her bodyguard was killed) by poorly informed American troops. This was common at the time.

These things along w/ other things (including Abu Grahb)were blamed on "bad apples" - reservists who should never have been in a combat zone. Who to blame?? Obviously the usual suspects- Rummy, Cheney at al, who invaded "with the Army that they had";

Posted by M. Carey | July 28, 2008 1:12 PM

soldiers raked a car of innocent Iraqi civilians with hundreds of rounds of gunfire

Have they ever considered a career in law enforcement? I beleive the NYPD has some openings for those soldiers upon their return.

Posted by Retief | July 28, 2008 1:18 PM

Unfortunately, I don't think atrocious behavior in war zones requires bad apples. Imagine a budy of yours died when an innocent looking civilian either opened fire or self-detonated. Soon you are looking suspiciously at everyone. One day you think you see something you don't and bang, lots of dead, innocent people.

When you are sitting on pens and needles for hours on end, every day, through multiple deployments, making life and death decisions every minute, it is bound to happen to someone eventually.

War is really, really bad. Never forget that.

Then add actual bad apples on top of this....

Posted by Mark | July 28, 2008 1:35 PM

And that is why Iraqis, quite rightly, don't want to see a foreign military operating on their soil and not subject to their laws.

Yeah, but at least the mass of contractors we have over there have to answer to the laws of the sovereign government if the kill civilians.

Huh? What? You're kidding. Uh, never mind.

Posted by LFC | July 28, 2008 1:39 PM

The fact that cars that don't stop are considered dangerous enough to be fired at tells us volumes about how well the Surge is doing.

Posted by modulo myself | July 28, 2008 1:40 PM

Have they ever considered a career in law enforcement?

Don't joke about it. Plenty of them will end up in the police, or the prison service, or as mall security.

Posted by pseudonymous in nc | July 28, 2008 1:40 PM

Doesn't this logic mean we must also leave Afghanistan? And that UN peacekeepers (generally worse behaved than US troops) can never be deployed anywhere for any length of time?

Posted by y81 | July 28, 2008 1:44 PM

I also liked the fact that, though the report found that many, many things had been done wrong, no one was actually responsible for any of them. I plan to invoke this principle more in my own life.

y81- please try not to be daft. The conclusion to draw is that you should not deploy military force unless it's actually necessary as a last resort. That probably applied to Afghanistan and applies to many places the UN has been and are, but did not, in any way, apply to Iraq. Therefore, the US is culpable for these sort of murders in Iraq and ought to do whatever it can to stop them by withdrawing as soon as possible. It's not that hard of a thing to see.

Posted by matt (not the famous one) | July 28, 2008 1:53 PM

Matt, thank you so much for telling the truth. This was just an isolated incident, and things like this almost never happen. Even in an environment totally absent of any accountability, you can count on your brave soldiers and Marines to always do the right thing.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for not asking how many incidents like this have happened since the occupation, and for naturally assuming that this case was the exception and not the norm. Without media enablers like you, the military would have a much more difficult time maintaining its sainted reputation.

As you well know, many of us in uniform are here for the sheer pleasure of sacrifice and protecting the Constitution - it has nothing to do with signing bonuses, retention pay, or a lack of marketable skills or other career options. Nor does it have anything to do with the fact that many of us have an unhealthy obsession with weapons, weight lifting, and just being giant ass holes.

Rest assured, while you are safe on the home front we are wisely and judiciously spending billions of your tax dollars on the fight for freedom in Iraq. Please don't let the freedom-haters who often comment here get your hopes down. The military genuinely appreciates fan-boys and apologists like you, and hopes that you keep up the good work!

Sgt. Freedom

Posted by Sergeant Freedom | July 28, 2008 3:07 PM

FWIW, I was talking to an officer in the army who quit because the quality of his troops was so low. He said he spent too much time getting his troops out of jail at two in the morning, and he decided to quit.

Posted by bjk | July 28, 2008 4:05 PM

BJK,

It saddens me to have to say this, but maybe the "officer" you were talking to wasn't much of an officer, and maybe the Army is better off without him.

If he had been a better officer, maybe his soldiers wouldn't have gotten into so much trouble. If waking up at 2am was too hard for him, I have trouble thinking about what other challenges were just too much for him (were continual deployments to Iraq too much for him?).

Today's soldiers are actually much better than the ones we've had in the past! They might not score as high on general aptitude and intelligence tests, they might have more difficulty with physical training goals and not be as healthy overall as yesteryear's soldiers, and in general they do tend to have gotten older, slower, and softer - but please consider this. Everyone of them has had more than 5 years to evaluate the mission in Iraq and how central it is to protecting the home front, and they still decided to sign up! These soldiers know and are committed to the mission in Iraq. Many also understand and know in their hearts that Al Qaeda and the terrorists are in Iraq, and that until we kill every one of them than the mission is not complete.

In other words, these new soldiers understand that going to Iraq is very important to national security - despite all of the MSM propaganda and "facts" that would lead lesser souls to a different conclusion. These new soldiers are, if you will, SUPER SOLDIERS. Much like our Commander in Chief, they are a resolute and hardy bunch. They support the troops. So much so that they became troops, even in the face of tough odds. How can you even begin to question them? Do you not support the troops?

I don't mean to criticize the officer you spoke with, but by leaving the Army he was not supporting the troops. He was LEAVING the troops. So please, take whatever he said with a grain of salt - consider the fact that he is a traitor and anti-American when listening to him.

Posted by Sergeant Freedom | July 28, 2008 4:51 PM

As with all such incidents, it's not the crime it's the coverup that's the problem. I can see the soldiers making the mistake, but outright lying on the part of the Army isn't acceptable.

Posted by Gus | July 28, 2008 5:03 PM

Who says that it had to be "bad apples" to shoot a car full of innocents? It is part and parcel of the war we are involved in. Soldiers make split second decisions on the use of lethal force. Sometimes they get it wrong.

Posted by danceswithgoats | July 28, 2008 5:06 PM

"really and truly... while the overwhelming majority have exhibited exemplary conduct by historical wartime standards"

Really? Cross your heart?

Actually, the deluge of these stories, year after year, (Abu Ghraib, Haditha, Falluja, etc., etc.) in a place where the U.S. military has near total control of the flow of information, and the U.S. media is extremely squeamish about reporting these incidents, would very strongly suggest otherwise.

Posted by HeavyJ | July 28, 2008 5:21 PM

As with all such incidents, it's not the crime it's the coverup that's the problem. I can see the soldiers making the mistake, but outright lying on the part of the Army isn't acceptable.

Posted by Gus | July 28, 2008 5:30 PM

As with all such incidents, it's not the crime it's the coverup that's the problem. I can see the soldiers making the mistake, but outright lying on the part of the Army isn't acceptable.

Posted by Gus | July 28, 2008 5:49 PM

it really and truly is just a small handfull of bad apples who've done this kind of thing

Or, the other cover-ups were better.

Posted by pedestrian | July 28, 2008 10:30 PM

it really and truly is just a small handfull of bad apples who've done this kind of thing

Or, the other cover-ups were better.

Posted by pedestrian | July 28, 2008 10:38 PM

Okinawa

Sergeant Freedom is a 'tard.

Posted by mark | July 29, 2008 1:31 AM