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Troop poll findings disturb Petraeus
By Brian Murphy - ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated: 05/08/07 6:56 AM
http://www.buffalonews.com/180/story/70939.html
NEW YORK — The top U.S. commander in Iraq said Monday he was “greatly concerned” by a recent survey that concluded many combat troops in Iraq would not report a member of their unit for killing or wounding an innocent civilian.
Speaking to the annual meeting of the Associated Press, Gen. David Petraeus called for a “redoubling of our education efforts” to identify potential abuses among soldiers and to anticipate problems related to combat stress.
“We can never sink to the level of the enemy,” Petraeus said by video link from Baghdad. “We have done that at times in theater, and it has cost us enormously.”
He was referring to the torture and humiliation of prisoners by U.S. troops at the Abu Ghraib facility west of Baghdad.
Petraeus said he was drafting a memo that would examine issues of battlefield ethics and ways to prevent possible problems, adding that he was “greatly concerned by the results” of a Pentagon report last week from a special mental health advisory team that assessed forces serving in Iraq.
“So the first step is that we’ve got to . . . make sure that folks remember that that’s a foundation for our moral compass . . . anything we do that violates that is done at considerable peril,” he said.
The report included a range of findings that pointed to potential violations of military codes and standards. Of those interviewed, for example, only 40 percent of Marines and 55 percent of Army soldiers said they would report a member of their unit for killing or wounding an innocent civilian.
The survey also found that 47 percent of U.S. soldiers and 38 percent of Marines said noncombatants should be treated with dignity and respect, while 44 percent of Marines and 41 percent of soldiers said torture should be allowed to save the life of a soldier or Marine.
Petraeus also reiterated his belief that Iraq’s long-term stability cannot be achieved through military means and requires political reconciliation among its main groups: the majority Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. But he noted that the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki remains focused on “narrow agendas” standing in the way of unity and crucial U.S.-backed legislation, such as a law to share Iraq’s oil wealth.
He said he plans to deliver a report to President Bush in the first two weeks of September on the future direction of Iraq, including the U.S.-led effort to try to reclaim Baghdad from extremist factions.
The battles will “likely be harder in Iraq before it gets easier,” Petraeus said, just hours after two suicide car bombers attacked a market and a police checkpoint on the outskirts of Ramadi west of the capital — an area where Petraeus had noted some success in marshaling Sunni tribes to help fight al- Qaida insurgents. At least 13 people were killed.
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© 2007 The Buffalo News.
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