Haditha: Iraq's My Lai Massacre Could Be Turning Point in War

Interview with Rahul Mahajan, journalist and author, conducted by Scott Harris

A Pentagon inquiry into allegations that U.S. Marines executed 24 Iraqi civilians, including men, women and children in the town of Haditha last November, has triggered wider scrutiny of the conduct of U.S. forces in the war. A BBC report in early June presented video evidence of the possible murder of 11 Iraqi civilians by U.S. troops in the town of Ishaqi in March, but a Pentagon investigation recently cleared the American soldiers involved in the raid. The shooting deaths of a pregnant Iraqi woman and her cousin by U.S. troops in Samarra, as they were driving to a hospital near a U.S. observation post on May 30 further aggravated the situation.

Iraq's new prime minister, Nouri al-Malaki ordered his own investigation into the Haditha massacre and said that such abuses had become common among multinational forces. Al-Malaki, echoing the growing anger among many in his nation, stated that U.S. troops had no respect for Iraqi citizens -- a situation he said that was unacceptable.

Although U.S. forces recently underwent re-training in "core warrior values," the Pentagon's decision to omit the Geneva Conventions' explicit ban on humiliating and degrading treatment of detainees from an Army Field Manual has cast doubt on the Bush administration's commitment to human rights and international law. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with journalist and author Rahul Mahajan, who looks at the inquiry into the Haditha massacre and the incident's possible impact on the continuing U.S. war and occupation of Iraq.

Rahul Mahajan is author of the book, "Full Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond," published by Seven Stories Press. Read Mahajan's commentaries online at: www.empirenotes.org

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