- CAMP PENDLETON --
Few military forces have a tougher reputation than the US marines. But
the marines headed for Iraq in the spring say they intend to avoid the
controversial get-tough tactics used in recent weeks by US army units.
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- Marine commanders say they do not plan to surround villages
with barbed wire, demolish buildings used by insurgents or detain relatives
of suspected guerrillas. They do not plan to fire artillery rounds at suspected
guerrilla mortar positions, an army tactic that risks harming civilians.
Nor do they want to risk civilian casualties by calling in bombing strikes.
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- "I do not envision using that tactic," said
Lieutenant General James Conway, commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary
Force, who led the marines who fought their way to Baghdad and will command
the 20,000-plus marines who will return to Iraq in March.
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- The rise in attacks on US troops has prompted the army
in the Sunni triangle to adopt a hard-nosed approach, spawning a military
debate about how to quash the insurgents.
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- While some army commanders insist the hard-nosed tactics
have reduced attacks, others believe they are alienating Iraqis and depriving
US forces of the public support and human intelligence needed to ferret
out threats.
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- In an interview, Lt Gen Conway was careful not to criticise
the army. "I don't want to condemn what people are doing. I think
they are doing what they think they have to do. I'll simply say that I
think until we can win the population over and they can give us those indigenous
intelligence reports that we're prolonging the process."
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- He says the marines will try to design their raids to
be "laser precise", targeted on the enemy with a maximum effort
made to avoid endangering or humiliating Iraqi civilians.
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- After Saddam Hussein was driven from power, the marines
assumed the responsibility for stabilising south-central Iraq, where most
of the inhabitants are Shiite Muslims who were persecuted under Saddam
and were glad to see him gone. No marine was killed in action after mid-April.
The marines insist their success also reflected their energetic efforts
to work with the local population.
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- Marine commanders say success will ultimately depend
on winning the trust of a wary population. The measure of progress will
be tips about potential threats provided to the marines by ordinary Iraqis,
Lt Gen Conway said.
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- The marines plan to work with the Iraqi police and train
and equip an Iraqi military force to take on the insurgents. "We intend
to create an Iraqi marine battalion, maybe a brigade," Lt Gen Conway
said.
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- Commanders have stressed the need to be sensitive to
local traditions. Marines have been told to remove their sunglasses and
look Iraqis in the eye when speaking with them. A select group has been
selected for intensive Arabic language training. The marines will use Iraqi
names to delineate the zones assigned to specific units and will try to
align them with Iraqi administrative districts.
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- But the marines are also prepared to fight. "We
carry an embedded offensive capability in every convoy," said Major
General James Mattis, commander of 1st Marine Division. "To us you
don't drive on through, you stop, you hunt them down and you nail them."
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- Maj Gen Mattis added: "If they choose to fight they
are going to regret it, but we also believe that part of the physicians'
oath that says first do no harm. If to kill a terrorist we have got to
kill eight innocent people you don't kill them."
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- Lt Gen Conway added: "We will be as vicious with
the resistance as we have to be ... Our marines just have to be able to
be aggressive and hostile one moment and the next moment be able to play
soccer with the kids."
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- ©2003 Scotsman.com
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- http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/international.cfm?id=1366502003
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