More Ethics Training Ordered for GIs in Iraq

Seeking to quell outrage over allegations that Marines went on a killing rampage against unarmed civilians in Haditha, the top U.S. general in Iraq ordered all American troops in the country to undergo additional ethics training, the military said Thursday.

The announcement came a week after Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee went to Iraq on what he said was a mission to reinforce the training Marines receive in following laws regarding force and violence.

Meanwhile Thursday, for the first time since reports emerged that children, women and elderly men were slain by U.S. troops in November in Haditha, the Iraqi government took a tough stance on the deaths. The Iraqi Cabinet agreed to open an investigation of the disputed events of Nov. 19, which left at least 24 civilians dead in the western town after a Marine was killed in a roadside bombing.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said that the dignity of Iraq had been trampled, and he promised to open talks with foreign soldiers to set ground rules for raids and detentions.

“We cannot tolerate violations against the dignity and security of the Iraqi people,” the prime minister said.

He said some coalition troops had “no respect for citizens ... killing on suspicion or a hunch.”

The Haditha deaths, also under investigation by the U.S. military, have put pressure on both U.S. and Iraqi leaders. Allegations of a massacre have provided fodder for war opponents in the United States and for those Iraqis who are embittered by and suspicious of the presence of American troops.

As for Maliki, a wary public is watching to see whether his Shiite-dominated government will take seriously the death of civilians in a predominantly Sunni Arab town such as Haditha.

“I have said that all provinces and all Iraqis are the same for us,” Maliki said Thursday.

Beginning in boot camp, Marines are lectured on the Geneva Convention and other laws governing warfare. Marines being trained for deployment to Iraq receive training in the rules of engagement that govern the use of lethal force.

They also engage in roleplaying exercises to test their reactions to scenes meant to simulate the confusion and complexity of Iraq. And once they arrive here, troops are again told by Marine lawyers, noncommissioned officers and officers about the need to identify someone as a combatant before firing.

The military said Thursday that U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli had directed commanders in Iraq to provide training to their troops within 30 days. Troops will be taught about military values, Iraqi cultural expectations and what the military called “disciplined, professional conduct in combat.”

The courses will highlight “the importance of adhering to legal, moral and ethical standards on the battlefield,” a statement from the military said.

“The challenge for us is to make sure the actions of a few do not tarnish the good work of the many,” Chiarelli said in the statement.

In response to Chiarelli’s order, a spokesman for Camp Pendleton, where the Marines being investigated in the Haditha deaths are based, said Thursday that the base would also increase the training in rules of engagement and the laws of armed conflict.

The announcement came one day after the U.S. military acknowledged shooting to death a pregnant woman and her mother near an American checkpoint in Samarra.

Nabeeha Nassayef, 33, was about to give birth, and her family had driven into the city to take her to a hospital. They were unfamiliar with the roads, her brother said, and wound up on a street that had been closed by U.S. troops.

“I took this road because it’s a shortcut and my sister was in labor,” said Khalid Nassayef Jassim, who was driving the car. “I was surprised by the exploding glass and blood coming from behind. When I turned back, my sister was shot in the head.”

The U.S. military said it regretted the deaths, and was investigating the incident.

Army Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, speaking Thursday at a weekly military news conference in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, said Chiarelli began an inquiry on military policies and procedures in Iraq after the Haditha reports emerged. That investigation is separate from the criminal investigation conducted by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Caldwell, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said the military was conducting three other investigations of misconduct that “we are looking at closely.”

In the last few months, Chiarelli has also “taken deliberate steps to reduce escalation of force” by examining how to improve checkpoints and signals used by U.S. forces to warn approaching civilians, Caldwell said.

“Chiarelli has been looking at everything,” he said. “How is the checkpoint set up? Visual signs -- do they need to be changed?”

Chiarelli has said that American troops in Iraq unintentionally create more rebels by treating Iraqis in a heavy-handed manner. Some American troops in Iraq have been their “own worst enemy,” he told The Times last month.

Although reports repeatedly have surfaced of civilians killed at U.S.-manned checkpoints, military officials have refused to divulge any statistics of the number of Iraqis killed or maimed by U.S. troops since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, saying it doesn’t keep track of civilian deaths.

But during the news conference Thursday, Caldwell said, “It’s clear, there’s somebody who’s keeping track.... At this time, it’s something we’re paying very much attention to.

“We’re here as guests of the Iraqi people. As such, that’s how we should conduct ourselves.”

Heavy violence continued Thursday, with bomb blasts rocking Baghdad and discovery of corpses that showed signs of torture in the capital and Baqubah.

At least 10 people were killed in the day’s violence or found dead.

Leadership of the Iraqi government security forces has been in limbo since Maliki formed his government last month but left key security ministries vacant. Maliki said Thursday that he had decided to name the ministers of interior and defense in parliament Sunday, promising to put an end to a weeks-long stalemate over the posts.

Times staff writer Tony Perry in San Diego contributed to this report.