More than half of the casualties in Iraq in August 2024 were Americans. This resulted from an attack by pro-Iran groups and a joint Iraq-U.S. raid on an Islamic State camp. This was a decided change from previous months.
Englade, Kenneth, Meltdown in Haditha, The Killing of 24 Iraqi Civilians by U.S. Marines and the Failure of Military Justice, McFarland & Company, 2015
Meltdown in Haditha, The Killing of 24 Iraqi Civilians by U.S. Marines and the Failure of Military Justice by Kenneth Englade deals with a deadly incident in November 2005 in the Iraqi town of Haditha in Anbar province. This eventually led to 8 Marines being charged with various crimes. The author claims there was a failure by the Marines to prosecute the cases because it was more interested in protecting its image. That’s not quite supported by the evidence presented. Instead it appears that Haditha was badly handled by Marine commanders leading to years of missteps that probably should’ve never happened. Most importantly Meltdown in Haditha is not an enjoyable read because it gets bogged down in the court proceedings.
Most of the new provincial governments in Iraq were decided in February. The Coordination Framework took most of the governors as expected because their main rival Muqtada al-Sadr boycotted. The list did not have its way however.
Helms, Nathaniel and Faraj, Haytham, No Time For The Truth, The Haditha Incident And The Search For Justice, New York: Arcade Publishing, 2016
No Time For The Truth, The Haditha Incident And The Search For Justice by Nathaniel Helms and Haytham Faraj is about the Haditha massacre where a group of Marines were charged with killing civilians in western Iraq in 2006. The authors were both sympathetic to the Marines with Faraj being one of their defense lawyers. They argue the Marines were following their training when they attacked two houses and therefore did not commit murder. The authors then focus upon how the government tried to scapegoat one Marine for the entire incident.
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Benson, Colonel Kevin, Expectation of Valor, Planning For The Iraqi War , Casemate, 2024 Colonel Kevin Benson who was the chief planne...