WASHINGTON, 16 August 2007 — The top US commander in Iraq will recommend pulling US troops out of some areas where commanders believe security has improved, the Los Angeles Times said yesterday, citing Bush administration officials.
Gen. David Petraeus’ assessment of the situation in Iraq, to be issued in September, is regarded as pivotal amid pressure for President George W. Bush to change course in the conflict.
The newspaper on its website said that instead of reducing the overall number of US troops in Iraq, Petraeus could call for them to be moved to other areas or for the creation of a reserve force in case of an increase in violence.
“That is the form of the recommendation we are anticipating him to come back with,” the newspaper quoted a senior administration official as saying.
The newspaper said administration officials who supported current troop levels hope Petraeus’ recommendation would stave off calls in the US Congress for a major force reduction.
With the build-up in US forces since the start of the year, there are nearly 162,000 US troops in Iraq. Some administration officials told the Times they expected Petraeus to push to maintain current force levels for at least six more months to build on security improvements in Baghdad.
Meanwhile, a top Marine legal adviser, under fire for criticizing an investigator’s report that ultimately led to the freeing of a Marine charged in the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha, has stepped aside in the case against a second Marine charged in the slayings.
Lt. Col. Bill Riggs is a senior legal adviser to the general overseeing the prosecution of five Marines charged in Camp Pendleton in the biggest US criminal case involving civilian deaths to come out of the Iraq war. Riggs recused himself from the case against Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, a military spokesman said Tuesday.
His action came after he contacted Lt. Col. Paul Ware, the investigating officer who had reviewed evidence against another Marine facing murder charges in connection to November 2005 killings. Riggs allegedly criticized the officer for being too harsh in assessing the prosecution’s case against Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt.
“The government version is unsupported by independent evidence,” Ware wrote in the report. “To believe the government version of facts is to disregard clear and convincing evidence to the contrary.”
After Ware filed his report about Sharratt, Lt. Gen. James Mattis dismissed all charges against the Marine. “He believed my report ... adjudicated facts like in a trial and was interpreted by some as a declaration that Lance Cpl. Sharratt is innocent,” Ware wrote in an Aug. 1 e-mail to several attorneys. “I viewed Lt. Col. Riggs’ comments as inappropriate and imprudent. ... I was ... offended and surprised by this conversation.”
The development comes as some advocacy and human rights groups, and legal experts, have voiced concerns over the lenient sentences handed down to some US troops accused of abusing or killing Iraqis.
While some troops have received decades-long prison terms, others were sentenced to time served while one got a reduction in rank and no prison time after being convicted of charges as serious as conspiracy to commit murder and kidnapping.
In the latest case, a US soldier who had faced more than 20 years on charges related to the beating of an Iraqi detainee with a baseball bat in 2003 and trying to cover it up was sentenced on Tuesday to be reprimanded after being convicted on lesser charges.
Sgt. 1st Class Timothy L. Drake, 40, was accused of beating a detainee with a bat in December 2003 at Forward Operating Base Mercury, near the Iraqi city of Fallujah. A military judge had earlier dismissed the most serious charge - that Drake caused “grievous bodily injury” when he hit a detainee in the head with a baseball bat.
A six-person military jury convicted him on lesser charges of assault and making false statements but acquitted him of impeding the investigation and encouraging a fellow soldier to beat a detainee.
In the Haditha case, a total of 24 civilians died when a Marine squad responded to a roadside bomb attack on Nov. 19, 2005. Four enlisted Marines were originally charged with murder; prosecutors subsequently dropped charges against two of them, including Sharratt. Charges were also dropped against one of four officers accused of failing to adequately probe the deaths.
Ware is also assessing evidence against Tatum, and will be the investigating officer at the upcoming preliminary hearing for Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, who is accused of murdering 18 civilians that day in Haditha.
