Authorized U.S. Troops to
violate Iran and Syrian Borders.
Leak on Cross-Border
Chases From Iraq
Leak:
US Rules of Engagement for Iraq
By ERIC SCHMITT
and MICHAEL R. GORDON
were authorized to pursue former members of
Saddam Hussein's government and terrorists
across Iraq's borders into Iran and Syria,
according to a classified 2005 document
that has been made public by an independent Web site.
The document, which was disclosed by
the organization Wikileaks and which
American officials said appeared authentic,
outlined the rules of engagement for the
American division that was based in
Baghdad and central Iraq that year.
It also provided instructions for how to
deal with the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada
al-Sadr: his status as a hostile foe
was "suspended," and he and his key
associates were not to be attacked
except in self-defense.
Wikileaks, a Web site that encourages posting
of leaked materials, says its goal in disclosing
secret documents is to reveal
"unethical behavior" by governments and
corporations. It has previously posted
the United States military's manual for
operating its prison in Guantánamo Bay,
Cuba; a military assessment of a 2004
attack in Falluja; and lists of American
military equipment in Iraq.
The American military command in
Baghdad on Sunday sharply criticized
the group's decision to post the document.
"While we will not comment on whether this
is, in fact, an official document, we do
consider the deliberate release of what
Wikileaks believes to be a classified
document is irresponsible and, if valid,
could put U.S. military personnel at risk,"
said Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, a
spokesman for the command.
Rules of engagement in Iraq, which
cover the procedures for using force
on a battlefield in which insurgents and
terrorists mix with civilians, have long
been considered highly classified. The
American military's concern is that
adversaries will be able to adjust their
tactics if they know the rules that describe
the specific circumstances in which force
may and may not be used.
The 2005 document covers the procedures
used by Multi-National Division Baghdad,
the American unit that operated in the Iraqi
capital and central Iraq. At a time when
sectarian divisions had brought Iraq to a
low-level civil war, the document suggests
that capturing and killing former members
of Mr. Hussein's government
was still a concern.
In a section on crossing international
borders, the document said the permission
of the American defense secretary
was required before American forces
could cross into or fly over Iranian or
Syrian territory. Such actions, the
document suggested, would probably
also require the approval of President Bush.
But the document said that there were
cases in which such approval was not
required: when American forces were
in hot pursuit of former members of
Mr. Hussein's government or terrorists.
Approval by the defense secretary
"is not required to conduct uninterrupted
pursuit and engagement of positively
identified former regime military aircraft,
terrorist and senior [former] military
leadership and senior nonmilitary elements
of former Iraqi regime command and control
across international borders," the document said
It stated that the American commander
engaged in the pursuit, however,
should consult with top commanders in
Baghdad, "time permitting."
It is not known if the authority to
conduct hot pursuits across the
Iranian and Syrian borders was ever
used or what authority exists today.
In October 2005, The New York Times
reported that there had been a series of
clashes between Army Rangers and
Syrian troops along the border with
Iraq. According to the 2005 document,
American forces were also authorized to
respond to a "hostile force" that used
Syrian or Iranian territory to attack
American troops in Iraq or that posed an
"imminent threat" to American operations
there. They were instructed to consult with
a senior American commander if there was time.
Apparently in a carryover from the intelligence
failures of the Iraq invasion in early 2003,
the document says the United States
Central Command, which oversees
operations in the Middle East, gave
American commanders in Iraq the
authority to attack mobile "W.M.D.
labs"; such labs for making germ weapons
were later determined not to exist.
The 2005 document also referred
to a Central Command list of the
"hostile forces" that may be
"engaged and destroyed." It
focused heavily on Mr. Hussein's
former security forces, like the
Special Republican Guard and
members of the Baath Party
militia that were said to have
shifted from "overt conventional
resistance to insurgent method
of resistance."
Reflecting the clash the year before
between American forces and Mr. Sadr's
militia, the document said the militia and
other armed supporters of the cleric
had also been on the list of paramilitary
forces deemed to be "hostile." L. Paul
Bremer III, the head of the American
occupation authority in Iraq until June
2004, had branded Mr. Sadr an outlaw,
and an Iraqi judge had issued a secret
warrant for his arrest.
But a truce was later worked out
with Mr. Sadr, and Iraqi politicians
sought to bring him into the political process.
Apparently as a result of those developments,
the rules of engagement were modified.
Referring to Mr. Sadr and the Mahdi
Army, the document says: "Their status
as a declared hostile force, however, is
suspended and such individuals will not
be engaged except in self-defense."
Leak: US Rules of Engagement for Iraq
Interesting: With U.S. Predator UAV's
violating Iranian airspace around Bushere
and other Iranian nuclear plants almost
on a daily basis - this hardly seems a trifle.
0 Have Your Say!:
Post a Comment