Andrew Kamons's blog

Evidence from the Haditha incident strongly favors the account that U.S. forces shot and killed unarmed civilians. Of note is the fact that death certificates show that all of the victims were killed by gunshot wounds and not by shrapnel from a roadside bomb as originally reported. Also, the Marines have already paid out $38,000 to the families of 15 of the victims. 

As the New York Times reports:

The relatives of each victim were paid a total of $2,500, the maximum allowed under Marine rules, along with $250 payments for two children who were wounded. Major Hyatt said he also compensated the families for damage to two houses.

Though the military has a regulated process of victim compensation, the disbursements are not normally made available, and following the “we don’t do body counts” philosophy, it is often difficult to determine who has received what. The Dayton Daily News and New York Newsday both published interesting pieces last year that delved into the details of victim compensation, painting a grim picture of the process. 

If the military believes that their victim compensation policy is working, then improving transparency would certainly be a good step toward raising their credibility in the area, even if it does highlight some uncomfortable truths about the number of civilian casualties that the United States continues to inflict.  In Haditha, such information may have hastened the awareness that something had gone wrong.

As mentioned in the morning brief, the New York Times reports that an investigation into the deaths of two dozen Iraqis by U.S. Marines last November is expected to find that soldiers deliberately shot and killed unarmed civilians. Time first reported in March that local accounts of the incident differed from what was initially reported by the military, prompting the initial inquiry. In the first report, Iraqi casualties were attributed to an IED; upon further questioning, from a firefight with marines; and now, it’s likely that many of those killed were unarmed and not provoking soldiers.

If the men are guilty of the crime, then they should be punished for their actions. Marines, like all soldiers, are chosen and trained for their ability to function under the uncertainty of war and still choose correctly when it comes to the life and death decisions of the use of force. This, notwithstanding the fact that they are at constant risk of attack, unable to speak the language, dealing with a heavily armed population that makes distinguishing combatants and non-combatants difficult, and often, like Lance Corporal Miguel (T.J.) Terrazas, whose death from an IED that afternoon may have prompted the incident, only 20 years old. There is a reason why the United States boasts of having the best trained military in the world; professional soldiers are expected to navigate these situations without incident.

BBC reports that Britain has launched a nationwide knife amnesty. For the next month or so, anyone burdened with an extra carving knife can relinquish it to the police with no questions asked or charges pressed. In the States, where handguns present a more obvious target for weapons eradication (223 million firearms in private hands, according to the ATF) a knife amnesty would be laughable—what’s next, ban the lead pipe? But last time the Brits tried this strategy in Scotland, murders fell by 26% the following year. Bayonets, cutlasses, and sabers will also be accepted.

The New York Times has resumed a service entitled “Day to Day in Iraq” ($) in which three Iraqis and one Iraqi-American record their thoughts on the current situation and reflect on the past.  It’s well-written, and, as intended, provides details of daily life that add clarity to the familiar headlines of violence and sectarianism.  Unfortunately, it’s hidden away in Times Select, so for those without subscriptions here are a few snippets:

I met my cousin, Omar, at a regular relative meeting Friday. After the salutations, he said, “Did you see my new college ID?”
…
He slipped me a printed paper in which he had switched his name from Omar to Ammar, which in Arabic characters are as similar as “floor” and “flour.” A nice choice as well, since Ammar is name that could be either Shiites or Sunnis. Making fake sectarian-safe ID’s like this became common practice amongst Iraqis recently after death squads were found to have killed more that a dozen men with the name Omar on their ID’s, and then threw them in a trash dump.
- Konfused Kid, also has a personal blog here.

and this one here:

On the eastern side things are a lot different. It is not exactly normal, because normal never existed in Iraq. Right now, normal in Iraq includes hearing explosions, and it also includes having fuel and electricity problems, but they are manageable to some extent. However, we Iraqis consider that to be normal, because believe it or not, people can live with those conditions — for a while.
…
 What most people don’t know, is that it is not happening everywhere in Iraq. Some cities are better than others. Northern Iraq is a safe place to live in, with no terrorism or “freedom fighting” there. The same applies for areas the same city.

I guess when you have never lived in peace your whole life, just a bit will make a huge difference.
- Hassan Kharrufa, also has a personal blog here.

Iraqi blogs proliferated after the U.S.-led invasion, and there are a number of excellent choices—my favorites include Iraq the Model and Healing Iraq--but “Day to Day in Iraq” is a welcome addition.

Yesterday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that he has given his approval to the production of a film by Oliver Stone documenting the events of the 2002 coup that briefly deposed him from power. 

Stone, no stranger to the political film, has taken on such controversial figures as Fidel Castro, Yasir Arafat, and Richard Nixon and intense political events as JFK’s assassination and the World Trade Center attacks (upcoming).

In the past Stone has also produced chilling accounts of the corrupting effects of power, including Wall Street and Scarface (screenplay), but given Stone’s political leanings and sympathetic stance toward leftist politicos (as well as Chavez's conditional stamp of approval), viewers are likely to see narrative that glorifies Chavismo and discredits his opponents. The real question is whether the film will be more Viva Zapata! or telenovela.

UPDATE: Stone says Chavez is full of bull and that he has no such plans for a movie.

I'd like to return to Fred Pearce’s book When the Rivers Run Dry, reviewed here last month, for another excellent and counterintuitive insight.

Hydroelectric energy is generally thought to be low on greenhouse gas emissions, but Pearce argues that hydro-supporters are missing a critical piece of the puzzle: rotting vegetation. Drifting vegetation gets caught in dam reservoirs and produces massive amounts of methane when it rots. The World Commission on Dams warned:

Green house gases bubble up from every one of the reservoirs in the world where measurements have been made… There is no justification for claiming that hydroelectricity does not contribute significantly to global warming.

How significant? Check this out:

French Guiana has a small population and its industrial emissions are miniscule. But a new dam built in the jungle … produces three times as much greenhouse gas as an equivalent coal-burning power station. As a result, French Guiana’s real per capita emissions of greenhouse gases are three times those of France and even greater than those of the United States.”

Michael Scheuer offers his take on the Goss CIA (bogged down), the Hayden nomination (bad choice), and Iraq ("finished") in our exclusive interview this week.

Not all of the conversation made it into the Seven Questions. So here's a nugget. It's been said before but is worth repeating. We're often told that terrorists want to kill us because they hate our freedoms. It may be more instructive to view it the other way around. In Scheuer's words:

Very few people on this earth, Muslim or any other religion or ethnic group or linguistic group will die because I have a draft beer after work or we produce X-rated movies or we have women in the workplace. What they die for is the perception that our policies are attacking their faith and their brotherhood.

As the government continues to shape policy aimed at dismantling al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, it’s important to remember that few people attack without first constructing some narrative of victimization, real or perceived. Whether Western countries can do anything to discredit these ideas is a different question, but one worth keeping in mind.

At yesterdays’ FP event, Sen. Richard Lugar and Tom Friedman both mentioned several ways in which the US government can embrace alternative energy sources, not only for their impact on oil dependency, but also for their potential marketability in the years ahead. “Since everyone’s going to want these products, someone’s going to invent them, and it might as well be Americans,” the argument goes. 

One good step in that direction is the passage by the House this week of a bill designating the “H-Prize.” Similar to the Ansari X Prize, given last year to the developer of the first privately funded rocket program to send a man into space, the H-Prize will provide cash rewards for advances in hydrogen vehicle technology. At $4 million, the grand prize may be a drop in the bucket, but it will still provide incentives for smaller developers and venture capitalists to push forward new technology. The X-prize was won by a small start-up backed by Paul Allen, who may not have been as willing to invest or compete if there wasn’t the prospect of massive publicity at the end of the line. Both Washington and the Big-3 auto makers have been criticized for being slow to capitalize on alternative-fueled cars. Broadening the field to encourage innovation may be the best strategy for pushing forward alternative-fuel technology. 

[hat tip: MarginalRevolution]