MILITARY: Haditha looks to the future

'Iraq was sick then,' mayor says of darker days

By MARK WALKER - Staff Writer | Saturday, November 22, 2008 6:05 PM PST ∞

Editor's note: Reporter Mark Walker is traveling through the Middle East with Camp Pendleton's Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland.

HADITHA, Iraq ---- Smiles and handshakes greeted U.S. Marines who strolled down a bustling commercial street here Wednesday.

It was a much different picture from three years ago, when two dozen civilians were killed by a group of Camp Pendleton troops after a roadside bombing.

The slayings led to an international outcry and criminal charges against eight Marines, six of whom have since been exonerated.

That was Haditha in 2005. Haditha in late 2008 is a resurgent municipality no longer occupied by Marine forces.

Any lingering animosity over the 2005 killings and the years-long military presence was not apparent.

"You guys are like brothers to us," a prominent sheik, speaking through an interpreter, told a contingent of visiting Marine officers. "The insurgents killed our people. We don't have forgiveness for them."

The sheik, Said Flayah Othman al-Jughayfi, along with the mayor of this city of 85,000 along the Euphrates River, are more interested in talking about economic development than revisiting darker periods in Haditha's history.

"Iraq was sick then," Mayor Abd al-Hakim Muhammad Rashid said. "Now, it is getting better, and I don't want to see anybody killed."

Residents here don't consider the 2005 civilian killings a "massacre." Instead, they call the slayings the "Haditha accident."

The Haditha massacre, they say, was when al-Qaida insurgents lined up police officials and local men in a soccer stadium four years ago and beheaded them as part of an intimidation campaign.

 

Market visit

Haditha's central market street is a narrow, snaking thoroughfare.

During the Marines' late-afternoon visit, the street and sidewalks were full of women finishing the shopping for their evening meal.

Children were everywhere, and merchants whose small stands didn't have any customers stood waiting to make their next sale.

Some young men eyed the Marines warily.

Traffic was thick on the recently paved street. Tractors pulling carts full of agricultural products mixed with buses, taxis and commercial trucks.

The only visible sign that this country was still at war was the security team provided for Camp Pendleton's 1st Marine Division Maj. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser and other Marine officers.

An interpreter and Iraqi security forces accompanied the general as he walked the mile-long street, stopping occasionally to talk with merchants and see what was available in their stalls.

"Business is good," one merchant told Waldhauser through the interpreter. "It has picked up tremendously."

Several new shops are under construction, and an Internet cafe recently opened.

Another shop was selling appliances, goods not seen in years. The city's electrical supply now rarely fails, making appliances once again a viable commodity.

The smell of sweet bread wafted through the air, and several children ran behind the visitors in hopes of treats, such as the suckers being handed out by Col. Patrick Malay, commander of Camp Pendleton's Regimental Combat Team 5.

Malay is well-known among the merchants and Haditha leadership, having spent the last year providing security in the region and helping train Iraqi army and security forces.

Insurgent attacks in and around Haditha are rare these days, Waldhauser heard in a briefing before the market visit. Marines spend more time working on civil affairs and "key leader engagements" than patrolling or looking for al-Qaida fighters.

Troops that had occupied the city since shortly after the 2003 invasion recently pulled out and are now camped in a fortified outpost about three miles outside the city center.

 

Economic development

In their meeting with the sheik and mayor, the Marine commanders heard a lot about Haditha's desire for business development and jobs.

"We want to get re-established just like Japan and Germany did after their war," the mayor said. "We welcome investments."

Malay said investors are watching Iraq to see whether the calm in the Anbar province holds, and if the government in Baghdad can control rival sectarian and political factions.

"Other countries are watching," Malay said, adding that stability is the key to foreign investment. "Money is a coward ---- it won't go to places where there is fighting."

The only sticking point during the half-hour discussion centered on the city's police chief. There has been pressure from officials in Baghdad to remove him after an incident involving rough handling of detainees.

"We need this man to stay in his job ---- there is no one to replace him," the sheik said. "Even if you have to go with me to the White House to fix this problem, we are asking you to do that."

Waldhauser and Malay said they would make the sheik's wishes known, but warned the chief might lose his job.

Turning back to economic development, the Iraqis reiterated their desire for an era of violence-free prosperity.

"Insha'Allah," Malay said, invoking the Arabic phrase for "God willing."

 

Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.