Military Code of Honor in Question

June 3, 2006 — -- Marines and soldiers in Iraq are being wounded and killed on a daily basis, so can that help explain why some Marines may have snapped in the town of Haditha, where 24 civilians, including children, were killed last November after a Marine died in a roadside bomb attack?

Retired Army Gen. William Nash, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and an ABC News military consultant, said that although there is no excuse for shooting innocent children, Marines and soldiers are susceptible to snapping if certain terrible conditions are in place.

"The fact of the matter is there's three basic ingredients: There's stress, exhaustion, tiredness, the second factor is fear and the third is discipline," said Nash, the author of "In the Wake of War: Improving U.S. Post-Conflict Capabilities." "All those come together under the leadership umbrella, if you will. And if the leadership is insufficient and stress and fear allow people to break down the necessary discipline, then bad things can happen and it's tragic."

"It's stress, fear, isolation and, in some cases, they're just upset," said Army Brig. Gen. Donald Campbell. "They see their buddies getting blown up on occasion, and they could snap."

Today, the New York Times reported that Marine commanders learned about the incident in Haditha within two days, but did not think it warranted investigation.

Haditha is not the only problem the military is facing. There is also controversy swirling around what may have happened in the town of Ishaqi. Some Iraqis say 11 civilians were killed by U.S. troops. Previously unaired video shot by an AP Television News cameraman at the time appears to show at least five children dead, one will bullet wounds to the head. The military said it conducted an investigation and found that the troops lawfully killed four people when going after high-level terrorists.

"I'm surprised, frankly, that they were so quick to come to a conclusion on that particular incident," Nash said. "As you know, the Iraqi government has reservations on the conclusions. At the same time, it's my understanding that in that fight, some significant insurgent leaders were captured or killed. And as a consequence, the military probably feels the other casualties were incidental to the military operation."