US orders "values" training for troops in Iraq

BAGHDAD, June 1 (Reuters) A top US commander in Iraq today ordered combat troops to be trained to abide by moral and ethical standards on the battlefield, an apparent reference to allegations Marines killed civilians last year.

''Of the nearly 150,000 coalition forces presently in Iraq, 99.9 per cent of them perform their jobs magnificently every day,'' said Lieutenant General Peter W Chiarelli, commander of US combat troops in Iraq.

''Unfortunately, there are a few individuals who sometimes choose the wrong path,'' he said in a statement.

US defence officials have said charges including murder may be brought against Marines following a US investigation into the deaths of 24 civilians in the western Iraqi city of Haditha in November.

The statement did not mention events in Haditha, which some commentators are comparing to the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam that helped turn many Americans against that war.

The training would take place over the next 30 days, the statement said.

REUTERS SI BD1719