|
The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
|
November 30th,
2006 - Conflicting Accounts of Iraqi Deaths Given |
|
Conflicting Accounts
of Iraqi Deaths Given Villagers say seven slain in a raid were civilians. The U.S. military
contends that it killed eight Al Qaeda fighters. By Solomon Moore and Raheem Salman Los Angeles Times November 30, 2006 Baghdad - Seven people,
including a 70-year-old man, his wife and their adult daughter, were killed
during a joint U.S. and Iraqi raid early Wednesday near the restive city of
Baqubah, local residents and officials said. The U.S. military issued a
different account, saying troops had killed eight Al Qaeda fighters and two
women in the raid near Baqubah. The military said U.S. and Iraqi troops were
fired on and called in aircraft for support. Several witnesses in
Hashimiya, a Sunni Arab village eight miles west of Baqubah, said they found
the bodies of the elderly couple and their daughter in front of their house
at dawn, after troops had withdrawn from the area. All three bodies had
gunshot wounds to the head, the witnesses said. The bodies of four men were
found in front of another house 100 yards away, neighbors said. The condition
of the bodies and other evidence suggested they had been killed by some type
of explosion, witnesses said. A videotape of funeral
preparations obtained by The Times showed four bodies in blankets with chest
and head wounds. The video also showed a shattered house and dozens of
wailing villagers gathered around a bloody stain on the ground. One man held
a bloody purse. Another showed spent shells he said had been fired by U.S.
troops. "It is always
unfortunate when civilians are hurt or killed during operations to rid Iraq
of terrorism," the U.S. military said in a statement. "Terrorists
do not hesitate to deliberately place innocent Iraqi women and children in
danger by their actions and presence." The deaths in Hashimiya came
hours after U.S. forces in Ramadi, a Sunni Muslim city in Al Anbar province,
killed six Iraqis, including three women, a teenage girl and an infant, as
they pursued suspected insurgents. The military said insurgents
Wednesday killed a U.S. soldier assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7 in Al
Anbar, and a roadside bomb Tuesday killed an American soldier assigned to the
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division in Salahuddin province. The deaths brought the total
number U.S. military fatalities in Iraq to 2,884 since the March 2003
invasion. In Al Anbar, Iraq's Sunni
heartland, members of the Al Anbar Salvation Council, a Sunni tribal militia,
battled suspected Al Qaeda fighters north of Fallouja and in Ramadi. An Iraqi
police official in the Fallouja suburb of Garma said militiamen killed 15 Al
Qaeda members. Five council fighters were killed. "The capability of the
security forces has increased with the assistance of the tribes," said
Brig. Gen. Hamid Shouka, Ramadi's police chief. "We have started to take
over important responsibilities and missions that are having a great impact
on Al Qaeda. In the coming days, we will hit them in Fallouja, Hit and
Haditha until we eradicate them all." Elsewhere in Iraq,
insurgents struck hard at Iraqi forces. In the capital, a roadside
bomb exploded near an Iraqi police convoy, killing three officers and two
civilians. Thirty minutes later, a car bomb killed another police officer and
injured five civilians. In north Baghdad, armed men shot and killed a police
colonel. In south Baghdad, a suicide bomber slammed his explosives-packed
vehicle into a police checkpoint, killing one officer and injuring seven
other men. In a sign that Shiite Muslim
reprisals continue after last week's car bomb attack against a Shiite
neighborhood in Baghdad, U.S. troops detained 12 men dressed as Iraqi police
commandos at an illegal checkpoint, a police source said. The source said
U.S. troops suspected the men might be part of a death squad. At least 52 bodies were
found dumped throughout the capital, apparent victims of death squads. In Samarra, where insurgents
bombed a revered Shiite shrine in February, gunmen attacked a checkpoint,
killing two police officers and injuring two others. Another band of fighters
attacked the Tharthar police station near Samarra with a car bomb that killed
three police officers and injured five others. In Muqdadiya, insurgents
stormed a cellphone shop, shot the owner and planted a bomb that exploded
when civilians gathered at the store, a U.S. military statement said. Five
people were killed and 25 injured. Meanwhile, forensic
witnesses continued to offer testimony in the genocide trial of former Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein. Hussein, already sentenced to death in one trial, is
being prosecuted over a 1987-88 military campaign that killed tens of
thousands of Kurdish civilians. Archeologist Douglas Scott
of the University of Nebraska said he had analyzed 124 cartridges collected
from a mass grave in 1992 and had determined they were fired by at least
seven AK-47-type machine guns. "The distribution of
cartridges is linear. It's consistent with a fire-squad-type
organization," Scott said. "It is clear that the shooter moved from
a linear firing line into a cluster." A second expert witness,
Asfandiar Shurki, a Michigan physician, said he had traveled to Turkey in
1988 to examine Kurdish Iraqi refugees for signs of chemical weapons
exposure. Shurki said that of 26 refugees he interviewed and examined, 25
said they had been attacked on Aug. 25, 1988. "Eight-five percent
alleged the bombs created yellow smoke with a bitter, garlicky odor," he
said. All had respiratory
problems, burning skin, eye irritation and gastrointestinal problems. Shurki
said the symptoms were consistent with mustard gas exposure. Shurki said Kurdish refugees
told him that other gas victims had died within minutes of exposure and had
muscle spasms symptomatic of nerve agents. "Our report proved
mustard gas was used widely, as well as sarin and nerve agent," he said. External link: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-iraq30nov30,1,2714880.story |