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The War Profiteers - War Crimes, Kidnappings,
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June 5th, 2006 - Iraqis Accuse
Marines in April Killing Of Civilian |
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Iraqis Accuse Marines in
April Killing Of Civilian Disabled Man's Family Disputes Troops' Story By Ellen Knickmeyer Washington Post Foreign Service Monday, June 5, 2006; A01 Baghdad, June 4 - All
parties to the case of Hashim Ibrahim Awad al-Zobaie agree that he was shot
dead by Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment on April 26 in the small
central Iraqi village of Hamdaniyah. But there are differing accounts of his
death, and they are at the heart of another investigation into the conduct of
American forces in Iraq. Members of the Marine foot
patrol under investigation in the case said they came upon Hashim digging a
hole for a bomb near his home in the Sunni Arab village of about 30 homes
near Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad. The Marines said they killed Hashim in a
brief gun battle and that they found an AK-47 assault rifle and a shovel by
his side. According to accounts given
by Hashim's neighbors and members of his family, and apparently supported by
photographs, the Marines went to Hashim's home, took the 52-year-old disabled
Iraqi outside and shot him four times in the face. The assault rifle and
shovel next to his body had been planted by the Marines, who had borrowed
them from a villager, family members and other residents said. Hashim's family alleged this
weekend that a small group of U.S. servicemen came to them last week and
offered the family money to support the Marines' version of the killing. The slaying of Hashim, known
in the village as Hashim the Lame because he had a metal bar surgically
inserted into one leg several years ago, is the smaller and less prominent of
two incidents being investigated over allegations of wrongful death and
possible coverups. The other investigation, stemming from the deaths of 24
Iraqis on Nov. 19 in the western town of Haditha, is not expected to conclude
until sometime this summer, Pentagon officials say. But a former Marine
lawyer familiar with the case involving Hashim said Sunday that charges are
expected and that the case "will move quickly." "Look for them to be
tried before the Haditha suspects," he said of the service members
involved, on condition of anonymity. Attorneys familiar with the
case say seven Marines and a Navy corpsman are being investigated and all
eight were removed from duty in Iraq and are being held at Camp Pendleton in
California. The Associated Press said Friday that the highest-ranking person
among the eight was a staff sergeant. Members of Hashim's family
interviewed by a Washington Post special correspondent on Saturday said the
disabled man's last hours began about 2 a.m. on April 26, when members of a
U.S. Marine foot patrol banged at the door of his one-story, walled compound. The Marines grabbed Hashim
by the front of his cotton robe as soon as he came to the door, pulling him
from the house, said one of his sons, Nasir, 26, an arts student in Baghdad. "Less than an hour
later, we heard shooting," Nasir said. The family was too afraid of the
U.S. forces to immediately investigate, Nasir said. At daylight, the family
found a wide hole in the dirt road about 500 yards from their home, wet with
bloodstains and littered with discarded plastic gloves. Going in search of Hashim,
family members were told that Marines had brought his body to a local police
station, Nasir said. The family eventually recovered their father's corpse
from a hospital at Abu Ghraib, Nasir said. Hashim's neighbor, Farhan
Ahmed Hussein, said the Marines had stopped at his house first that night,
before going to Hashim's. Hussein said the Marines
took a shovel and an AK-47 from his house. Iraqi and U.S. military forces
allow each Iraqi household to keep one weapon for protection. After Hashim's killing,
Hussein collected his shovel and the rifle from Iraqi police. "They
asked me several questions to be sure whose weapon it was," Hussein
said. "Then they gave me the rifle." The Post obtained a copy of
an apparent statement by the Marines on the killing, written in English and
given to Iraqi authorities at Hamdaniyah. The Post also obtained a copy of a
statement in Arabic given to Iraqi authorities in the area and signed
"The Marines" and a leaflet handed out in the area by the Marines
immediately after the killing that described Hashim as an insurgent who had
been shot after he fired on the foot patrol. After the U.S. military
investigating team visited Hamdaniyah, residents said Saturday, American
forces in the area began taking back the leaflets from residents and
destroying them. The Post also obtained
photographs of a dead man, identified by the family and Iraqi authorities as
Hashim, wrapped in plastic sheeting in a wooden casket. What appeared to be
at least four bullet holes could be seen in the photo - two in one cheek, one
in the chin and one in the lip. Exit wounds from the shots
had distorted the head, which was lying in a pool of blood caught by the
plastic sheeting. The statement on the killing
in English, written on a sheet of notebook paper, gave this account: "On
60425 at aprox 0300 we spotted a man digging on the side of the road from our
ambush site. I made the call and engaged. He was pronounced dead at the scene
with only a shovel and AK-47." The statement was signed
Lawrence G. Hutchins and noted that he was a sergeant. A staff sergeant named
Bowen signed as a witness; his first name was not legible. The statement in Arabic,
also on notebook paper, said the body brought to police by the Marines was
that of a man spotted by coalition forces "digging a place for the
[explosive] charge and with him was his weapon, a rifle with full clip, plus
a shovel." The leaflet distributed
after the killing called Hashim "a saboteur" and said Marines had
found him at about 11 p.m. on April 26 digging a hole in the road to place a
bomb. "The Marines fired at him and he returned fire from the AK-47 he
had, which forced the Marines to fire back and kill him," it said. "The Iraqi forces and
the Marines have warned before that planting bombs on the roadsides is
considered an aggressive action and they will use deadly force to stop
it." Family members insist Hashim
was not an insurgent and say they do not know why he was killed, although it
appeared clear that tensions over the roadside bombs that cause most American
fatalities in Iraq were involved. Local police, who are Shiite
Muslims although the area is Sunni, also said the small, crippled man with
the gray and brown stubble was not known to have connections to the
insurgency. An American investigating
team - a mix of uniformed troops and civilians - came to Hamdaniyah on
Wednesday, according to Saadoun Ibrahim, Hashim's brother. Ibrahim showed
them where his brother's grave was and agreed to allow Americans to exhume
the body when they return, he said Saturday. "One of them ... said,
'We are an investigation team, and we want to show the truth, and compensate
his family if he's proved innocent,' " Ibrahim said. "I
agreed." A different group of
American troops arrived at the house the next day, at about 9 a.m. and talked
to Ibrahim, 60, in the presence of his wife, 13-year-old son and other
children, he said. One man identified himself through the interpreter as a
sergeant, Ibrahim said. The American, who Ibrahim
said appeared to be in charge of the group, first asked if the investigating
team had spoken to him yet. He responded that they had. According to Ibrahim, the
American said, "We are ready to compensate you with the money you want,
on one condition, which is when the investigation committee comes back, you
tell them that your brother worked with the insurgents and had connections
with the insurgents, and that he used to go out at night to places you don't
know." The American did not specify
an amount, Ibrahim said, saying only that it would be "more than the
American military will give you" in standard compensation for killings
that commanders later deem to be wrongful. Ibrahim said he refused.
"I told them I will tell them what I know," he said. "And all
the money in the world wouldn't compensate for the loss of a brother and the
loss to the 13 members of his family." The American then consulted
briefly with another American service member with him and left, Ibrahim said. Ibrahim said he did not know
the men's names or branch of service. Iraqi civilians commonly have
difficulty distinguishing the uniforms of different American military
branches. The family's account could
not be independently confirmed. The Post outlined the
family's allegations regarding an offer of payment to U.S. military spokesmen
in Baghdad and at Camp Pendleton on Saturday and Sunday. Lt. Lawton King, a spokesman
with the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, said in an e-mail Sunday that
military officials had visited the family several times as part of the
investigation into the killing. "We are unaware of
suggestions of inappropriate conduct of the nature described by your
reporter; however we will inquire as part of the overall investigation,"
King wrote. U.S. forces announced their
investigation of the Hamdaniyah killing on May 25, saying local Iraqi leaders
had raised questions about the case at a previously scheduled meeting on May
1. The first U.S. military statement on the case mistakenly identified the
site of the killing as Hamandiyah, another village nearby. Staff writer Thomas E. Ricks
in Washington contributed to this report. © 2006 The Washington Post
Company External link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/04/AR2006060400797.html |