Mary Rizzo alerted Information Clearing House to an investigative report done by Italian journalists Maurizio Torrealta and Sigfrido Ranucci and ICH has made the report available for viewing. U.S. officials declined to answer questions regarding the use of experimental laser/microwave weapons in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite video evidence and the opinions of surgeons who’ve examined the dead, but Washington Post journalist and Pentagon analyst William Arkin did contribute to the report.
Robert S. Finnegan, Managing Editor of Southeast Asia news and a former Marine Corps Non-Commissioned Officer, says the Marines have reached a point of no return in A Time For Mutiny? Although his criticisms are directed towards the Marines, and he seems to believe Hadithah was an exception, his outrage should be directed towards any American who remains silent in the face of these ongoing atrocities or seeks to mitigate them.
New ‘Iraq massacre’ tape emerges
2 June 2006 BBC
The BBC has obtained video footage of events immediately following an U.S. attack upon a home in the town of Ishaqi in March. The film supports Iraqi eyewitness reports and disputes U.S. claims that the firefight collapsed the home, killing only four occupants, as most of the bullet-ridden house was still standing and the eleven people inside had been shot. The BBC decided not to show the video in its entirety due to its gruesome nature.
“A police officer at the hospital where the bodies were taken said, ‘All of them, from the 75-year-old grandmother to the 6-month-old baby, had bullet wounds to the head and stomach. Killed first then bombed.'”
In another town, Iraqis say US killed civilians
01.06.2006 Reuters
U.S. officials claim that troops were attacked by rooftop snipers in the town of Samarra this month.
“The troops suppressed the rooftop fire and entered and killed the three attackers from the rooftop. An Iraqi citizen was injured during the firefight, but still provided the soldiers with information about the rooftop firers.”
RELATIVES’ STATEMENTS
On May 6, Army Colonel Fadhil Muhammed, assistant manager of the JCC, said in a statement: “Multinational forces raided the house of a citizen and killed three people and wounded two from one family at 7 p.m. on May 4.” He described the dead as “martyrs”, indicating the authorities believed them innocent.
In his family home in the Sikaak district of Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, Zedan Khalaf Habib told a Reuters reporter that the soldiers killed his 60-year-old wife, Khairiya Nisiyif Jassim, his son Khaled Zedan Khalaf, 40, who was mentally handicapped, and daughter Anaam Zedan Khalaf, 20.
Habib, 66, said he was hit in the arm when soldiers fired from a doorway into a room where 15 people had taken refuge in his house after a gunfight broke out nearby. Another daughter said soldiers placed a rifle next to her brother’s body and took photographs to suggest he had been armed when killed.
“I was sitting next to my house when clashes erupted between gunmen and U.S. forces,” said Habib, sitting in his home three weeks later. “I went indoors with my family to a safe room.”
U.S. soldiers then broke down the door, he said: “Four soldiers stood at the door of the room where we were hiding. There were 15 of us. They started firing. I was shot in the arm and then one of the soldiers dragged me out.
Iraqis’ Accounts Link Marines to the Mass Killing of Civilians
Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Mona Mahmoud
01.06.2006 Spiegel
One Haditha victim was an elderly man, close to 80 years old, killed in his wheelchair as he appeared to be holding a Koran, according to the United States defense official, who described information collected during the investigation. An elderly woman was also killed, as were a mother and a child who were “in what appeared to be a prayer position,” the official said.
Some victims had single gunshot wounds to the head, and at least one home where people were shot to death had no bullet marks on the walls, inconsistent with a clearing operation that would typically leave bullet holes, the official added.
Senator John W. Warner, a Virginia Republican who leads the Armed Services Committee, pledged Sunday to hold hearings on the Haditha killings as soon as the military investigation is concluded.
“I’ll do exactly what we did with Abu Ghraib,” he said on the ABC News program “This Week,” referring to hearings. He added that there were serious questions of “what was the immediate reaction of the senior officers in the Marine Corps.”
The Abu Ghraib investigation was designed to buy a last gasp of public support for the occupation and shield high-ranking officials from scrutiny or responsibility. Warner is running on fumes and his obscene comments reflect a government on life support. The government in Iraq is nearing DNR status.
Iraqi Accuses U.S. of ‘Daily’ Attacks Against Civilians
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
02.06.2006 New York Times
In his comments, Mr. Maliki said violence against civilians had become a “daily phenomenon” by many troops in the American-led coalition who “do not respect the Iraqi people.”
“They crush them with their vehicles and kill them just on suspicion,” he said. “This is completely unacceptable.” Attacks on civilians will play a role in future decisions on how long to ask American forces to remain in Iraq, the prime minister added.
Exit Strategy
31 May 2006 IPA
MOUNZER SLEIMAN
Sleiman is Washington bureau chief for the magazine Almustaqbal Alarabi, which is published by the Center for Arab Unity Studies, based in Beirut, Lebanon. The director of the Center for Arab Unity Studies, Dr. Kheir deen Haseeb, an Iraqi native, recently proposed a 21-point plan to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq and set up a stable government there. This was done in consultation with groups in Iraq, including members of the non-terrorist resistance.A copy of the plan is here and a recent address by Kheir deen Haseeb at Georgetown University is here. Sleiman was consulted on and supports the plan and is available for interviews and further details about the proposal.