US troops killed civilians in cold blood incl. 5 children

More US military lies exposed.

US troops killed Iraqi civilians in cold blood incl. 5 children

More than five years after the American military denied claims that its troops had executed at least 10 Iraqi civilians in cold blood, new evidence has emerged in a WikiLeaks diplomatic cable casting serious doubt on the US version of events.


A UN complaint contained in the latest batch of cables published by the whistle-blowing organisation suggests that in 2006 US troops killed at least 10 civilians, including five children and an elderly woman, in the central town of Ishaqi before ordering an air strike which destroyed the house where the alleged killings took place.

The incident is raised in a letter from Philip Alston, the UN rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. Mr Alston's letter to US officials, which went unanswered, challenges the American military version of events. It says that autopsies carried out in the nearby city of Tikrit showed the victims had been handcuffed and shot in the head. They included a woman in her 70s and a five-month-old. The US military had said that the troops seized an al-Qa'ida suspect from a first floor room after fierce fighting left the house in ruins. US officials originally said five people had been killed, although they later accepted a higher toll of 11.

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The incident, in March 2006, occurred when large tracts of countryside were judged to be in the control of Sunni insurgents, many affiliated to al-Qa'ida in Iraq. Neighbours told the McClatchy reporters that troops had approached the house of a farmer, Faiz Harrat al-Majma'ee, at about 2.30am. There had been a 25-minute firefight, with someone apparently firing from the house, before the troops entered the building. The troops were backed up by helicopter gunships, they said.

Mr Alston's concerns reflect those in the original report by Iraqi security officials at the local Joint Coordination Centre. Its report said: "The American forces gathered the family members in one room and executed 11 persons, including five children, four women and two men. Then they bombed the house, burned three vehicles and killed their animals."

In his letter, Mr Alston – who names 10 victims –says "Iraqi TV stations broadcast from the scene and showed bodies of the victims (i.e. five children and four women) in the morgue of Tikrit". He adds that autopsies revealed that all corpses were shot in the head and handcuffed. There is no mention in the cable of any of the alleged shooting suspects being found or arrested at or near the house.

McClatchy said the Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...i-civilians-leaked-letter-claims-2347843.html

 

Whatcha - Boooomp

 

Regardless of the effort we put into avoiding civilian casualties, your type always jumps on the most sensationalized story.

 

My type ? - what would that be ?


Do you mean the type who seek the facts ?

the type who want to know the truth ?

the type who wont go along and swallow any government's lies ?

-------------

Which "type " are you ?


cheers.

 

Bravo Assange for exposing the lying hypocrites!

 

So, targeting residential areas, inevitably where people LIVE, is somehow avoiding civilian casualties? Or are civilian casualties necessary collateral in the war on terrorism and despots with "weapons of mass destruction", so say the masters of mass deception....

Tell me did the U.S government treat the victims of 9/11 as collateral? Since NATO and the U.S seem to show such blatant dis-regard for the limitless war on civilians in which women and children and young men suffer and die, just to hunt for terrorists who were trained and armed by the U.S in the first place.

How repugnant to assume that only American lives are worth consideration, while our supposed armed hero's are killing civilians every week in 5 different countries or more.

 

I am the type that has actually served overseas and have experience with war. Yes, while there are some atrocities that occur, it is a war after all. Of the few stories your type (the sensationalist, reactionary, weak-hearted military haters) harp on, we have countless of situations where we prevent the loss of civilian lives. I had to walk on eggshells to provide CAS so that I kept the friendly loss of life to a minimum. Where is the thread about that?

 

The only time I have ever "targeted" residential areas is in the midst of a firefight. If friendlies did not flee when the bullets first started flying, there is nothing I can do about that. My job is to protect the lives of Americans and NATO forces and that is what I do. There will always be collateral damage and it is ugly. No one likes it. The US government responded appropriately to 9/11 by taking the fight to Afghanistan. My feelings on Iraq are similar to yours.

 

Friendly loss of life occurring because of your very presence. Innocent loss of life occurring because of your very presence. Because of our politicians, and your own personal decisions. The countries we occupy have never attacked our nations in any way shape or form there is no justification for being there, sending our own young men to die while killing theirs.

 

Presence in Afghanistan was necessary.

 

Oh really? Is that why after a decade we're going to be pulling out, whilst suffering more casualties than ever, leaving the region more unstable than ever, meaning all the soldiers and civilians that died, have done so in vain.

For what???

Do you think our politicians will ever be held accountable for the genocides they order? .... (*)(*)(*)(*)

The terrorist attacks in Britain were carried out by Brits, inspired by terrorists, trained by the CIA, as were the ones who supposedly hijacked the 9/11 airliners.

Our governments will never be held to account for their own actions which have led to the loss of life in the very own nations they claim to protect.

 

It is very sad indeed, and if we were at home, minding our own business, it wouldn't happen, unless one rams planes into buildings and kills innocents.
Yet we must blame those who necessitate such casualties, those who hide behind and among innocent civilians in war torn nations.
Don't forget, we don't fight soldiers in uniforms, but cowards.
Warriors don't hide in caves and behind women's skirts.

 

You obviously do have one major hurdle to overcome as to "type" in that gentleman's eyes..... you think!

http://uruknet.info/?p=m81045&hd=&size=1&l=e

Imagine frowning on those he holds dear......who shoots children in the head!

Regards
Highlander

 

Ah yes because warriors drop hundreds of thousands of tonnes of high explosives in civilian populated areas, on nations without adequate modern air defence capabilities, because they're brave.

No, because you risk less lives bombing the enemy than sending infantry into the area to engage them directly, war is not about bravery.

Putting your lives over the lives of innocent people, is not moral behaviour, you're trained killers, they've done nothing to you, or our nation yet they die in swathes to our hero's.

 

So you think we should have just sat there after they plowed three planes into buildings and another into the ground? The reason it became a quagmire is leadership's inability to consolidate victory. They got distracted with Iraq and messed everything up. We should have toppled the Taliban and left.

What genocide? What an overused word.

The terrorist attacks that killed thousands of Americans were trained by terrorists overseas with a stronghold in Afghanistan.

It is up to the people to hold the government accountable. Keep it accurate though.

 

I put everyone's (innocent) life before my own. My job is to protect the lives of American soldiers and I do just that.

 

What genocide? Hundreds of thousands of dead, possibly millions, down to American and western capitalist driven imperialism in the past half century.

Who knows truly why they ploughed planes into the WTC, but maybe they intended for it to be a wake up call, I mean seriously the region has suffered decades of oppression from the U.S and NATO alliance and Israel, the Taliban just about manage to fight off the Russians, after receiving assistance in how to make bombs, how to use them and how to organise militias from the U.S special forces and agencies, are then expected to be ruled by another foreign power, only this time the very power whom helped destabilize the region earlier in it's motives to crush communism. The propaganda given by our corporate media whom tug the government line justifies our presence in Afghanistan and Iraq to rebuild the countries and allow the people to taste the fruits of democracy and capitalism, only as we all know today, capitalism is a rotten fruit, and that being true, is just another reason why we have no real legitimacy attacking foreign countries.

Maybe if more focus was put into defending our nations than attacking others, then 9/11 style attacks wouldn't have a chance of coming to fruition.

 

Do you have a reputable source for this? Thousands, I mean hundreds of thousands, I mean millions, no-no BILLIONS THRILLIONS OF THOUSANDS of lives were lost on 9/11.

I do not give an airborne (*)(*)(*)(*) about rebuilding the country nor do I care for your conspiracy theory. We disrupted the Taliban and Al Qaeda and that is what I care about. I do not want to be there any longer or any more than you want us there.

 

Frankly - you sound more like just another loud mouth Yankee - keyboard - bull shiner than someone who've stepped beyond your state line. You're not fooling anyone , but yourself.

GERTCHA .

 

Yes, of course...those evil American soldiers, all they want to do is kill innnocent civilians...not by accident mind you, no it's always on purpose.

Everyone in other countries hate American soldiers...until they need them.

 

Noted. Do you have anything to add?

 

The amount of civilians you guys have killed would reverse any good you apparently have done, ten fold or more. Have you ever had half your family blown up by American bombs or shot by a gun-hoe 19 year old marine? Could you imagine America being occupied for 10 years and becoming a war zone?

If you have any concept of empathy you'd realise the damage our armies have done to their countries needlessly have undermined our nations, and the damage is irreversible.

 

You have a point that (*)(*)(*)(*)s all over the majority of these posts, but the incident in question here is no accident. It is just a part of war that the public does not like to hear about and they react this way because they do not understand.

 

OK. Do you have a reputable link for the figures you listed?

No and I do not have to worry about anyone in my life being blown up thanks to the Marines.

No. We would have to fall a lot further from grace in order for one to even think about that happening.

 

Causualties of war, it happens...no one wants it to, but it will. People need to grow up. They should ask themselves...who has killed more innocents the Americans or the people the Americans are protecting them from.