Oh really? Is that to be the official story?
"The shooting was reported at the time, but the charges of failure to coordinate emerged on Friday . . ." Emerged on Friday?
The couple was shot dead January 24th (their daughter was wounded). From January 25th's "And the war drags on . . .:"
In today's New York Times, Timothy Williams reports on a Saturday raid by US forces in Hawija in which a husband and wife were killed by US forces and their young daughter was wounded. The house raid, Williams reports, required helicopters and was done at two in the morning. For killing the wife, the official story is she reached for something and, later, a gun was allegedly found under a mattress. After he saw his wife slaughtered, the husband went after the US soldiers and was killed. Ahlam Dhia, the eight-year-old daughter, was shot by US soldiers for no official reason cited and she is quoted stating, "They killed my mother and father right in front of me. I was under the blanket. I heard my mom screaming, and I started to cry." Based on descriptions, Williams hypothesizes the soldiers were American Special Ops. It is interesting that when Iraq supposedly has control over their country, US forces -- not Iraqi forces or, for that matter, US forces and Iraqi forces -- are conducting house raids. Ned Parker and Saif Hameed (Los Angeles Times) report, "The chairman of the Hawija Council said the woman's husband, Dhia Hussein, had not been linked to Al Qaeda in Iraq, as the U.S. military claimed" and quote Hussein Ali Salih (the chair) stating, "I personally know Col. Dhia Hussein; he is one of the former army officers and he was trying to return to the new Iraqi army. He has no affiliations with any armed groups." NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro (All Things Considered -- link has video and text) reports:
The U.S. military said the operation was conducted with and approved by Iraq's security forces, as stipulated by a security agreement that went into effect at the beginning of the year. But a senior Iraqi government spokesman said there were no Iraqi forces present and is calling for an investigation of the deaths.
"The Americans were on foot," said Hussein Ali, the father of the man who was killed. "They threw percussion hand grenades at the door, then they started shooting. When I got inside the house, the Americans were gone. I found [my son and daughter-in-law] in the bedroom, dead beside each other. They shot my son at close range. His blood was all over the wall."
Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) waits until paragraph eight to note that Iraqi officials say they did not approve the raid and that it wasn't an Iraqi operation. The first seven paragraphs are the US military's assertion (presented as fact) that the US military, with Iraqi forces and Iraqi approval, conducted the house raid. China's Xinhau cites an unnamed police source, "The source also said that local security forces were not informed about the raid and that the reasons behind the killings are unclear yet."
So the day after the shooting, you have at least Xinhau, NPR and McClatchy noting that the raids were not coordinated with the Iraqis and Rubin wants to say the charge emerged yesterday? That's not reality.
The 58-year-old man was a ministry employee with the government. His sixteen-year-old son Nihad Muhammed Hassan al-Bachary staes, "The American forces stormed into our house, and they handcuffed me, my two brothers and my uncle. When my father came out of his room, they opened fire on him point blank and then they stuffed his body in a large, black plastic bag."
Rubin then adds:
The soldiers who came in were directed by an American in a military unifiorm, the son said, but unlike most soldiers, he had a beard. The other armed men with him were wearing masks and Iraqi commando uniforms and speaking in "Kurdish and inaccurate Arabic," the son said. He said that his father was an Agriculture Ministry employee, and that several other family members were detained elsewhere in the village at the same time.
It keeps happening because it's not called out. And arriving tody to underscore that point is Samir Sumaida'ie's "The Promise In Iraq's Rebirth" (Washington Post column) which is fully of frothy nonsense like this:
Those who had descended upon Iraq to defeat the United States through terrorism, initially finding favor and support from the "rejectionists," have themselves been rejected by the Iraqi people. Their strategy to ignite a sectarian civil war has failed. And though they still pose a threat to security, those extremist Islamists were comprehensively and strategically defeated in a Muslim country, a development of profound significance.
Sumaida'ie is not only Iraq's US ambassador, he's also one of those exiles that really cashed in after the invasion. Since the invasion, he's held one cushy position after another. Don't you just love these "Men of Iraq" (and they're all men) who stand so bravely today . . . after cowering in exile for decades, after being too chicken s**t to stage their own attack on Iraq so they helped lie the US into an illegal war. They are as guilty as the Bully Boy and it's the real shame of Iraq that their puppet government is made up of so many damn cowards who chose to flee the country (like most, Sumaida'ie went to England) and live in exile for decades. But a foreign military goes in and topples Saddam Hussein and suddenly all the 'brave' chickens come home to roost.
Sumaida'ie is a pathetic liar and if you doubt that, grasp he has one less son today.
Why is that? In what was an illegal raid, the US military shot and killed his son.
But Sumaida'ie is happy to whore himself out (and if that seems especially harsh, you ought to hear his family that remains in England's remarks) for the US because they are the puppet masters and he wants to be a puppet.
One very real reason Iraq cannot expell the US is that there are no independent players, only exiles put in place by the US, exiles beholden to the US who have no problem staying silent as Iraqi's children are slaughtered because they have no problem staying silent when it's their own children. Sumaida'ie's son is never coming back but the coins they toss at him keep Sumaida'ie dancing. Dance, Fools, Dance. (That's the title of a very early Joan Crawford film and for those who have forgetten, June 27th of last year saw one of Nouri al-Maliki's own relatives killed by US Special Forces in a Karbala raid and yet the puppet continues dancing for his American masters.)
Military Families Speak Out is in the midst of DC action:
Come to Washington February 6-9 to demand "The Change WE Need"
President Elect Obama opposed the war in Iraq before it started, calling it a "dumb war." But he and his advisors have also said that they plan to spread the return of combat troops from that "dumb war" out over sixteen months and to keep tens of thousands of other troops on the ground in Iraq indefinitely.
So from February 6-9, MFSO will be traveling to Washington to bring the new President and new Congress the message that it is long past time to bring all our troops home from Iraq. The four days of events will include:
* A teach-in featuring the voices of military families, veterans, and Iraqis, explaining the need for an immediate and complete end to the war in Iraq -- and the human impacts of continuing the occupation. Friday, February 6 from Noon - 3:00 p.m. at Mott House, 122 Maryland Avenue.
* A solemn procession from Arlington National Cemetary to the White House beginning at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 7. Meet at the front gate of the cemetery right outside the exit of the Arlington Metro stop. Please arrive early.
* A "Meet and Greet" and Legislative Briefing from 3:00 - 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 8 at the Mariott Metro Center.
* Lobbying members of Congress to end the war in Iraq. Meet in the cafeteria of the Rayburn House Office Building at 9:00 a.m. Monday, February 9.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
alissa j. rubintimothy williams
ned parker
saif hameed
the los angeles times
anthony shadid
the washington post
npr
all things considered
lourdes garcia-navarro
military families speak out
