Another U.S. Cover-Up Surfaces

Another U.S. Cover-Up Surfaces

Inter Press Service
Dahr Jamail and Arkan Hamed

*BAGHDAD, Jun 12 (IPS) - In the wake of the Haditha massacre, reports of
another atrocity have surfaced in which U.S. troops killed two women in
Samarra, and then attempted to hide evidence of their responsibility.*

Among the innumerable such cases people speak of, this one too has now
come to light.

According to an earlier account, Nabiha Nisaif Jassim, a 35-year-old
mother of two, was killed in firing along with her 57-year-old cousin
Saliha Mohammed Hassan on May 30 when they were being transported to
Samarra General Hospital for Nabiha to give birth.

What was not reported, according to an Iraqi human rights investigator
who spoke with IPS on condition of anonymity, was that both women were
shot in the back of the head by U.S. snipers.

"I investigated this incident myself, and both of these women were shot
from behind," said the investigator. "Nabiha's brains were splattered on
her brother who was driving the car, since she was in the back seat."

The U.S. military said soldiers fired on the car after it entered a
"clearly marked prohibited area near an observation post" after failing
to stop despite "repeated visual and auditory warnings." The U.S.
military said in a statement that "shots were fired to disable the vehicle."

The brother of the pregnant woman, Redam Nisaif Jassim, who was driving
the car, told IPS that he neither saw nor heard any warnings by the U.S.
military. Two men who witnessed the incident from a nearby home also
said they saw no signs of any warning.

"These kinds of killings by the Americans happen daily in Iraq," said
Jassim, "They gave no warning to us before killing my cousin and sister.
Of course we know they have no respect for the lives of Iraqis."

The U.S. military claims the incident is being investigated.

The Haditha slaughter in which 24 Iraqis were killed is under
investigation for the incident itself, and further for the cover-up,
since the initial report given by the Marine Corps stated only that 15
civilian deaths were caused by a roadside bomb and fighting with insurgents.

In this case too, all signs point to a cover-up. "The area where they
were killed by the Americans was completely unmarked," the human rights
investigator told IPS. A warning sign at the place was put up after the
two women were killed, he said.

Like the Haditha massacre, this incident too should be investigated both for the killing and the cover-up, he said.

According to the investigator, the U.S. troops who killed the two women made no attempt to assist them after the shooting.

The next day Redam Jassim was summoned to a local police station. "The Americans offered me 5,000 dollars, and told me it wasn't compensation but because of tradition," Jassim told IPS. The U.S. military pays usually 2,500 dollars compensation for killing an Iraqi. Jassim says he refused the payment.

The U.S. military recently announced in a Defence Department report
provided to Congress that it paid out 19 million dollars in compensation
to Iraqis last year -- half of which paid out by Marines in al-Anbar
province west of Baghdad.

The military claimed the amount was paid in 600 separate incidents, but
it is common knowledge in Iraq that the usual payout for a non-combat
civilian death is 2,500 dollars.

A payment of 19 million dollars compensation at 2,500 dollars a person
would suggest such killings in thousands.

Jassim told IPS and the human rights investigator that he was asked by
the Americans' translator to sign a paper written in English. The family
and their relatives live in a village called al-Muta'assim, a 40-minute
drive from the main hospital in Samarra.. Most people there, like the
Jassims, neither speak nor read English.

After he signed the paper, Jassim was offered 2,500 dollars by U.S.
soldiers, which he again refused.

"It is clear the Americans tried to cheat him as well as cover up their
tracks at the same time," the investigator told IPS. "Like in Haditha,
this incident, along with so many others we cannot keep track of,
requires a truly independent investigation, rather than one by the U.S.
military."

Phone calls and emails to the U.S.. military spokesperson in Baghdad
have not been returned.




Ramadi: Fallujah Redux

By Dahr Jamail
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Monday 12 June 2006

Fearful residents are now pouring out of Ramadi after the US military
has been assaulting the city for months with tactics like cutting water,
electricity and medical aid, imposing curfews, and attacking by means of
snipers and random air strikes. This time, Iraqis there are right to
fear the worst - an all out attack on the city, similar to what was done
to nearby Fallujah.

It has always been just a matter of time before the US military would
finally get around to destroying Ramadi, the capital city of al-Anbar
province. After all, Ramadi is not far from Fallujah, and so similar to
Fallujah both tribally and in their disdain towards the idea of being
occupied, that many people in Ramadi even refer to Fallujah as "Ramadi."
I know many people from Ramadi who lost relatives and friends during
both US assaults on Fallujah, and the level of anti-American sentiment
has always been high there.

By now, we all know the scene when the US military in Iraq decides to
attack an entire city ... we've seen this standard operating procedure
repeated, to one degree or another, in Haditha, Al-Qa'im, Samarra, parts
of Baghdad, Balad, Najaf and Fallujah twice ... so far. The city is
sealed for weeks if not months, water and electricity are cut, medical
aid is cut, curfews imposed, mobility impaired, air strikes utilized,
then the real attack begins. Now in Ramadi, the real attack has begun.

Warplanes are streaking the sky as bombings increase, loudspeakers aimed
into the city warn civilians of a "fierce impending attack," (even
though it has already begun), and thousands of families remain trapped
in their homes, just like in Fallujah during both attacks on that city.
Again, many who remain in the city cannot afford to leave because they
are so poor, or they lack transportation, or they want to guard their
home because it is all they have left.

Sheikh Fassal Guood, a former governor of al-Anbar said of the
situation, "The situation is catastrophic. No services, no electricity,
no water." He also said, "We know for sure now that Americans and Iraqi
commanders have decided to launch a broad offensive any time now, but
they should have consulted with us."

Today, a man who lives in Fallujah and who recently visited Ramadi told
me, "Any new government starts with a massacre. That seems like the
price that we Iraqis must pay, especially in the Sunni areas. Ramadi has
been deprived of water, electricity, telephones and all services for
about two months now. US and government forces frankly told people of
Ramadi that they will not get any services unless they hand over 'the
terrorists!!' Operations started last week, but it seems that the
Marines are facing some problems in a city that is a lot bigger in area
than Fallujah. (Ramadi also has at least 50,000 more residents than
Fallujah.) Killing civilians is almost a daily process done by snipers
and soldiers in US armored vehicles. The problem that makes it even more
difficult for the Ramadi people than for those of Fallujah back in 2004
is that they cannot flee to Baghdad, because there they'll face the
government militia assassinations. Nevertheless, the US Army is telling
them to evacuate the city. On the other hand, the government and the US
Army made it clear that they will bring militias to participate in the
wide attack against the city. The UN and the whole world are silent as
usual, and nobody seems to care what is going to happen in Ramadi."

Thus, the stage was set and now Iraqis brace themselves for yet another
staggeringly high civilian body count in Ramadi. This, amidst recent
news from the Department of Defense that over $19 million has been paid
out in compensation by the US military in Iraq to families who have had
loved ones killed by US troops. The average payout is $2,500 per body,
and nearly half of the $19 million was paid out in the province of
al-Anbar. Reflective of the drastically increased levels of violence in
Iraq, the total amount of compensation payouts for 2005 is nearly four
times what it was the previous year.

The fact that the 1,500 US troops who were recently brought into Iraq,
specifically to Ramadi, went unreported by most, if not all, corporate
media outlets didn't come as a surprise to the residents of Ramadi,
however, as street battles between troops and resistance fighters have
been raging for months now.

The media blackout on Ramadi is already rivaling the blackout on the
draconian measures employed by the military during the November 2004
siege of Fallujah, if not surpassing it. Thus far, the military have
remained reluctant to allow even embedded reporters to travel with them
in Ramadi. With each passing US assault on an Iraqi city, the media
blackout grows darker - and with Ramadi, it is the darkest yet.

Most of what we have, aside from sporadic reports from sources inside
the besieged city, is propaganda from the US military spokesman in
Baghdad, Major Todd Breasseale, who only spoke of moving the newly
arrived 1,500 troops in from Kuwait into positions around Ramadi.
"Moving this force will allow tribal leaders and government officials to
go about the very difficult task of taking back their towns from the
criminal elements."

Similar to Fallujah, thousands of frightened residents of Ramadi are
fleeing the city, then being turned away from entering Baghdad. With no
tents, food, or aid of any kind being provided to them by the military,
which is a war crime, they are left with nothing but what they carry and
no place to go. These refugees are now adding to the horrific statistic
of over 100,000 displaced families within Iraq, the majority of whom are
so as the result of massive US military operations which have a tendency
to make entire cities unlivable.

Reports from sources within Ramadi for weeks now have been that US
soldiers have been inhabiting people's homes in order to use their
rooftops as sniper platforms, innocent people are being shot daily, and
people are confused - do they risk leaving and having nowhere to go, or
risk staying in their homes and possibly being killed?

Hassan Zaidan Lahaibi, a member of the Council of Representatives in the
Iraqi parliament, told reporters recently, "If things continue, we will
have a humanitarian crisis. People are getting killed or wounded, and
the rest are just migrating aimlessly."

He could just as easily be describing much of the rest of Iraq, where
the majority of people struggle to survive under the weight of an
increasingly brutal occupation, US-backed death squads, sectarian
militias, staggering unemployment and a devastated infrastructure.


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