A reminder of why we should get out of Iraq NOW and not continue to let our troops die for a cause that is not our concern. Sadam is in custody, there are no WMD being launched on U.S. cities from their. This is bad policy and can only cause more American maiming and death to remain. Feel free to comment or e-mail: wahkonta@graffiti.net Blog On.
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False Casualty Counts
29.01.2004 [12:42]

Yesterday in Khaldiya, 60 miles west of Baghdad, a powerful roadside bomb
exploded killing US soldiers. Iraqi civilians were killed by US soldiers'
gunfire during the aftermath. However, questions about the conflicting
numbers as to the number of dead US soldiers and Iraqi civilians remain.

In a CENTCOM press release for the incident, the US Military claims that
three task force "All American" soldiers were killed in the blast by the
Improvised Explosive Device (IED), and one Iraqi killed. The press release
also states that one soldier and several Iraqis were wounded.
Witnesses at the scene today told a very different story, as did personnel
at the Ramadi Hospital where the civilian Iraqi casualties were taken.

Mohammed (last name withheld), a 25 year old Iraqi man who lives near the
scene, said, "I saw 12 US soldiers killed. Body parts were everywhere. There
were also at least 5 injured."
He and several other witnesses said they watched as the US vehicle was
exploded by the IED, then other soldiers opened up with gunfire, shooting
everything in sight.
Hammad Naif Ermil, driving a large truck, was shot and killed, as were other
Iraqis riding in a bus behind him that was riddled with American bullet
holes.

Ali (last name withheld), an Iraqi Policeman who witnessed the incident,
said, "I saw 12 dead US soldiers. They put them in black body bags and flew
them out by helicopters."
Ali said, "We tried to help get the man out of the bus, but the American's
wouldn't let us. He died because they wouldn't let us get him out."

A man who also lives near the scene of the incident, Abdul Ahkman, said, "I
saw 12 US soldiers killed and flown away by their helicopters. We want the
Americans to leave. They said they would bring us freedom, but they have
only brought us death and suffering. We will kill them all if they stay
here."

Meanwhile, last weekend Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told AP News, "We
believe we've got sufficient capability to maintain a reasonable security
level in the country."

We left the scene after watching young Iraqi boys holding bloody bandages
and IV bags from US medics having done emergency triage on their wounded
comrades. One young boy proudly displayed his US Army watch from a dead US
soldier.
The crater from the IED blast was several feet deep, in the median between
the lanes of the highway.

We came upon the funeral procession for the truck driver who had been
killed, his coffin draped in an Iraqi flag carried somberly by many men,
crying as they carried it to the mosque, then up a small hill to the village
cemetery.
One man pulls me aside from the procession and says, "The American's are
treating us like animals. They are raiding our homes each day. They are
stealing our money. At least one man from every home here has been detained.
Saddam destroyed us, but the American's are destroying everything we have."
Another man tells me, "We want freedom. We need jobs. I am a teacher, but I
haven't worked since the invasion. They promised us freedom, but they are
only giving us prison, killing, and bad treatment."
Yet another angered man says, "The US says they came for weapons of mass
destruction and Saddam. They have found no WMD's, they have Saddam, and we
still suffer. We will fight against them all the way now. They have come
because of money. They are insulting all of us. Iraqi people have the right
to resist the Americans because they are invaders. When they are attacked,
why do they always kill others who are not involved?"

A few of the men tell me that Khaldiya now has one hour of electricity per
day, and a 7pm curfew.
Haji, angrily tells me, "I expected the Americans to be better than this. If
they are honest, they should pull out now. They have told us over
loudspeakers to stay in our homes after this incident, and have warned us
not to come out after 7pm. Who can live like this?"

After the burial of the body, we solemnly carry on to the Ramadi Hospital.
Dr. Rayid Al-Ani, the Assistant Director of the Ramadi Hospital where the
Iraqi casualties were taken, stated that three Iraqi civilians bodies were
brought to the morgue at the hospital, and five wounded Iraqi civilians.
Dr. Al-Ani said, "Of the five wounded Iraqis brought here, three have died.
One is now in the operating room, and the fifth man is upstairs suffering
from three gun shots by the Americans."
Mohammed Hammad, 36 years-old, is recovering in the hospital with gun shots
in his face, chest, and right leg. He said, "I was riding in a taxi going
from Ramadi to Khaldiya when a US patrol was hit by a roadside bomb. Then
the soldiers just started shooting everywhere."
I ask him if he'll try to get compensation from the Americans and he says,
"I don't know, but I don't think they will give any compensation to me. They
aren't giving it to anyone around here."
The driver of his taxi was killed by American gunfire, according to Mohammed
Hammad.

I walk down the hall after talking with Mohammed, and meet a boy, Yas
Hammad, 14 years old, who is recovering from shrapnel wounds in his arm,
chest and foot. US soldiers had raided his parents home, and one of them
left a grenade. The next day Yas Hammad picked it up and it exploded.
Dr. Al-Ani tells me there is a Sheikh upstairs who has been beaten by the
Americans. He takes us upstairs to talk with him. On the way he says that
since his hospital is the highest point in Ramadi, US soldiers have been
occupying the roof. He doesn't mind this, but he does mind that they have
been shooting bottles for target practice, and this upsets his cardio
patients and the elderly in his care.

Sheikh Turlki Muslu lays in his bed, nursing his wounds from being beaten on
the head, chest, shoulders and legs. This on top of also suffering from
diabetes. He sits up with a groan of pain to talk with us, "Two weeks ago
the Americans came and asked me to give them names of resistance fighters. I
don't know any resistance fighters. We were always against Saddam here. They
roughed me up some, then said they would come back in a week and I'd better
have some names. They came back a week ago, sent my family outside and
locked the door. I told them I don't know any names, so they tied my hands,
put a bag over my head, and took me away in an armored vehicle. They beat me
on my head, neck, shoulders and chest. They kicked my legs. Then they took
me home and told me they could kill me. I told them I just don't know anyone
they are looking for, because I'm not in the resistance. They said they
would come back."
The Sheikh has been in the hospital since then, hoping the Americans won't
visit him again. They insist we join him and several other Sheikh's and his
friends for lunch. We sit in the hospital room munching on chicken, rice and
salads, all of them expressing their frustration and concern. The Sheikh is
in charge of 30,000 men. One of his friends says, "What are the Americans
thinking? Do they think we will not fight them now? If this happens again,
how will the Sheikh keep his men from fighting? What will his 30,000 people
do when they find out he has been beaten?"
The Sheikh says he is angry with the press who he has spoken with, as they
have not told the truth about how his people are suffering, beaten,
humiliated and killed by the Americans.
The Assistant Manager of the hospital expresses this frustration as well.

We are taken to the floor beneath the Sheikh's to visit his cousin, Muhammad
Nassir Ali, who is a Sheikh, also in charge of 30,000 people. His story is
almost exactly the same as that of his cousin-detained, beaten, threatened,
and now seeking refuge in the hospital from the American's. He lies in bed
in pain, one of his feet broken, bruises on his body.
Sheikh Nassir Ali says, "The Americans should not be using force on us. We
would welcome them if they treated us with respect and dignity. Instead,
they are humiliating and infuriating us. Why are they taking our freedom? My
people are ready to do what they need to do here."
He receives over 100 visitors a day from men with solemn looks on their
faces. When we are there over 20 men wait for us to finish so they can check
on their Sheikh.

We walk down the hall and Dr. Rhami Barki, one of the doctors from the
hospital tells me, "The Americans sealed of Khaldiya yesterday. They wouldn'
t let anyone leave their house. What about emergency cases? What about heart
attacks? Is it acceptable for Americans to keep people in their homes with
no medical care? The entire city was sealed from 5pm yesterday until this
morning! This is a very big problem. Where are our human rights?"

Meanwhile the violence across Baghdad continues. A suicide bomber using an
ambulance detonated near a hotel frequented by westerners, most likely
contractors, just down the road from where I stay. The usual rattling
windows woke me at around 6am as the huge blast rocked central Baghdad.
Yet the propaganda fest by the US military continues.
"What we've done in the last 60 days is really taken them down," a senior
military official said, speaking of the insurgency to the Washington Post on
Jan. 23. "We've dismantled the Baghdad piece. We've dismantled the Mosul
piece. I'm not saying we've taken down the Fallujah-Ramadi piece, but we've
hammered it."
AP reported, "The enemy doesn't have much left," a battalion commander in
Tikrit said this week in assessing the current situation. "They are
desperate and flailing."

(Dahr Jamail is an independent freelance journalist from Anchorage, Alaska.
He came to Iraq to bear witness and report on the effects of the occupation
on the Iraqi people because he feels that the US media has, in large part,
failed to do so.)

Dahr Jamail, Jan 28
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