[A-List] Iraq: US-British 'Butchers Of Baghdad' Continue Murderous Rampage

[Rick Rozoff <r_rozoff@xxxxxxxxx>]

1) US Troops Slay 26 Iraqis In Baghdad Slum
2) Baghdad: Four Killed In Rocket Attack Near US
Headquarters
3) Two US Soldiers Killed Near Fallujah
4) Two Britons Killed In Baghdad Blast
5) Blasts Rock Northern Iraqi City Of Mosul
6) Wedding Party Carnage: Iraq's Sunnis Now 'Hate
Americans With A Passion'
7) Bush: 138,000 American Occupation Forces To Stay In
Iraq 'As Long As Necessary'
8) US Top Commander In Iraq To Be Sacked
9) Former Detainees: Abuses In Northern Iraq Even
Worse Than In Baghdad
10) 'I Will Hate American And British People The Rest
Of My Life': Top Iraqi Scientist Dies Of Blunt Head
Trauma At US Base



1)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1114956.htm

Agence France-Presse
May 24, 2004

Fighting rages between US troops and Sadr militiamen


Up to 26 Iraqis are dead after 12 hours of fighting
between US troops and militia loyal to radical cleric
Moqtada Sadr in the Shiite area of Sadr City in
Baghdad.

Hospital sources say 18 Iraqis have been killed and 12
wounded in Sadr City.

But a US military officer based in the area says 26
militiamen were killed and four wounded in various
incidents involving attacks on US patrols between
6:00pm on Sunday and 6:00am on Monday.
....
Al-Thawra hospital in the teeming Sadr stronghold said
it received "17 dead and six wounded", according to
director Kassem Marthur.

Another body and six injured people were taken to Sadr
General hospital, according to doctor Abdul Jabbar
al-Zubaidi.
....
Sadr, who has been holed up in the central Shiite holy
city of Najaf for close to two months, sparked a
revolt against the coalition in early April.
------------------------------------------------------
2)
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=5/25/2004&Cat=2&Num=025

Reuters
May 24, 2004

Blast Near Coalition HQ in Baghdad, Four Killed


BAGHDAD - An explosion destroyed an armored civilian
vehicle on Monday near an entrance to Baghdad's "Green
Zone" compound where the U.S.-led coalition is based,
killing at least four people, soldiers at the scene
said.

Security sources in the Iraqi capital said the car
belonged to a private security company and that it was
hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. A U.S. officer at
the scene said the four dead occupants appeared to be
security guards.

Colonel Mike Murray of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry
Division added that the nationalities of the dead were
not known.

U.S. soldiers, Iraqi police and firefighters were
quickly on the scene, dousing the burnt-out white
all-terrain vehicle with water, sending clouds of
steam and smoke into the air.

Soldiers said the blast flipped the car into the air.
The busy road, which is lined with shops and leads to
the Green Zone and the nearby Foreign Ministry, was
sealed off.

Last week, a suicide car bombing at another entrance
to the Green Zone killed several Iraqis including the
president of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council.
------------------------------------------------------
3)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1114760.htm

Agence France-Presse
May 24, 2004

Two US servicemen killed near Fallujah


A US soldier and a US marine have died in a roadside
bomb attack near the Iraqi city of Fallujah, the US
military says.

"One US soldier and one US marine were killed and
several other US forces and one civilian contractor
were wounded when attackers detonated an improvised
explosive device, at about 4:50 pm May 23 north-west
of Fallujah," the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force said
in a statement.

"Reports indicate the device was placed in a parked
vehicle and detonated as two US convoys passed on the
highway," the statement added.

The US military also reported that four soldiers were
wounded by roadside bombs and four others by mortar
attacks on a military facility in Baghdad on Sunday.

Another soldier was wounded by small arms fire when
anti-coalition forces attacked an Iraqi police station
in north-east Baghdad.

The latest fatality brought the US military death toll
in Iraq to 796 since the start of the US-led invasion
in March 2003.

The figure includes 580 troops killed in action.
------------------------------------------------------
4)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1114942.htm

Australian Broadcasting Company
May 25, 2004

Two Britons killed in Baghdad blast


Two British civilians have died in an explosion in
Baghdad.

The Foreign Office has confirmed the deaths and says
next of kin are still to be informed.

A spokeswoman says they were not military personnel.

The pair were killed when a car blew up just 500
metres from one of the busiest entrances of the
so-called Green Zone.

A US military spokesman in Baghdad says four people
were killed and two wounded in the car explosion.

The nationalities of the other two victims have not
been released.

A vehicle has blown up near an entrance to Baghdad's
Green Zone compound where the US-led administration is
based and soldiers at the scene say four people were
killed.

Colonel Mike Murray of the US's 3rd Brigade, 1st
Cavalry Division says it is not clear whether the car
was targeted by a roadside bomb or was carrying a
bomb.

US soldiers, Iraqi police and firefighters were
quickly on the scene, dousing the burnt-out car with
water, sending clouds of steam and smoke into the air.

Soldiers said the blast flipped at least one car into
the air.

The busy road, which is lined with shops and leads to
the Green Zone and the nearby Foreign Ministry, was
sealed off.

Last week, a suicide car bombing at another entrance
to the Green Zone killed several Iraqis, including the
president of the US-appointed Governing Council.

-- Reuters/AFP
------------------------------------------------------
5)
http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?newsId=en65741&F_catID=&f_type=source

Hi Pakistan
May 24, 2004

Blasts rock cinema district of northern Iraqi city


MOSUL: Four explosions simultaneously rocked cinemas
in Iraqi city of Mosul today, police said.

Police said he did not know if there were any
casualties as a result of the simultaneous explosions
in the four cinemas.
------------------------------------------------------
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/05/25/wirq225.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/05/25/ixnewstop.html

The Telegraph (Britain)
May 25, 2004

US forces on defensive as film suggests air attack hit
wedding
By Julius Strauss in Baghdad


-Iraqis are now convinced that they are witnessing a
US cover-up similar to that of the torture of
prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.
The impact of the events on Iraqi opinion is such that
in Baghdad most ordinary middle-class Sunni Muslims,
who make up the backbone of society, have come to hate
the Americans with a passion.


American forces in Iraq were embroiled in a fresh
scandal yesterday after video footage appeared to
confirm that an air strike last week killed dozens of
wedding guests rather than insurgents.

United States officials have so far insisted that more
than 40 Iraqis killed by an American helicopter last
Wednesday were foreign fighters.

But yesterday they were forced to admit there were
inconsistencies that they could not explain after
Arabic television stations showed revellers dancing in
a tent shortly before the attack.

One American military official said: "There are still
a lot of inconsistencies. We're open to whatever
evidence may come forward."

Relatives of the dead who returned from the desert
wedding appeared to confirm reports that guests had
been shooting in the air in celebration - as is
customary - and not at US forces.

Images of a dead child and dead women also appear to
gainsay the US version that a building struck in the
attack was a safe house used by foreign resistance
fighters.

In the video, the body of a musician who was earlier
playing an electric organ is shown covered by a shroud
after the attack, which happened in the early hours,
several hours after the party ended.

Whatever the truth, Iraqis are now convinced that they
are witnessing a US cover-up similar to that of the
torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison near
Baghdad.

The impact of the events on Iraqi opinion is such that
in Baghdad most ordinary middle-class Sunni Muslims,
who make up the backbone of society, have come to hate
the Americans with a passion.

Ham-fisted tactics against the insurgents have
destroyed any chance Washington may have had to win
"hearts and minds" while soldiers' behaviour towards
ordinary Iraqis is regarded as poor and deteriorating.
------------------------------------------------------
7)
http://www.spacewar.com/2004/040525004206.3h0mibmo.html

Agence France-Presse
March 25, 2004


138,000 troops to stay in Iraq "as long as necessary":
Bush


CARLISLE, Pennsylvania - President George W. Bush said
Monday that the United States will keep the current
138,000 troops in Iraq "as long as necessary" to
stabilise the country during its transition.
Bush said in a major speech at the Army War College
here that "given the recent increase in violence, we
will maintain our troop level at the current 138,000
as long as necessary."

Defence planners had previously expected to need a
maximum of 115,000 troops in Iraq at this stage of the
campaign and to be sending many US forces home.
....
The 1st Armoured Division and the 2nd Light Cavalry
Regiment will carry out extended duties.
....
------------------------------------------------------
8)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1115134.htm

Agence France-Presse
May 25, 2004

Replacement sought for top US commander in Iraq


The Pentagon is seeking a replacement for General
Ricardo Sanchez, the top US commander in Iraq, a
senior US defence official says, noting the General
already has been there 13 months.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity,
says the move to replace the General has no connection
to the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal.

"He's been there 13 months," he said.

"You have to be looking for a replacement for him like
you do for every other soldier."
-----------------------------------------------------
9)
http://www.rferl.org/newsline/6-swa.asp

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
May 24, 2004

FORMER DETAINEES FROM NORTHERN IRAQ SAY ABUSES WERE
WORSE THAN IN BAGHDAD


-Sixteen Arab and Turkoman families reported receiving
the remains of their relatives who died in coalition
custody. They were reportedly not told the cause of
death and reported bruised and injured corpses.


Former Iraqi detainees held in northern Iraqi prisons
have claimed that they suffered far more abuse than
detainees in Baghdad's Abu Ghurayb prison, Cairo's
MENA reported on 24 May. The news agency spoke with
Iraqis detained in Kirkuk, Mosul, Tel Afar, Tikrit,
and Bayji. Most of the former detainees worked for the
Hussein regime - some 6,000 Arabs and 1,800 Turkomans
in Kirkuk and Mosul alone. Sixteen Arab and Turkoman
families reported receiving the remains of their
relatives who died in coalition custody. They were
reportedly not told the cause of death and reported
bruised and injured corpses. Some former detainees
claimed to have been forced to stand in dark
half-meter rooms and allowed only one meal a day. KR
------------------------------------------------------
10)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1114514.htm

Agence France-Presse
May 24, 2004

Iraqi scientist died at US base: report


-According to Faik Amin Baker, head of the autopsy
service at Baghdad hospital, the scientist died from a
sudden blow to the back of the head.
-"I will hate Americans and British people for the
rest of my life ... you are democrats, you said you
were coming to bring democracy to Iraq, and yet you
killed my father."


An Iraqi scientist reputedly close to Saddam Hussein
died while being held at a US base in Baghdad, a
British newspaper has reported.

Professor Mohammed al-Izmerly, whose name appeared on
a list of 200 people close to the ousted Iraqi
dictator, died of "brainstem compression", according
to an official diagnosis by US military doctors, The
Guardian newspaper said.

According to Faik Amin Baker, head of the autopsy
service at Baghdad hospital, the scientist died from a
sudden blow to the back of the head.

"He died from a massive blow to the head. We don't
disagree with the coalition's report but it doesn't
explain how he got his injuries in the first place,"
the paper quoted him as saying.

The death certificate with the body, which was
delivered to the Baghdad morgue and identified only by
the number 1909, did not mention the skull fracture.

Arrested on April 26, 2003 at his home in Baghdad,
al-Izmerly was held for almost nine months by US
forces before his family was able to visit him, on
January 11, 2004.

"When I saw him, his health was good. I asked the
Americans why they had arrested him. They told me
simply 'he is a witness'," one of his daughters, Rana,
24, told The Guardian.

Barely a month later, on February 19, the Red Cross
announced his death to the family.

"I will hate Americans and British people for the rest
of my life ... you are democrats, you said you were
coming to bring democracy to Iraq, and yet you killed
my father," Rana said.

"You offer no proof that he did something wrong, you
refuse him a lawyer, and then you kill him. Why?"







	
		
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