Iraqis killed by US troops ‘on rampage’

[spindrifter]

Hala Jaber and Tony Allen-Mills, New York

Claims of atrocities by soldiers mount

<snip>

The Abu Sifa deaths on March 15 were first reported last weekend on the day that Time magazine published the results of a 10-week investigation into an incident last November when US marines killed 15 civilians in their homes in the western Iraqi town of Haditha.

<snip>

The Pentagon claims to have investigated at least 600 cases of alleged abuse by American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to have disciplined or punished 230 soldiers for improper behaviour. But a study by three New York-based human rights groups, due to be published next month, will claim that most soldiers found guilty of abuse received only “administrative” discipline such as loss of rank or pay, confinement to base or periods of extra duty.

Of the 76 courts martial that the Pentagon is believed to have initiated, only a handful are known to have resulted in jail sentences of more than a year — notably including the architects of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib prison.

“Our concern is that abuses in the field are not being robustly investigated and prosecuted, and that they are not setting an example with people who cross the line,” said Sifton. “There is a clear preference by the military for discipline with administrative and non-judicial punishments instead of courts martial. That sends the message that you can commit abuse and get away with it.”

<snip>

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2103695,00.html

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Meanwhile, somewhere in Iraq it's a bright, sunny day, according to sources close to Prezidnent *.

[msongs]

1. reminds of the scenes in fahrenheit 911 where

the soldiers were blasting the music in their vehicles and shooting...as if it was all some kind of video game
except on a video game it is a fake image and in real life a real person.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/impeachbush.htm

[wordpix2]

2. BushCo isn't discliplining soldiers b/c they're needed back at the front

Isn't this the first war ever without a draft? Not that I'm wanting one but it's obvious that sending these young guys to the front for continuous tours of duty is resulting in insanity and mayhem.

[spindrifter]

4. Maybe the answer is that

they don't want to discipline "the higher-ups." We know where that leads.

[FloridaPat]

3. This one is even worse - way beyond abuse.

"But while the public is fed rosy propaganda, the reality is far more gruesome. Take, for example, the operation in Isshaqi, a small village near Samarra. At 1:30am on Tuesday, March 21, the American troops, accompanied by helicopters , raided the modest rural home of a primary school teacher, Faiz Mratt. According to his neighbor Mohammad Al-Majma, the 27-year-old school teacher, his wife, their three children, his sister, her three children, his father and a woman who was visiting them were all arrested, tied, and beaten, and then the American troops opened fire on the family. "After they executed them, the troops put explosives in the house and blew it up," said Mohammad, crying. "They killed even the farm animals"

Winning the hearts and minds. Proud to be an American. Oh yeah.

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m21896&hd=0&size=1&l=e