alternative reader no. 132
Iraqis Accuse Marines of Killing Unarmed Civilian
By Nancy A. Youssef
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Posted by
Bulatlat
Al
Hamdania, Iraq - Before people talked about how Hashim Ibrahim Awad was
killed, his friends shared tales about how the Americans wanted him to be
an informant.
U.S.
Marines had approached him several times, Awad's friends say he told them,
asking him to help them find who was planting explosives in this small
village outside Baghdad. Every time, Awad, in his 50s with a lame leg and
bad eyesight, refused. His family considered the job shameful.
In an
exclusive interview with Knight Ridder on Friday, Awad's family gave their
version of what happened to him in the early morning hours of April 26.
They said U.S. Marines dragged Awad from his home, killed him and then
planted an AK-47 assault rifle and a shovel next to him to make him look
like a terrorist.
The
family members said American investigators have since harassed them,
questioning their allegations in hours-long sessions that begin in the
dead of night and last past dawn. They said they once were taken for
questioning to nearby Abu Ghraib prison, the scene of previous allegations
of American abuse.
There
was no way to confirm the accounts. U.S. officials have declined to
provide details of the allegations that led them on May 25 to announce
that they were investigating the death of an Iraqi civilian and that
"several service members from 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment . . .
were removed from operations and have returned to the United States."
Lt.
Lawton King, a spokesman at
Camp Pendleton,
Calif., where the
Marines are based, said Friday that the investigation is continuing. He
said that he had no idea if or when charges would be filed.
Al
Hamdania is on the far western edge of Baghdad province. Insurgents are
active in the area, and kidnappings and other violence are common. The
town is obscure enough that
U.S.
officials incorrectly rendered its name as "Hamandiyah" in their official
announcement.
The case
is one of three involving the deaths of 36 Iraqis, including women and
children, that have drawn fresh attention to complaints that U.S. forces
in Iraq have wantonly killed unarmed civilians.
U.S.
officials also are investigating a Nov. 19 case in the western Iraqi town
of Haditha in which at least 24 civilians were killed. U.S. Marines
initially said that 15 of them and a Marine died when a roadside bomb
exploded and that eight others were killed when Marines returned insurgent
fire. But a preliminary investigation found that none of the civilians had
died from the explosion, and survivors told Knight Ridder and others that
the Marines had stormed into houses and killed the occupants.
Iraqi
police also have accused U.S. troops of executing 11 people on March 15 in
the town of Ishaqi,
north of Balad, including a 75-year-old woman and a 6-month-old. U.S.
officials announced Friday that an investigation had found no wrongdoing
and that no action would be taken against the soldiers.
On
Thursday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki said that American violence
against Iraqi civilians had become almost habitual. "We cannot forgive the
violations of the dignity of the Iraqi people," al Maliki said.
Awad's
family showed Knight Ridder a sheet of paper that appeared to be part of a
report on the incident. A Marine sergeant had written that his unit killed
the man because he was "digging on the side of the road from our ambush
site. I made the call and engaged. He was pronounced dead at the scene
with only a shovel and AK-47."
The
sergeant signed his name. It was witnessed by a second Marine.
Awad's
family members offer a radically different version. Awad's cousin, Farhan
Ahmed Hussein, said Americans came to his door in the early morning hours
of April 26 and pounded on it so forcefully that he knew that if he didn't
open it, they would.
In
broken Arabic, a soldier said, "Tefteesh," or search. The Marines asked
him if he had any weapons. An AK-47, he told them, and they took it and a
shovel resting in front of his house. They thanked him in Arabic for
cooperating and left, Hussein said.
He said
he didn't think much of it. "I told myself first thing in the morning, I
will stop the first patrol I see and ask them for my AK-47 and shovel
back," he said.
Next,
the Marines knocked on the door of Awad's brother, Awad Ibrahim Awad. The
two brothers lived not far from their cousin, in small houses on a barren
field.
Awad
Ibrahim Awad said the Marines knocked at around 2 a.m., but that he
decided not to get out of bed. They left.
Surprised, he said he looked outside - the area is illuminated with
generator-powered lights - and saw the Marines walking behind his
brother's house toward the home of a neighbor.
"The
soldiers asked my mom if there were any men in our house. When she told
them no, they left without searching the house," the neighbor, who asked
to be identified only as Mohammed, said.
Awad
Ibrahim Awad said the Marines then knocked at Hashim Awad's door. When he
came to the door, two Marines grabbed each of his hands and pulled him out
of the house. The Marines took Hashim Awad and left without searching
inside, Awad Ibrahim Awad said.
"They
looked like people who found what they were looking for," Awad Ibrahim
Awad said. "I told my wife, 'They took my brother, but I think he will be
fine.' And I told myself: 'What's the worse they do? Investigate him for a
few days and then release him because he is innocent.' Thirty minutes
later, I heard gunshots."
The next
day, as Awad Ibrahim Awad was working at a nearby gas station, Iraqi
police pulled in and asked him to identify the body of someone from his
neighborhood who'd been killed by the Americans. He stared at the body,
which had an AK-47 and shovel next to it, but didn't recognize his
brother.
"I saw a
swollen face, and signs that he had been beaten. And it was clear a bullet
had been shot into the mouth and broke part of his bottom teeth," he said.
"I told the police officers, 'I know this man,' but I cannot recognize
him. He was beaten to the point that I couldn't recognize his face."
Awad
Ibrahim said it never occurred to him that the body might be his
brother's. "He didn't have an AK-47 or shovel when the Americans took
him," he said. "And besides, the Americans took him. How can he be dead
and in police hands now?"
But
something nagged at him, so he went to the hospital and looked at the body
again. This time he recognized his brother by his leg, which had been
damaged in a farming accident 15 years ago.
Local
tribal leaders said the Americans brought Hashim Awad's body, the shovel
and the AK-47 to the local police station and reported that they'd caught
the man digging a hole and planting an explosive device, so they killed
him. The police took the body to the hospital.
Shortly
after the funeral, residents showed the family a flyer that Marines were
circulating. The flyer said that Hashim Awad had been killed because he
was a terrorist planting explosives and "lethal force will stop that."
They misspelled his name.
Tribal
leaders told Marine officers about the Hashim Awad's death during a
regularly scheduled community outreach meeting May 1. U.S. officials
opened an investigation shortly after that.
Since
then, American forces have questioned the family repeatedly, relatives
said, sometimes in the middle of the night. They said the Americans once
took several of them to Abu Ghraib prison and held them for hours,
questioning only one of them. They rode home in a military convoy.
"We
believe the Americans are trying to terrorize us so we won't talk," said
Hussein, Hashim Awad's cousin.
The
American investigators have taken DNA swabs from his mouth, Awad Ibrahim
Awad said. Another brother, Sadoun Ibrahim Awad, gave the Americans
permission to exhume his brother's body.
2 June
2006
Posted by
Bulatlat
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