F.B.I. Says Guards Killed 14 Iraqis Without Cause ... [may not be able] to charge any Blackwater employee with criminal wrongdoing

F.B.I. Says Guards Killed 14 Iraqis Without Cause | By DAVID JOHNSTON and JOHN M. BRODER | Published: November 14, 2007

WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 — Federal agents investigating the Sept. 16 episode in which Blackwater security personnel shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians have found that at least 14 of the shootings were unjustified and violated deadly-force rules in effect for security contractors in Iraq, according to civilian and military officials briefed on the case.
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Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to seek indictments, and some officials have expressed pessimism that adequate criminal laws exist to enable them to charge any Blackwater employee with criminal wrongdoing. Spokesmen for the Justice Department and the F.B.I. declined to discuss the matter. ...
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Investigators found no evidence to support assertions by Blackwater employees that they were fired upon by Iraqi civilians. That finding sharply contradicts initial assertions by Blackwater officials, who said that company employees fired in self-defense and that three company vehicles were damaged by gunfire.

Government officials said the shooting occurred when security guards fired in response to gunfire by other members of their unit in the mistaken belief that they were under attack. One official said, “I wouldn’t call it a massacre, but to say it was unwarranted is an understatement.” ...

6 percent of Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans ... have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries

VA says 6 percent of combat vets have TBIs | By Rick Maze - Staff writer | Posted : Friday Nov 2, 2007 15:08:17 EDT

About 6 percent of Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans seeking treatment at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries, according to preliminary data released Friday.

A VA mandatory screening program that took effect in April has looked at 61,285 veterans of the wars. Of those, 19.2 percent were identified on the screening questionnaire as potentially suffering from traumatic brain injuries and were referred for more tests.

While evaluation continues, VA spokeswoman Alison Aikele said officials believe, based on a smaller sample, that the final result about 5.8 percent will be diagnosed with TBI. ...

US Soldiers: Blackwater USA guards shot at Iraqi civilians as they tried to drive away ... "no enemy activity involved" ... "criminal event."

Soldiers: Blackwater guards fired at fleeing cars | First U.S. troops on scene found no evidence of shooting by Iraqis | By Sudarsan Raghavan and Josh White

BAGHDAD, Oct. 11 - Blackwater USA guards shot at Iraqi civilians as they tried to drive away from a Baghdad square on Sept. 16, according to a report compiled by the first U.S. soldiers to arrive at the scene, where they found no evidence that Iraqis had fired weapons.

"It appeared to me they were fleeing the scene when they were engaged. It had every indication of an excessive shooting," said Lt. Col. Mike Tarsa, whose soldiers reached Nisoor Square 20 to 25 minutes after the gunfire subsided.

His soldiers' report -- based upon their observations at the scene, eyewitness interviews and discussions with Iraqi police -- concluded that there was "no enemy activity involved" and described the shootings as a "criminal event." Their conclusions mirrored those reached by the Iraqi government, which has said the Blackwater guards killed 17 people. ...

"A vehicle got close to them and they opened fire on it randomly as if they were in the middle of a confrontation. You won't find a head.

Security Guards Open Fire in Iraq; Two Women Dead | Five Bombings Kill at Least 34 | By Joshua Partlow and Howard Schneider | Washington Post Foreign Service | Tuesday, October 9, 2007; 12:42 PM

BAGHDAD, Oct. 9 -- Two women were killed in central Baghdad on Tuesday, Iraqi police said, apparently when a private security company opened fire on their car after it approached a convoy they were guarding.
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But amid controversy about the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis last month by the Blackwater security firm, the new shootings are likely to heighten tension surrounding the thousands of armed security guards used by private companies and U.S. government agencies in Iraq.

The Iraqi government has called on the U.S. government to fire Blackwater from its job guarding State Department employees in the country. On Tuesday, the government demanded the firm pay the families of the 17 victims $8 million each.
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The women's white Oldsmobile, riddled with bullets across the hood and window, was seen by a Washington Post reporter outside the Karrada police station after the shooting.

Relatives of the victims who gathered at Karrada identified the two slain women as Armenian Orthodox Christians living in Baghdad. The driver, Marony O'Hanis, was born in 1958, and the front-seat passenger was Geneva Jalal Entranic, who was born in 1977, relatives said.

There was at least one other woman in the back seat, and several people at the scene said she was also injured. Witnesses differed on whether the fourth person in the car was a man or a woman.

Iraqi police and shopkeepers near the scene of the shooting said O'Hanis's Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera approached the convoy of SUVs from behind. One shopkeeper said guards in the last SUV fired a warning shot, some type of flare, then sprayed machine gun fire into the hood and windshield.

"A vehicle got close to them and they opened fire on it randomly as if they were in the middle of a confrontation. You won't find a head. The brain is scattered on the ground," said Ahmed Kadhim Hussein, a policeman at the scene. "I am shaking as I am trying to describe to you what happened. We are not able to eat. These were innocent people. Is it so natural for them to shoot innocent people?" ...

Out of control 'private' contractors terrorize Iraq: Mr. Ahmed's father later counted 40 bullet holes in the car

October 5, 2007 | The Blackwater Massacre | Out of control 'private' contractors terrorize Iraq
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Instead, four armored vehicles manned by "private" guards employed by Blackwater USA moved into position and fired: Ahmed was hit, but the car continued on its path, out of control. When the smoke cleared, and the casualties counted, 17 Iraqis were dead and 24 wounded. The Washington Post cites one anonymous high-ranking U.S. official as saying:

"This is a nightmare. We had guys who saw the aftermath, and it was very bad. This is going to hurt us badly. It may be worse than Abu Ghraib, and it comes at a time when we're trying to have an impact for the long term."
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Bystanders rushed to help, but the Blackwater guards didn't let them:

"Then Blackwater guards opened fire with a barrage of bullets, according to the police and numerous witnesses. Mr. Ahmed's father later counted 40 bullet holes in the car. His mother, Mohassin Kadhim, appears to have been shot to death as she cradled her son in her arms. Moments later the car caught fire after the Blackwater guards fired a type of grenade into the vehicle." ...

According to the U.S. military in Iraq, the solitary man was a victim of sectarian violence. The first four were not

What Defines a Killing as Sectarian? | U.S. Military Teams Analyze and Tally Each Civilian Death | By Karen DeYoung | Washington Post Staff Writer | Tuesday, September 25, 2007; Page A01

On Sept. 1, the bullet-riddled bodies of four Iraqi men were found on a Baghdad street. Two days later, a single dead man, with one bullet in his head, was found on a different street. According to the U.S. military in Iraq, the solitary man was a victim of sectarian violence. The first four were not.

Such determinations are the building blocks for what the Bush administration has declared a downward trend in sectarian deaths and a sign that its war strategy is working. They are made by a specialized team of soldiers who spend their nights at computer terminals, sifting through data on the day's civilian victims for clues to the motivations of killers.

The soldiers have a manual telling them what to look for. Signs of torture or a single shot to the head, corpses left in a "known body dump" -- as the body of the Sunni man found on Sept. 3 was -- spell sectarian violence, said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Dan Macomber, the team leader. Macomber, who has been at his job in Baghdad since February, rarely has to look it up anymore. ...

Military statistics ... selectively ignore negative trends. ... exclude Attacks by U.S.-allied Sunni tribesmen, etc.

Experts Doubt Drop In Violence in Iraq | Military Statistics Called Into Question | By Karen DeYoung | Washington Post Staff Writer | Thursday, September 6, 2007; Page A16

The U.S. military's claim that violence has decreased sharply in Iraq in recent months has come under scrutiny from many experts within and outside the government, who contend that some of the underlying statistics are questionable and selectively ignore negative trends.
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"Depending on which numbers you pick," he said, "you get a different outcome." Analysts found "trend lines . . . going in different directions" compared with previous years, when numbers in different categories varied widely but trended in the same direction. "It began to look like spaghetti."

Among the most worrisome trends cited by the NIE was escalating warfare between rival Shiite militias in southern Iraq that has consumed the port city of Basra and resulted last month in the assassination of two southern provincial governors. According to a spokesman for the Baghdad headquarters of the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I), those attacks are not included in the military's statistics. "Given a lack of capability to accurately track Shiite-on-Shiite and Sunni-on-Sunni violence, except in certain instances," the spokesman said, "we do not track this data to any significant degree."

Attacks by U.S.-allied Sunni tribesmen -- recruited to battle Iraqis allied with al-Qaeda -- are also excluded from the U.S. military's calculation of violence levels.
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Recent estimates by the media, outside groups and some government agencies have called the military's findings into question. The Associated Press last week counted 1,809 civilian deaths in August, making it the highest monthly total this year, with 27,564 civilians killed overall since the AP began collecting data in April 2005. ...

repeated examples of soldiers believing they were within the law when they killed local citizens. ... killed the teen "to take him out of his misery."

Documents Show Troops Disregarding Rules | Sep 4, 6:49 AM (ET) | By RYAN LENZ

New documents released Tuesday regarding crimes committed by U.S. soldiers against civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan detail a troubling pattern of troops failing to understand and follow the rules that govern interrogations and deadly actions.

The documents, released by the American Civil Liberties Union ahead of a lawsuit, total nearly 10,000 pages of courts-martial summaries, transcripts and military investigative reports about 22 incidents. They show repeated examples of soldiers believing they were within the law when they killed local citizens.

The killings include the drowning of a man soldiers pushed from a bridge into the Tigris River as punishment for breaking curfew, and the suffocation during interrogation of a former Iraqi general believed to be helping insurgents.

In the suffocation, soldiers covered the man's head with a sleeping bag, then wrapped his neck with an electrical cord for a "stress position" they insisted was an approved technique.
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Among the files released to the ACLU were the court-martial records for two soldiers convicted of assault in the drowning of a man pushed into the Tigris for violating curfew and three soldiers convicted in the "mercy killing" of an injured teenager in Sadr City.

The teen had been severely injured; one soldier explained that he shot and killed the teen "to take him out of his misery."

Other killings included:

- A man shot after a search of his home near Balad uncovered illegal weapons and anti-American literature. Immediately after the shooting, according to testimony, Sgt. 1st Class George Diaz, who was convicted of unpremeditated murder, said, "I'm going to hell for this." Diaz also was convicted of mistreating a teenage detainee when he forced the youth to hold a smoke grenade with the pin pulled as Diaz questioned him at gunpoint.

- A suspected insurgent in Iraq by Staff Sgt. Shane Werst, who said the man appeared to be reaching for a weapon. Werst was acquitted of murder despite acknowledging he had fired and then planted a chrome Iraqi pistol on the suspect to make his claim of self defense more believable. ...
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Another previously undisclosed case involved Sgt. Ricky Burke, who was charged with murder for killing a wounded man alongside the road following a firefight. Staff Sgt. Timothy Nein, a member of Burke's military police company, testified he heard Burke say before the shooting, "It's payback time." ...

AP's Count: Contrary to Claims -- Civilian Deaths Soaring in Iraq

AP's Count: Contrary to Claims -- Civilian Deaths Soaring in Iraq | Published: September 01, 2007 3:25 PM ET

BAGHDAD Civilian deaths rose in August to their second-highest monthly level this year, according to figures compiled Saturday by The Associated Press. That raises questions about whether U.S. strategy is working days before Congress receives landmark reports that will decide the course of the war.

At least 81 American service members also died in Iraq during August — an increase of two over the previous month but well below the year's monthly high of 126 in May. American deaths surpassed the 80 mark during only two months of 2006. ...
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However, figures compiled by the AP from police reports nationwide show that at least 1,809 civilians were killed across the country last month compared with 1,760 in July. That brings to 27,564 the number of Iraqi civilians killed since AP began collecting data on April 28, 2005.

According to the AP count, civilian deaths reached a high point during the wave of sectarian bombings, kidnappings and killings at the end of last year — 2,172 in December and 1,967 in the previous month. ...

U.S. Media Ignores Estimate of 1 Million Iraqi Deaths

U.S. Media Ignores Estimate of 1 Million Iraqi Deaths | By Robert Naiman | Aug 17, 2007, 19:37

Yesterday a radio interviewer in South Africa asked me what had been the response of the "mainstream media in the United States" to Just Foreign Policy's ongoing estimate of the Iraqi death toll from the U.S. invasion and occupation, which on Thursday crossed the one million mark.

Sadly, I had to report that it has been ignored by mainstream media, even the wire services. But this is hardly surprising. A main motivation for constructing the web counter was to keep the "Lancet study" alive. The "Lancet study," you'll recall, was a study published last fall in the British medical journal The Lancet, which estimated that more than 600,000 Iraqis had had been killed as a result of the invasion as of July 2006. The media largely buried the Lancet study when it was published - and have largely ignored the question of the overall death toll from the U.S. invasion - so it's little surprise that they have ignored our attempt to shine a light on this question. ...
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Note that the number we focus on is the Lancet estimate of excess deaths due to violence. Thus, we understate the death toll by ignoring, say, increased deaths due to cholera which could be attributed, at least in part, to the destruction resulting from the U.S. invasion and occupation. ...

Army Suicides at record level: "Very often a young soldier gets a 'Dear John' or 'Dear Jane' e-mail and then takes his weapon and shoots himself,"

Aug 16, 7:27 PM EDT | War Stress Pushing Army Suicides Higher | By PAULINE JELINEK | Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Repeated and ever-longer war-zone tours are putting increasing pressure on military families, the Army said Thursday, helping push soldier suicides to a record rate.

There were 99 Army suicides last year - nearly half of them soldiers who hadn't reached their 25th birthdays, about a third of them serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Col. Elspeth Ritchie, psychiatry consultant to the Army surgeon general, told a Pentagon press conference that the primary reason for suicide is "failed intimate relationships, failed marriages."

She said that although the military is worried about the stress caused by repeat deployments and tours of duty that have been stretched to 15 months, it has not found a direct relationship between suicides and combat or deployments.

"However, we do know that frequent deployments put a real strain on relationships, especially on marriages. So we believe that part of the increase is related to the increased stress in relationships," she said.

"Very often a young soldier gets a 'Dear John' or 'Dear Jane' e-mail and then takes his weapon and shoots himself," she said. ...

British Criticize U.S. Air Attacks in Afghan Region ... more civilians killed by US and allies than by Taliban ...

British Criticize U.S. Air Attacks in Afghan Region By CARLOTTA GALL Published: August 9, 2007

SANGIN, Afghanistan — A senior British commander in southern Afghanistan said in recent weeks that he had asked that American Special Forces leave his area of operations because the high level of civilian casualties they had caused was making it difficult to win over local people.

Other British officers here in Helmand Province, speaking on condition of anonymity, criticized American Special Forces for causing most of the civilian deaths and injuries in their area. They also expressed concerns that the Americans’ extensive use of air power was turning the people against the foreign presence as British forces were trying to solidify recent gains against the Taliban.

A precise tally of civilian deaths is difficult to pin down, but one reliable count puts the number killed in Helmand this year at close to 300 civilians, the vast majority of them caused by foreign and Afghan forces, rather than the Taliban.
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In just two cases, airstrikes killed 31 nomads west of Kandahar in November last year and another 57 villagers, half of them women and children, in western Afghanistan in April. In both cases, United States Special Forces were responsible for calling in the airstrikes. ...

something of a whiff of racism in claiming that the Iraq War is not going too badly because American casualties are lower while yet more Iraqis dies

War Going Horribly—for Iraqis | By Amitabh Pal, August 4, 2007

There’s something of a whiff of racism in claiming that the Iraq War is not going too badly because American casualties have been marginally lower last month.

On purpose or otherwise, this analysis misses the larger purpose of why U.S. troops are meant to be in Iraq: to make life better for the Iraqis.

As the numbers show, U.S. troops are spectacularly failing in this regard. July was a month that saw a whopping 23 percent increase in Iraqi violent deaths over June, with at least 2,024 Iraqis killed. And yet, the same AP story that pointed this out led with the U.S. troop statistic, starkly exposing the priorities of the media.

The decline in U.S. casualties from June to July, according to numbers at icasualties.org, was 20. In the same timeframe, however, the number of Iraqi casualties increased by 384. Is one American life worth more than twenty Iraqi lives?

The same disregard for Iraqis is shown in a New York Times analysis piece by Mark Mazzetti that cites the contrasting figures as a “good news, bad news” scenario. But surely, the spectacular rise in Iraqi killings (topped off on August 1, the day the analysis was written, by a series of bombings in Baghdad that killed scores) more than offsets any decline in U.S. troop casualties. Or is the putatively liberal New York Times also revealing how it weighs American versus non-American lives?
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deployed for 13 months or more in a three-year period were more likely to have symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ...

Overstretched UK troops face mental problems-study | 03 Aug 2007 08:37:57 GMT | By Paul Majendie

LONDON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Overstretched British troops face escalating mental problems the longer they stay on frontline duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, a study showed on Friday.

Those deployed for 13 months or more in a three-year period were more likely to have symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the King's College London research revealed.

They also suffer greater psychological distress, marital problems and alcoholism once they come home, it said after studying the responses of more than 5,500 combat personnel.

"The principal conclusion was that if you go above a certain amount of deployments in a three-year period you are at greater risk of having mental health problems," said psychiatry professor Matthew Hotopf. ...

27 civilians, 37 Taliban killed in NATO strikes

27 civilians, 37 Taliban killed in NATO strikes Agence France Presse Asadabad, July 11:

A local investigation has found 27 civilians were killed in NATO-led air strikes in northeast Afghanistan, a provincial governor said today.
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“Four volunteers, for polio vaccination campaign were killed in the bombing. The campaign has been postponed in the area,” an official with the United Nations World Health Organisation (WHO) told AFP.They were volunteers, the official said but asked not to be named.
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“We investigated the incident and found out that 27 civilians and 37 Taliban were killed,” the governor told AFP.

I can count them [foreign fighters] as a total I have engaged, dead or alive, in the 10 months

The United States Finds Few Non-Iraqis Among Insurgents | By Anna Mulrine | Posted 7/24/07

As President Bush continues to stress al Qaeda as the chief threat to Iraq's stability—a reprised effort to establish a link between al Qaeda in Iraq and the 9/11 attackers—U.S. military forces on the ground in Iraq are fighting a complex war in regions with vast networks of overlapping loyalties—and few foreign fighters. Most members of al Qaeda in Iraq, say commanders on the ground, are local Iraqi outcasts.

"I can count them [foreign fighters] as a total I have engaged, dead or alive, in the 10 months I've been here on one hand," says Col. David Sutherland, the U.S. commander of coalition forces in the hotly contested area of Diyala province, an insurgent stronghold region some 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. There, Sutherland says, those involved in al Qaeda are largely dispossessed locals, not jihadists who have come from elsewhere. "The recruiting program is [that] al Qaeda may send five or eight individuals into a village. They recruit from those who have no power base, no place in society," including, he adds, former male prostitutes and the mentally ill.
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"Civilians began to flee and 27 or 28 of them were killed while fleeing NATO bombing ...

Dozens of Afghan civilians die in air raids: residents | Fri Jul 27, 6:32 AM ET

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Dozens of civilians, including women and children, have been killed in two foreign air strikes in southern Afghanistan, residents and a local member of parliament said on Friday.

One of the raids by NATO hit houses in the Girishk district of Helmand province on Thursday evening, killing up to 50 civilians, a group of some 20 residents reported to journalists in Kandahar, the main city in the south.

Wali Jan Sabri, a parliamentarian from Helmand, said he had credible information that between 50 to 60 civilians had been killed in a battle between the Taliban and NATO forces in Girishk.

He said most of the victims were killed in air strikes.

"Yes, there was a battle ... and most of those killed were from NATO bombardment," he told Reuters.

The district chief of Girishk, Manaf Khan, said more than 20 civilians were killed in NATO bombing when they were trying to flee the battle.

"The fighting was fierce between Taliban and NATO," he told Reuters. "Civilians began to flee and 27 or 28 of them were killed while fleeing NATO bombing. I do not have information about the wounded," he said. ...

Afganistan: More civilians have been killed this year as a result of foreign military action than have been killed by insurgents

Saturday, June 23, 2007 by BBC News | Karzai Angry Over West’s Tactics | by BBC staff

Nato and US-led troops are failing to co-ordinate with their Afghan allies and thereby causing civilian deaths, President Hamid Karzai has said.

He criticised his Western allies’ “extreme” use of force and said they should act as his government asked.

“Innocent people are becoming victims of reckless operations” because the troops had ignored Afghan advice for years, Mr Karzai told reporters.

He was speaking after a week in which up to 90 Afghan civilians were killed.

“You don’t fight a terrorist by firing a field gun 37 kilometres (24 miles) away into a target. That’s definitely, surely bound to cause civilian casualties,” he said.

More civilians have been killed this year as a result of foreign military action than have been killed by insurgents, correspondents say. ...

The attack climaxed the deadliest three-month period for the Americans since the war began.

Iraq Ambush Caps Bloodiest Months for US Email this StoryJun 29, 11:07 PM (ET) By ROBERT H. REID

BAGHDAD (AP) - A huge bomb explosion followed by a hail of gunfire and grenades killed five U.S. soldiers, the military said Friday. The attack climaxed the deadliest three-month period for the Americans since the war began.

Seven soldiers were wounded in the attack Thursday in the Rasheed district, a mixed Sunni-Shiite area of southern Baghdad where U.S.-led forces recently stepped up pressure on extremists. The commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad suggested the ambush could be part of an escalating backlash by Sunni insurgents.

Those deaths brought to 99 the number of U.S. troops killed this month, according to an Associated Press count. The toll for the past three months - 329 - made it the deadliest quarter for U.S. troops in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion. That surpasses the 316 soldiers killed during November 2004 to January 2005. ...

U.S.-led coalition and NATO forces fighting insurgents in Afghanistan ,, killed more civilians than Taliban [!]

Afghan civilians reportedly killed more by U.S., NATO than insurgents |

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S.-led coalition and NATO forces fighting insurgents in Afghanistan have killed at least 203 civilians so far this year — surpassing the 178 civilians killed in militant attacks, according to an Associated Press tally.

Insurgency attacks and military operations have surged in recent weeks, and in the past 10 days, more than 90 civilians have been killed by airstrikes and artillery fire targeting Taliban insurgents, said President Hamid Karzai.

US helicopters struck a bus carrying civilians heading to Abi Sayda town in Muqdadiya ...

US Helicopters Kill 6 Citizens in Baquba | Saturday, 16 June 2007

Six citizens including women and children were killed when US helicopters struck the bus, carrying them in eastern Baquba Saturday morning.

A source in Muqdadiya police said that the US helicopters struck a bus carrying civilians heading to Abi Sayda town in Muqdadiya .

AMSI Net

Iraq: 40 to 60 people disappeared each day throughout the country for much of last year

Sun, May. 13, 2007 | IRAQ | Disappeared without a trace: more than 10,000 Iraqis | By Shashank Bengali | McClatchy Newspapers
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Over the past four years, as sectarian kidnappings and killings have gripped Iraq and U.S. forces have arrested untold numbers in an effort to pacify the country, tens of thousands of Iraqis have vanished, often in circumstances as baffling as that of Kereem's husband, a Shiite Muslim father of three.

There's no accurate count of the missing since the war began. Iraqi human rights groups put the figure at 15,000 or more, while government officials say 40 to 60 people disappeared each day throughout the country for much of last year, a rate equal to at least 14,600 in one year.

What happened to them is a frustrating mystery that compounds Iraq's overwhelming sense of chaos and anarchy. Are they dead? Were they kidnapped or killed in some mass bombing? Is the Iraqi government or some militia group holding them? Were they taken prisoner by the United States, which is holding 19,000 Iraqis at its two main detention centers, at Camp Cropper and Camp Bucca? ...

Marine says urinated on dead Iraqi at Haditha

Marine says urinated on dead Iraqi at Haditha | By Marty Graham

05/10/07 "Reuters" -- - CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., May 9 (Reuters) - Angered that a beloved member of his squad had been killed in an explosion, a U.S. Marine urinated on one of the 24 dead Iraqi civilians killed by his unit in Haditha, the Marine testified on Wednesday.

Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, who has immunity from prosecution after murder charges against him were dismissed, also said he watched his squad leader shoot down five Iraqi civilians who were trying to surrender.

In dramatic testimony in a pretrial hearing for one of the seven Marines charged in the Nov. 2005 Haditha killings and alleged cover-up, Dela Cruz described his bitterness after a roadside bomb ripped Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, known as T.J., into two bloody pieces.

"I know it was a bad thing what I've done, but I done it because I was angry T.J. was dead and I pissed on one Iraqi's head," said an unemotional Dela Cruz in a military courtroom in Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego, California.

Dela Cruz also said he watched squad leader Sgt. Frank Wuterich shoot five men whose hands were tied up near a car. Dela Cruz said he also shot the five men as they laid on the ground.

Wuterich "walked to me and told me that if anybody asked, they were running away and the Iraqi Army shot them," Dela Cruz testified.

Three Marines have been charged with murder, and four officers have been charged with dereliction of duty and obstructing the investigation. ...

234 bodies - men murdered by death squads - dumped around the capital ... up from 137 in April

'More troops' call as Iraq murders soar | 234 bodies dumped in Baghdad in only 11 days | Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor | Sunday May 13, 2007 | The Observer

The US military surge in Iraq, designed to turn around the course of the war, appears to be failing as senior US officers admit they need yet more troops and new figures show a sharp increase in the victims of death squads in Baghdad.

In the first 11 days of this month, there have already been 234 bodies - men murdered by death squads - dumped around the capital, a dramatic rise from the 137 found in the same period of April. Improving security in Baghdad and reducing death-squad activity was described as one of the key aims of the US surge of 25,000 additional troops, the final units of whom are due to arrive next month. ...

arines Killed 19 Civilians in March ... Afghan Families Get a U.S. Apology ... and $2,000

69 Afghans' Families Get a U.S. Apology | Marines Killed 19 Civilians in March | By Josh White | Washington Post Staff Writer | Wednesday, May 9, 2007; Page A12

A U.S. Army brigade commander in Afghanistan yesterday told the families of 69 civilians who were killed or wounded by members of an elite Marine Special Forces unit in March that he is "deeply, deeply ashamed" about the incident, describing the series of shootings along a civilian thoroughfare as a "terrible, terrible mistake."

Col. John Nicholson said he apologized to a group of Afghan people in the eastern Nangahar province on behalf of the U.S. government and delivered solatia payments of approximately $2,000 to the families of 19 innocent civilians who died as a result of the March 4 attacks. Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon via a video feed from Afghanistan yesterday, Nicholson said the payments were "essentially a symbol of our sympathy to them" and "a way of expressing our genuine condolences over the incident occurring." ...

Probes find 50 Afghan civilians killed in US-led action

Thursday May 3, 12:25 AM | Probes find 50 Afghan civilians killed in US-led action

Investigations into a US-led offensive in western Afghanistan at the weekend found around 50 civilians were killed, officials said Wednesday, as President Hamid Karzai summoned the top US general over the casualties.

The US-led coalition has said it is not aware of any civilian deaths following the offensive, which involved intense bombing and ground fighting in the western province of Herat on Friday and Sunday.

The coalition, which invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 and helped to topple the Taliban government, said 136 Taliban fighters were killed.

But hundreds of demonstrators torched government offices in Herat's Shindand district Monday, insisting civilians were among the dead.

A United Nations investigation had so far found that 49 civilians lost their lives in the operation in the Zerkoh Valley, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) south of Herat city, spokesman Adrian Edwards said.

Police inquiries showed 51 civilians were dead, the police spokesman for western Afghanistan, Akramudin Yawar, told AFP. This included "18 women and a number children," he said. ...

U.S. officials exclude car bombs in touting drop in Iraq violence

Wed, Apr. 25, 2007 | U.S. officials exclude car bombs in touting drop in Iraq violence By Nancy A. Youssef | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - U.S. officials who say there has been a dramatic drop in sectarian violence in Iraq since President Bush began sending more American troops into Baghdad aren't counting one of the main killers of Iraqi civilians.

Car bombs and other explosive devices have killed thousands of Iraqis in the past three years, but the administration doesn't include them in the casualty counts it has been citing as evidence that the surge of additional U.S. forces is beginning to defuse tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. ...

Saturday: 164 Iraqis Killed, 345 Injured, 26 Kidnapped

April 14, 2007 | Saturday: 164 Iraqis Killed, 345 Injured, 26 Kidnapped | Updated at 12:07 p.m. EDT, April 15, 2007

An extremely violent day in Iraq left at least 164 Iraqis dead and 345 injured, with numbers sure to rise in the coming hours. A bombing at a bus station in Karbala and another on a bridge in Baghdad had the heaviest tolls; however, numerous attacks occurred all over the country. At least 26 Iraqis were kidnapped in separate events. No foreign casualties were reported. ...

Marine Corps ignored "obvious" signs of "serious misconduct" .... no interest at any level in investigating allegations of a massacre.

Report On Haditha Condemns Marines | Signs of Misconduct Were Ignored, U.S. General Says | By Josh White | Washington Post Staff Writer | Saturday, April 21, 2007; Page A01

The Marine Corps chain of command in Iraq ignored "obvious" signs of "serious misconduct" in the 2005 slayings of two dozen civilians in Haditha, and commanders fostered a climate that devalued the life of innocent Iraqis to the point that their deaths were considered an insignificant part of the war, according to an Army general's investigation.

Maj. Gen. Eldon A. Bargewell's 104-page report on Haditha is scathing in its criticism of the Marines' actions, from the enlisted men who were involved in the shootings on Nov. 19, 2005, to the two-star general who commanded the 2nd Marine Division in Iraq at the time. Bargewell's previously undisclosed report, obtained by The Washington Post, found that officers may have willfully ignored reports of the civilian deaths to protect themselves and their units from blame. Though Bargewell found no specific coverup, he concluded that there also was no interest at any level in investigating allegations of a massacre.

"All levels of command tended to view civilian casualties, even in significant numbers, as routine and as the natural and intended result of insurgent tactics," Bargewell wrote. He condemned that approach because it could desensitize Marines to the welfare of noncombatants. "Statements made by the chain of command during interviews for this investigation, taken as a whole, suggest that Iraqi civilian lives are not as important as U.S. lives, their deaths are just the cost of doing business, and that the Marines need to get 'the job done' no matter what it takes."

Iraq Has Two Virginia Techs Every Day

Iraq Has Two Virginia Techs Every Day | By Juan Cole

04/17/07 "ICH" -- -- I keep hearing from US politicians and the US mass media that the "situation is improving" in Iraq. The profound sorrow and alarm produced in the American public by the horrific shootings at Virginia Tech should give us a baseline for what the Iraqis are actually living through. They have two Virginia Tech-style attacks every single day. Virginia Tech will be gone from the headlines and the air waves by next week this time in the US, though the families of the victims will grieve for a lifetime. But next Tuesday I will come out here and report to you that 64 Iraqis have been killed in political violence. And those will mainly be the ones killed by bombs and mortars. They are only 13% of the total; most Iraqis killed violently, perhaps 500 a day throughout the country if you count criminal and tribal violence, are just shot down. Shot down, like the college students and professors at Blacksburg. We Americans can so easily, with a shudder, imagine the college student trying to barricade himself behind a door against the armed madman without. But can we put ourselves in the place of Iraqi students? ...

About 70% of primary school students in a Baghdad neighborhood suffer symptoms of trauma-related stress such as bed-wetting or stuttering ...

Trauma severe for Iraqi children | By James Palmer, USA TODAY

BAGHDAD — About 70% of primary school students in a Baghdad neighborhood suffer symptoms of trauma-related stress such as bed-wetting or stuttering, according to a survey by the Iraqi Ministry of Health.

The survey of about 2,500 youngsters is the most comprehensive look at how the war is affecting Iraqi children, said Iraq's national mental health adviser and author of the study, Mohammed Al-Aboudi.

RELATED STORY: Iraqis fear war's long-term cost to kids

"The fighting is happening in the streets in front of our houses and schools," al-Aboudi said. "This is very difficult for the children to adapt to."

The study is to be released next month. Al-Aboudi discussed the findings with USA TODAY. ...

650,000 Civilians dead, 2 Million displaced inside Iraq, 2 Million refugees

The Growing Toll Of Iraqi Civilian Deaths | By Dr. César Chelala

04/14/07 "ICH" -- - "New York' -- -- "The suffering that Iraqi men, women and children are enduring today is unbearable and unacceptable," the director of operations of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Pierre Kraehenbuehl, stated Wednesday on releasing a ICRC report on the situation in Iraq after four years of the US-led war. Entitled “Civilians Without Protection - The Ever-Worsening Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq,” Mr. Kraehenbuehl added that the humanitarian situation is "affecting in one way or another, directly or indirectly, all Iraqis today."

Studies of this nature have been systematically rejected by the Bush and Blair administrations. When, in October 2006, a team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimated that 655,000 more people had died in Iraq since the beginning of the war than would have died if the invasion had not taken place, the British foreign secretary, Margaret Becket, stated that the figures, published in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet, were inaccurate. President Bush stated that the Lancet study was not a credible report.

In contrast, however, scientists at the UK's Department for International Development concluded that the study's methods were "tried and tested," and that the authors' approach, if anything, underestimated civilian mortality. That conclusion was supported by President Bush's own Iraq Study Group in indicating that violence in Iraq is markedly under-reported.

The new ICRC report lends added credibility to The Lancet report. Civilians, it says, many of them children, bear the brunt of relentless violence, while inadequate security conditions are disrupting the lives of millions of Iraqis. Food shortages have contributed to the rise in malnutrition; inadequate water, sewage and electricity infrastructure contribute to a decline in public health. Fuel shortages affecting power stations further aggravate the worsening crisis. Hospitals and primary healthcare centers lack supplies and are forced to rely on unreliable back-up generators,

It is estimated that some two million Iraqis are now displaced persons within their own country, while two more millions have are now refugees abroad. The Iraqi Red Crescent estimates that since February 2006, more than 100,000 families have been displaced. High among those fleeing the country are medical professionals and nurses; according to estimates published by the Iraqi Ministry of Health more than half of Iraq's doctors have left. With fewer personnel, the additional influx of civilian casualties in the hospitals places the system under inconceivable strain.

Despite all evidence, some political leaders continue to insist that the situation is improving, as though the brutal TV images of the war did not exist, as if it were a fantasy invented by evil spirits. The chasm between the people's view of reality and that of their leaders has rarely been greater. ...

More than 40 Afghans killed and wounded by Marines ... no evidence of ANY insurgents

U.S. probe faults Marines for deaths of Afghan civilians | By Ann Scott Tyson and Josh White - WASHINGTON POST | Updated: 04/15/07 6:43 AM

WASHINGTON — A preliminary U.S. military investigation indicates that more than 40 Afghans killed and wounded by Marines after a suicide bombing in a village near Jalalabad last month were civilians, the U.S. commander who ordered the probe said Saturday.

Maj. Gen. Frank Kearney, head of Special Operations Command Central, also said there is no evidence that the Marine Special Operations platoon came under small-arms fire after the bombing, although the Marines reported taking enemy fire and seeing people with weapons. The troops continued shooting at perceived threats as they traveled miles from the site of the March 4 attack, he said. They hit several vehicles, killing 12 people and wounding 35, among them elderly men and women and children.

“We found . . . no brass that we can confirm that small-arms fire came at them,” Kearney said, referring to ammunition casings. “We have testimony from Marines that is in conflict with unanimous testimony from civilians at the sites,” Kearney said in a telephone interview from his headquarters in Qatar, where he oversees all U.S. special operations forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and the region.

The results of the preliminary investigation, which are not conclusive, are similar to the findings of an official Afghan human rights inquiry and contradict initial reports that the civilians might have been killed in a small arms attack that followed the suicide bombing.

“We certainly believe it’s possible that the incoming fire from the ambush was wholly or partly responsible for the civilian casualties,” Maj. William Mitchell, a U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan, said immediately after the March 4 attack, according to a BBC report.

Saturday, however, Kearney said of the killed and wounded: “Those folks were innocent . . . We were unable to find evidence that those were fighters.” ...

While violence against Iraqis is down in some Baghdad neighborhoods where we have "surged" forces, it is up dramatically in the belt ringing Baghdad.

The Real Surge Story | By Joe Biden | Thursday, April 12, 2007; Page A27

Sen. John McCain[" The War You're Not Reading About," op-ed, April 8] is right to warn about the consequences of failure in Iraq. But he is fundamentally wrong when he argues that those potential consequences require us to stick with a failing strategy.
...

The problem is that for every welcome development, there is an equally or even more unwelcome development that gives lie to the claim that we are making progress. For example:

· While violence against Iraqis is down in some Baghdad neighborhoods where we have "surged" forces, it is up dramatically in the belt ringing Baghdad. The civilian death toll increased 15 percent from February to March. Essentially, when we squeeze the water balloon in one place, it bulges somewhere else.

· It is true that Sadr has not been seen, but he has been heard, rallying his followers with anti-American messages and encouraging his thugs to take on American troops in the south. Intelligence experts believe his militia is simply waiting out the surge.

· Closing markets to vehicles has precluded some car bombs, but it also has prompted terrorists to change tactics and walk in with suicide vests. The road from the airport to Baghdad may be safer, but the skies above it are more lethal -- witness the ironic imposition of "no-fly zones" for our own helicopters.

The most damning evidence that the "results" McCain cites are illusory is the city of Tall Afar. Architects of the president's plan called it a model because in 2005, a surge of about 10,000 Americans and Iraqis pacified the city. Then we left Tall Afar, just as our troops soon will leave the Baghdad neighborhoods that they have calmed.

This month, Tall Afar was the scene of some of the most horrific sectarian violence to date: a massive truck bomb aimed at the Shiite community led to a retaliatory rampage by Shiite death squads, aided by the Iraqi police. Hundreds were killed. The population of Tall Afar, 200,000 a few years ago, is down to 80,000. ...

650,000 dead: "The survey methodology used here cannot be rubbished, it is a tried and tested way of measuring mortality in conflict zones"

A monstrous war crimeWith more than 650,000 civilians dead in Iraq, our government must take responsibility for its lies | by Richard Horton | The Guardian | March 28, 2007

Our collective failure has been to take our political leaders at their word. This week the BBC reported that the government's own scientists advised ministers that the Johns Hopkins study on Iraq civilian mortality was accurate and reliable, following a freedom of information request by the reporter Owen Bennett-Jones. This paper was published in the Lancet last October. It estimated that 650,000 Iraqi civilians had died since the American and British led invasion in March 2003.

Immediately after publication, the prime minister's official spokesman said that the Lancet's study "was not one we believe to be anywhere near accurate". The foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, said that the Lancet figures were "extrapolated" and a "leap". President Bush said: "I don't consider it a credible report".

Scientists at the UK's Department for International Development thought differently. They concluded that the study's methods were "tried and tested". Indeed, the Johns Hopkins approach would likely lead to an "underestimation of mortality". The Ministry of Defence's chief scientific adviser said the research was "robust", close to "best practice", and "balanced". He recommended "caution in publicly criticising the study".

When these recommendations went to the prime minister's advisers, they were horrified. One person briefing Tony Blair wrote: "Are we really sure that the report is likely to be right? That is certainly what the brief implies?" A Foreign and Commonwealth Office official was forced to conclude that the government "should not be rubbishing the Lancet".

The prime minister's adviser finally gave in. He wrote: "The survey methodology used here cannot be rubbished, it is a tried and tested way of measuring mortality in conflict zones". ...

US is having to import [bullets] from Israel: Use 250,000 for Every Rebel Killed

Sunday, September 25, 2005 by The Independent/UK | US Forced to Import Bullets from Israel as Troops Use 250,000 for Every Rebel Killed | by Andrew Buncombe in Washington

US forces have fired so many bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan - an estimated 250,000 for every insurgent killed - that American ammunition-makers cannot keep up with demand. As a result the US is having to import supplies from Israel.

A government report says that US forces are now using 1.8 billion rounds of small-arms ammunition a year. The total has more than doubled in five years, largely as a result of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as changes in military doctrine.

"The Department of Defense's increased requirements for small- and medium-caliber ammunitions have largely been driven by increased weapons training requirements, dictated by the army's transformation to a more self-sustaining and lethal force - which was accelerated after the attacks of 11 September, 2001 - and by the deployment of forces to conduct recent US military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq," said the report by the General Accounting Office (GAO). ...

McCain Wrong on Iraq Security, Merchants Say

McCain Wrong on Iraq Security, Merchants Say | By KIRK SEMPLE | Published: April 3, 2007

BAGHDAD, April 2 — A day after members of an American Congressional delegation led by Senator John McCain pointed to their brief visit to Baghdad’s central market as evidence that the new security plan for the city was working, the merchants there were incredulous about the Americans’ conclusions.

“What are they talking about?” Ali Jassim Faiyad, the owner of an electrical appliances shop in the market, said Monday. “The security procedures were abnormal!”

The delegation arrived at the market, which is called Shorja, on Sunday with more than 100 soldiers in armored Humvees — the equivalent of an entire company — and attack helicopters circled overhead, a senior American military official in Baghdad said. The soldiers redirected traffic from the area and restricted access to the Americans, witnesses said, and sharpshooters were posted on the roofs. The congressmen wore bulletproof vests throughout their hourlong visit.

“They paralyzed the market when they came,” Mr. Faiyad said during an interview in his shop on Monday. “This was only for the media.”

He added, “This will not change anything.” ...

Who was the first high government official to authorize use of mustard gas ... Winston Churchill !

Sunday, December 19, 2004 by the Toronto Sun | West Has Bloodied Hands | by Eric Margolis

Who was the first high government official to authorize use of mustard gas against rebellious Kurdish tribesmen in Iraq?

If your answer was Saddam Hussein's cousin, the notorious "Chemical Ali" -- aka Ali Hassan al-Majid -- you're wrong.

The correct answer: Sainted Winston Churchill. As colonial secretary and secretary for war and air, he authorized the RAF in the 1920s to routinely use mustard gas against rebellious Kurdish tribesmen in Iraq and against Pashtun tribes on British India's northwest frontier.

Iraq's U.S.-installed regime has just announced al-Majid, one of Saddam's most brutal henchmen, will stand trial next week for war crimes.

Al-Majid is accused of ordering the 1988 gassing of Kurds at Halabja that killed over 5,000 civilians. He led the bloody suppression of Iraq's Shias, killing tens of thousands. These were the same Shias whom former U.S. president George Bush called to rebel against Saddam's regime, then sat back and did nothing while they were crushed.

The Halabja atrocity remains murky. The CIA's former Iraq desk chief claims Kurds who died at Halabja were killed by cyanide gas, not nerve gas, as is generally believed.

At the time, Iraq and Iran were locked in the ferocious last battles of their eight-year war. Halabja was caught between the two armies that were exchanging salvos of regular and chemical munitions. Only Iran had cyanide gas. If the CIA official is correct, the Kurds were accidentally killed by Iran, not Iraq. ...

Iraqi Merchant: McCain Visit Propaganda: "They were just making fun of us and paid this visit just for their own interests,"

Apr 3, 5:17 AM EDT | Iraqi Merchant: McCain Visit Propaganda | By KIM GAMEL | Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Iraqis in the capital said Tuesday that Sen. John McCain's account of a heavily guarded visit to a central market did not represent the current reality in Baghdad, with one calling it "propaganda."

Jaafar Moussa Thamir, a 42-year-old who sells electrical appliances at the Shorja market that the Republican congressmen visited on Sunday, said the delegation greeted some fellow vendors with Arabic phrases but he was not impressed.

"They were just making fun of us and paid this visit just for their own interests," he said. "Do they think that when they come and speak few Arabic words in a very bad manner it will make us love them? This country and its society have been destroyed because of them and I hope that they realized that during this visit."

Thamir said "about 150 U.S. soldiers and 20 Humvees" accompanied the delegation.

McCain, a Republican presidential hopeful who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, said he was "cautiously optimistic" after riding with other members of a Republican congressional delegation from Baghdad's airport Sunday in armored vehicles under heavy guard to visit Shorja.

The market has been hit by bombings including a February attack that killed 137 people. The delegation said the trips were proof that security was improving in the capital. ...

">McCain lauds security during Baghdad visit: ... After going past site of car bombing that killed 88 people and wounded 160

McCain lauds security during Baghdad visit | POSTED: 1:15 p.m. EDT, April 1, 2007

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Sen. John McCain visited a Baghdad market Sunday and later told reporters the American people were not getting the full story on what he said were improving security conditions in the war-ravaged capital.

McCain, a presidential hopeful, was among a delegation of Republican lawmakers that made an unannounced trip to Iraq this weekend, the details of which were withheld for security reasons.

The delegation traveled in armored Humvees with a military escort.

After going to a market in Baghdad's al-Sharqi district -- the site of a January twin car bombing that killed 88 people and wounded 160 -- McCain told reporters at a Green Zone news conference that the recent surge of U.S. troops gives the military "a very good chance of bringing security." (Watch how Congress and the White House are tussling over a deadline to bring troops home Video)

"The American people are not getting the full picture of what's happening here. They are not getting the full picture of the drop in murders, the establishment of security outposts throughout the city, the situation in Anbar, the deployment of additional Iraqi brigades who are performing well and other signs of progress," he said. ...

Muqtada al-Sadr issued a scathing attack on the United States on Friday, following one of the country's bloodiest days

Radical Cleric Blames U.S. for Iraq Woes | Mar 30, 9:28 AM (ET) | By BUSHRA JUHI

BAGHDAD (AP) - The radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr issued a scathing attack on the United States on Friday, following one of the country's bloodiest days, blaming Washington for Iraq's troubles and calling for a mass demonstration April 9 - the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.

As al-Sadr's remarks were read in a mosque, Shiites in Baghdad loaded wooden coffins into vans and shoveled broken glass and other debris into wheelbarrows in the aftermath of a double suicide bombing at a marketplace. At least 181 people were killed or found dead Thursday as Sunni insurgents apparently stepped up their campaign of bombings to derail the seven-week-old security sweep in Baghdad.
...
"I renew my call for the occupier (the United States) to leave our land," he said in the statement, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. "The departure of the occupier will mean stability for Iraq, victory for Islam and peace and defeat for terrorism and infidels."

Al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militiamen fought U.S. troops in 2004 but have generally cooperated with an ongoing U.S.-Iraqi security push in Baghdad, blamed the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq for the rising violence, lack of services and sectarian bloodshed.

"You, oppressed people of Iraq, let the entire world hear your voice that you reject occupation, destruction and terrorism," he said in calling for the April 9 demonstration.

"Fly Iraqi flags atop homes, apartment buildings and government departments to show the sovereignty and independence of Iraq, and that you reject the presence of American flags and those of other nations occupying our beloved Iraq. Keep them there until they leave our land," he said. ...

Thursday: 186 Iraqis Killed; 293 Wounded

March 29, 2007 | Thursday: 186 Iraqis Killed; 293 Wounded | Updated at 6:53 p.m. EST, Mar. 29, 2007

At least 186 Iraqis were killed or found dead today and another 293 were wounded in various attacks. The biggest incidents were a series of simultaneous bombs in Khalis that killed at least 53 people, and a bombing at a Baghdad marketplace that killed 76 others. No foreign deaths were reported. ...

ednesday: 166 Iraqis, 2 GIs Killed; 146 Iraqis Wounded ... 3 British soldiers wounded

March 28, 2007 | Wednesday: 166 Iraqis, 2 GIs Killed; 146 Iraqis Wounded | Updated at 1:13 a.m. EST, Mar. 29, 2007

Heavy violence continued overnight in Tal Afar where retaliatory attacks for yesterday’s massive twin bombing left scores dead. Overall, at least 166 Iraqis were reported killed or found dead and another 146 were wounded throughout the country. Also, a Marine was killed in Anbar province yesterday, another GI died of non-combat related illness, and three British soldiers were wounded in separate incidents in Basra. ..

advised against publicly criticising a report estimating that 655,000 Iraqis had died due to the war

Iraqi deaths survey 'was robust' | By Owen Bennett-Jones | BBC World Service

The British government was advised against publicly criticising a report estimating that 655,000 Iraqis had died due to the war, the BBC has learnt.

Iraqi Health Ministry figures put the toll at less than 10% of the total in the survey, published in the Lancet.

But the Ministry of Defence's chief scientific adviser said the survey's methods were "close to best practice" and the study design was "robust".

Another expert agreed the method was "tried and tested". ...

US 'victory' against cult leader was 'massacre'

US 'victory' against cult leader was 'massacre' | Contributed by Tom | By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad

There are growing suspicions in Iraq that the official story of the battle outside Najaf between a messianic Iraqi cult and the Iraqi security forces supported by the US, in which 263 people were killed and 210 wounded, is a fabrication. The heavy casualties may be evidence of an unpremeditated massacre.

01/31/07 "The Independent" -- -- A picture is beginning to emerge of a clash between an Iraqi Shia tribe on a pilgrimage to Najaf and an Iraqi army checkpoint that led the US to intervene with devastating effect.

The involvement of Ahmed al-Hassani (also known as Abu Kamar), who believed himself to be the coming Mahdi, or Messiah, appears to have been accidental.

The story emerging on independent Iraqi websites and in Arabic newspapers is entirely different from the government's account of the battle with the so-called "Soldiers of Heaven", planning a raid on Najaf to kill Shia religious leaders.

The cult denied it was involved in the fighting, saying it was a peaceful movement. The incident reportedly began when a procession of 200 pilgrims was on its way, on foot, to celebrate Ashura in Najaf. They came from the Hawatim tribe, which lives between Najaf and Diwaniyah to the south, and arrived in the Zarga area, one mile from Najaf at about 6am on Sunday. Heading the procession was the chief of the tribe, Hajj Sa'ad Sa'ad Nayif al-Hatemi, and his wife driving in their 1982 Super Toyota sedan because they could not walk. When they reached an Iraqi army checkpoint it opened fire, killing Mr Hatemi, his wife and his driver, Jabar Ridha al-Hatemi. The tribe, fully armed because they were travelling at night, then assaulted the checkpoint to avenge their fallen chief.

Members of another tribe called Khaza'il living in Zarga tried to stop the fighting but they themselves came under fire. Meanwhile, the soldiers and police at the checkpoint called up their commanders saying they were under attack from al-Qai'da with advanced weapons. Reinforcements poured into the area and surrounded the Hawatim tribe in the nearby orchards. The tribesmen tried - in vain - to get their attackers to cease fire.

American helicopters then arrived and dropped leaflets saying: "To the terrorists, surrender before we bomb the area." The tribesmen went on firing and a US helicopter was hit and crashed killing two crewmen. The tribesmen say they do not know if they hit it or if it was brought down by friendly fire. The US aircraft launched an intense aerial bombardment in which 120 tribesmen and local residents were killed by 4am on Monday. ...