Aaron Glantz, OneWorld USFri Jun 2, 11:51 PM ET
LOS ANGELES, June 2 (OneWorld) - The number of allegations of U.S. troops deliberately killing Iraqi civilians continues to pile up.
On Thursday, the BBC broadcast footage from an incident in March in the town of Ishaqi, 60 miles north of Baghdad, in which U.S. soldiers were accused of executing 11 Iraqis, including four children.
The American military says it was hunting an al-Qaeda suspect and the family was killed when their roof collapsed during the fight, but the Iraqi police maintain American soldiers rounded up and executed the entire family and then demolished the house.
The BBC didn't broadcast all the tape in its possession, calling it too gruesome for television. But they said the video, which was supplied by an insurgent group, showed all 11 Iraqis--from a 75-year-old grandmother to a 6-month-old baby--were killed by bullet wounds to the head and stomach. Iraqi policemen told the network that after everyone was shot, the U.S. military bombed the house.
Friday afternoon, the Pentagon said soldiers in Ishaqi had acted "within the rules of engagement," but investigations continued into a second incident in Haditha, where U.S. soldiers killed 24 Iraqis in their homes last November.
The military is conducting two investigations into the Haditha case, one to see if U.S. troops committed crimes there and a second to determine if the actions were covered up.
"There are many, many, many cases like Haditha that are still undercover and need to be highlighted in Iraq," said Dr. Salam Ishmael, projects manager of the organization Doctors for Iraq and former Chief of the Junior Doctors in Baghdad's Medical City hospital.
He says during the same assault the U.S. military attacked the hospital and burned the pharmacy.
"The hospital has been attacked three times. In November 2005, the hospital was occupied by the American and Iraqi Army for seven days, which is a severe breach of the Geneva Conventions," he said.
"In one of these attacks, the U.S. soldiers used live ammunition inside the hospital," he added. "They handcuffed all the doctors and destroyed the entire contents of the medical storage. It ended with the killing of one of the patients in his bed."
It's difficult to independently verify such reports, because most human rights groups have left the country citing security concerns.
"For some time we've been very much constrained and limited in our movements in Iraq," said Nada Doumani, spokesperson for the International Red Cross-Iraq, which is now based in Amman, Jordan. "Unfortunately we cannot be present everywhere and therefore we cannot comment on events in all areas of Iraq," Doumani told OneWorld.
Still, the number of disturbing allegations is staggering.
In Baghdad Thursday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told reporters violence against civilians by occupying troops is "common" in Iraq. He added that many soldiers have "no respect for citizens, smashing civilian cars and killing on a suspicion or a hunch."
At the Pentagon, Major General William Caldwell disagreed.
"The coalition does not and will not tolerate any unethical or criminal behavior," he said. "Any allegations of such activities will be fully investigated and any members found to have committed these violations will be held accountable."
"They're using the media to turn this into a justice issue not a policy issue," retorted
John Oliviera, a former Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy. Oliviera was spokesman for an aircraft carrier battle group before he left the military in 2004, saying he had helped to promote an unjust war.
Oliviera said that as with most cases, the Bush Administration first tried to ignore the allegations, then denied the acts occurred. When the evidence became overwhelming, the Pentagon promised a thorough investigation.
"All of the sudden the Administration is on the side of the Iraqis who said that this happened and they need to get some credibility from the American public--to say that they're not hiding anything," Oliviera said.
He said the Pentagon is employing the same spin with the Haditha massacre as it did during the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, after which numerous low-ranking soldiers were put on trial but the upper echelons of the Pentagon remained unscathed.
"I guarantee that those young Marines will be taken to trial," he added. "But I almost guarantee that most of their leadership will not be taken to trial. At most they'll get a letter of reprimand put in their service records."
