Posted on 07/18/2004 5:12:15 PM PDT by blam
Iraq's premier denies claims that he executed six prisoners
BY Damien McElroy in Baghdad
(Filed: 18/07/2004)
Ayad Allawi, Iraq's prime minister, has dismissed allegations that he killed six prisoners in cold blood just days before assuming power from the American-led coalition last month.
An Australian newspaper reported claims that Dr Allawi had pulled a pistol from his belt to shoot a group of blindfolded and shackled insurgents who had been lined up against the wall of a police station in Baghdad.
Mr Allawi dismisses the claims The story in the Sydney Morning Herald, based on the unsubstantiated claims of two anonymous Iraqis, arose from a rumour apparently circulating in Baghdad.
Although the prime minister's office advised the anonymous Iraqis to make a report to the authorities, his officials rejected the allegations. "Dr Allawi is turning this country into a free and democratic nation run by the rule of law," a statement said.
"Numerous groups are attempting to hinder what the interim Iraqi government is on the verge of achieving, and occasionally they spread outrageous accusations hoping they will be believed and thus harm the honourable reputation of those who sacrifice so much."
Neither a date for the incident nor the names of the Iraqis who claim to have witnessed it were given in the Sydney Morning Herald. It reported claims that Dr Allawi and Falah al-Naqib, the interior minister, made a unscheduled visit to the Al-Amriyah police station in Baghdad in mid-June.
When presented with seven detainees who were said to be responsible for attacks on Iraq's security forces, it alleged, Dr Allawi, who once survived an axe attack in London ordered by Saddam Hussein shot each one, killing six and wounding one. About two dozen people, including Dr Allawi's American personal security guards, were said to have witnessed the incident.
One of the newspaper's informants alleged: "The prisoners were against the wall and we were standing in the courtyard when the interior minister said that he would like to kill them all on the spot. Allawi said that they deserved worse than death - but then he pulled the pistol from his belt and started shooting them." Three of the victims were named in the report.
Dr Allawi's British and American allies have applauded his new government as strong and effective. Confidence among Iraqis has soared as the new government has taken steps to tackle the country's insurgency.
Even so, the bloodshed continues. Iraq's justice minister, Malik al-Hassan, narrowly escaped injury yesterday morning when a suicide bomber blew up a vehicle as his convoy left his home.
The insurgents have repeatedly targeted top officials. Last week, a regional governor was killed when his convoy was ambushed.
Five guards were killed in the attack, which was claimed by Abu Musab al-Zarqai, the al-Qaeda militant blamed for a series of deadly suicide bombings, and for executing at least three Western hostages in Iraq.
Five burnt-out cars were littered across the road, with human remains scattered among the wreckage.
In the southern Baghdad suburb of Mahmudiyah, two national guard officers were killed and 25 other people injured when a suicide bomber slammed a vehicle into a recruitment centre.
North of Baghdad, a roadside bomb in the town of Baiji killed an American soldier and wounded another. The death brought to 655 the number of American troops killed in action in Iraq since the invasion last year to oust Saddam Hussein.
"Numerous groups are attempting to hinder what the interim Iraqi government is on the verge of achieving, and occasionally they spread outrageous accusations hoping they will be believed and thus harm the honourable reputation of those who sacrifice so much."
...change to...
"Numerous groups John Kerry and the Democrats are attempting to hinder what the interim Iraqi government George Bush and the US Military is on the verge of achieving, and occasionally they spread outrageous accusations hoping they will be believed and thus harm the honourable reputation of those who sacrifice so much."
There. That's about right.
Exactly. Looks like the terrorists & anarchists in Iraq have taken a page out of the Democrook's playbook.
Here's another example of a liberal media outlet torpedoing a free government in Iraq.
No responsible or realistic paper would print such allegations if not for the one and sole reason to factually condemn this man to death.
Such journalism has blood on their hands.
They'll need to get used to it if they want a Free country. Personally, I have my doubts that they will. Too many obstacles.
Why are they reporting this thing? No date is given, no identity for witnesses or victims, it supposedly happened before the handover. This is just a crazy rumor that the media has latched onto. Bad journalism.
He shouldn't even be responding to this.
I don't know.... they took something pleasant and beautiful, and made it sound so..... cheap and nasty.
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