Pick one ...
Now use it!
Posted on 07/26/2004 6:28:14 AM PDT by dead
The pledge by the United States to the Iraqi people is to replace dictatorship with democracy, fear with freedom. Yet the man the United States has put in charge of Iraq, the Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, is accused of the cold-blooded murder of up to six young men just days before he took power. The accusation has not been lightly made and cannot easily be swept aside.
The allegations against Dr Allawi were first aired in this newspaper in a story by our chief correspondent, Paul McGeough, an experienced, highly regarded journalist with extensive first-hand experience in Iraq. The report said that last month Dr Allawi drew a gun during a visit to a Baghdad jail and shot seven prisoners who were, apparently, suspected insurgents. Six died and one was wounded. It appears Dr Allawi intended the killings to demonstrate the sort of summary justice he thinks appropriate in the new Iraq. McGeough's report was based on face-to-face interviews with two men who claim to have witnessed the shootings. The witnesses were interviewed separately and were not aware of each other's testimony.
The witnesses refuse to be named. Indeed, they fear the revelation of even the smallest detail that might identify them. That does not mean, however, that their claims cannot be investigated. It is known where the shootings allegedly occurred and when - at Baghdad's Al-Amariyah prison about the third weekend of June. The Herald has supplied the names of three of the alleged victims to the Iraqi Interior Ministry (which will not comment). The executions are claimed to have been carried out before the amazed eyes of a dozen Iraqi policeman and four American guards from Dr Allawi's security detail, among other witnesses. There are plenty of leads to pursue.
Ideally, the pursuing would be done by an independent body such as the United Nations or the Red Cross, or perhaps an international human rights group. But such organisations cannot investigate without permission from the nominally sovereign state of Iraq. And no such permission is likely from Dr Allawi's administration. Dr Allawi's office has already denied the allegations. Iraq's Human Rights Minister, Bakhtiar Amin, while promising to investigate, has prejudged the matter; he says he doesn't believe the witness accounts.
The US installed the Iraqi Government and Dr Allawi. It did so in full knowledge of Dr Allawi's murky past in and out of Iraq - first as an ally, then as a foe, of Saddam Hussein. One former CIA officer has publicly described Dr Allawi as having "blood on his hands"; another brands him "a thug". The allegations against Dr Allawi raise the alarming prospect of an Iraq slipping back into the brutal injustices of the Saddam Hussein era. Any suggestion of such a retrograde trend must be confronted. The US has not only the responsibility but the power to see that the claims against Dr Allawi are properly investigated. Australia, as one of America's closest allies, should be the first to demand that it use it.
More leftist disinformation to discredit the administration and war record.
These people aren't P.O.W.s. They are brigands and criminals of the lowest order.
He could shoot them all as far as I'm concerned.
Great start to a great new government!
These allegations are going to be ignored.
Sorry to break it to you.
"Iyad Allawi, is accused of the cold-blooded murder of up to six young men just days before he took power."
This is probably what it will take. Glad it's them doing it and not our people.
They've been trying to give this story legs for weeks. So far no other reporter has managed to find any evidence he was even in the prison. They'll sacrifice Iraq if it means making Bush look bad.
Pick one ...
Now use it!
I think its funny that this same paper constantly beat the "Iraq must rule Iraq" drum, but now their absolutely demanding that the US go in and take charge of an internal Iraqi accusation.
That's nothing if not typical of the liberal journalistic mindset.
That WE installed? Well, kinda, sorta.
If Alawi is crooked, let's DO have that orgn. known for its honesty and integrity--the UN, investigate. NOT!
Sounds like more muck raising by the left.
vaudine
Apparently, it takes alot longer for news to reach Syndey. This report was on this sight last week?
I still feel the same way about this today as I did then, GO Allawi!
If these "insurgents" were of a different nationality, i.e. Saudi or Pakistani, and were found in civilian dress, they could be summarily executed as spies...IAW GC!....
Somebody please wake me up if the new Iraqi government summarily executes all the troublemakers it can get its hands on. Thanks.
Do we hear all this wailing and gnashing of teeth when Assad, Arafat or Khamenei execute people without trial? If not, why not?
By "disinformation" do you mean lies? What bits do you see as lies?
These people aren't P.O.W.s. They are brigands and criminals of the lowest order.
The article refers to them as prisoners. You refer to them as "brigands and criminals". What were their names, and what did they do?
He could shoot them all as far as I'm concerned.
What if he's shooting good guys? Or mere business rivals?
Remember that Allawi, a Baathist, helped Saddam into power. Birds of a feather.
---The witnesses refuse to be named. Indeed, they fear the revelation of even the smallest detail that might identify them. ---
Right! I don't suppose Allawi remembers who was there while he was busy shooting people in the head. This is the lamest thing I've heard in awhile. This paper needs to hire at least one person with a modicum of intelligence to screen their "stories" before they commit them to type.
Its my suspicion that this stuff has been generated by parties seeking to discredit Bush. Like those individuals who built up the regrettable incidents at Abu Grahbid into a gigantic mountain that overshadowed everything we accomplished there. I'm very suspicious of stories like this one.
"The article refers to them as prisoners. You refer to them as "brigands and criminals". What were their names, and what did they do?"
I doubt if they were Iraqi soldiers captured in the initial battle to secure the country. My guess is all regular Iraqi military personnel have already been paroled by now.
Like the people at Abu Ghrabid, these individuals were most probably "insurgents", i.e. individuals who bomb, kill and maim civilians, and our troops from secret or use women, children and other non-combatants to do so. These people are not covered by the Geneva Convention, and thankfully, are not under the juridiction of the rule-ridden U.S. courts, strangled in their own spohistry and red tape. Personally, I like to see every one of these terrorists shot or nailed to lampposts.
"What if he's shooting good guys? Or mere business rivals?"
What if he's not? What is he isn;t shooting anybody?
Iraq isn't the U.S. and Baghdad isn't Philadelphia. And Allawi isn't a western politician - fortunately. I'm sure these allegations will be investigated and no justification found to support them. I love these reports about "several people saw" or "several people witnessed".
This vague stuff is typical of the rhetoric used by those criticing American troops and the administration.
"Remember that Allawi, a Baathist, helped Saddam into power. Birds of a feather."
I think we helped Saddam also.
The Middle East doesn't operate by our rules. The only way we can prvail there is to beat them at their own tactics and sometimes you have to use a thief to catch a thief. Besides, Allawi appears to have taken a no-nonsense approach to Baathist remnants in Iraq also.
I read the original interview with this reporter somewhere on FR. Supposely, they were foreigners and one minister was reported to have said he wanted to kill them himself whereby Allawi proceeds to shoot all of them.
The report simply didn't wash as it was reported. Too many things didn't add up. If memory serves, Allawi shows up unannounced and during a tour, finds these guys lined up in the courtyard, blindfolded? can't recall now. Simply didn't make sense to me at all when I read the interview, and this was a firsthand interview with the reporter that broke the story. Said he would never divulge his sources etc.
PAUL McGEOUGH: There was a surprise visit at about 10:30 in the morning to the police centre. The PM is said to have talked to a large group of policemen, then to have toured the complex. They came to a courtyard where six, sorry seven prisoners were lined up against a wall. They were handcuffed, they were blindfolded, they were described to me as an Iraqi colloquialism for the fundamentalist foreign fighters who have come to Baghdad.Okay we have:They have that classic look that you see with many of the Osama bin Laden associates of the scraggly beard and the very short hair and they were a sort of ... took place in front of them as they were up against this wall was an exchange between the Interior Minister and Dr Allawi, the Interior Minister saying that he felt like killing them on the spot.
The Interior Minister lives to the north of Baghdad, and on June 19, four of his bodyguards were killed in an attack on his home. He expressed the wish that he would like to kill all these men on the spot. The PM is said to have responded that they deserved worse than death, that each was responsible for killing more than 50 Iraqis each, and at that point, he is said to have pulled a gun and proceeded to aim at and shoot all seven. Six of them died, the seventh, according to one witness, was wounded in the chest, according to the other witness, was wounded in the neck and presumed to be dead.
As explained by the witnesses, neither of them could put a precise date on the incident.
MAXINE McKEW: Your sources of course will be sought out by other news agencies after tonight. Will they stand up to scrutiny?
PAUL McGEOUGH: Well I don't know whether others will find them or not. I won't be making them available to anyone. I've given undertakes that I would protect their identities absolutely and I have to stand by that.
1. A surprise visit where these prisoners were already blindfolded and lined up against the wall before the exchange between the PM and the IM even took place. [Doesn't pass the smell test...]
2. They are described as foreign insurgents who infiltrated a sovereign country to wage war against it's government and had killed Iraqi citizens. [Let's call them what they are: terrorists]
3. Neither witness could put an exact date on the execution. [How Clintonesque!]
4. He will not tell anyone who made the accusations. [Now...we all know how much credibility to give to "unamed sources"..
What say y'all? I actually found myself in agreement once with McGeough...
PAUL McGEOUGH: "You're right about the Baghdad rumour mill, it's ferocious."
See Post #19 on this thread...this story clearly does not pass the smell test.
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