Posted on 12/03/2004 6:56:20 AM PST by OldCorps
Girl's killing puts focus on soldiers By Joshua Mitnick THE WASHINGTON TIMES TEL AVIV — The calculated killing of an unarmed Palestinian schoolgirl in the Gaza Strip in October has prompted unusual public scrutiny of the Israeli army and its treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories.
A military court last week indicted a company commander in the Oct. 5 killing of 13-year-old Iman Hams after she wandered near an army outpost.
In two counts of improper use of firearms, prosecutors charge that the officer, identified only as "Capt. R," needlessly fired several rounds of bullets into the girl's body at close range.
Details of the incident came to light last week after military video and audio recordings of the incident were leaked to news media. The cold-blooded way the girl was killed — even after she had been identified as an unarmed and nonthreatening child — has disturbed commentators and former military officers.
"If a real court battle is conducted in this case," wrote Amos Harel, a military correspondent for the Ha'aretz newspaper, "the trial of the company commander will turn into a discussion about the [Israel Defense Force's] behavior in the Gaza Strip during the past years and about the freedom of action it has allowed itself in the name of confronting terror in this war."
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(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Old news.
'anyone who enters this zone must be killed - even if it's a 3 year old child'. Sounds to me like they were in a lose/lose situation. Unless this guy is a cold-blooded wanton murderer it would seem that they were anticipating an attack of some kind from that 'zone'? Regardless it's tragic.
Shows you how our coverage of their civil war is regulated so strictly here. I'm amazed that we have even heard about it at all.
13 is old enough to know better, especially in that part of the world. A sad story, but survival sometimes begets sad sstories.
Right.
Unarmed and non-threatening in an environment where girls and women can be wearing explosive belts? No. such. thing.
It might be a bad shooting, and Captain R. might deserve what he gets, but jury should remember the circumstances under which the IDF is operating.
At least he wasn't celebrated as a hero, as are Muslims who murder unarmed civilians.
problem is, the israeli army doesnt define their "dead" zones, except to their own soldiers
"Not until four minutes later was it reported that the girl had been hit and had fallen. The observation post reports: "Receive, I think that one of the positions took her out." ... Operations room: "What, she fell?" Observation post: "She's not moving right now."
"The soldiers said that the commander had fired two shots at the girl from close range as she lay on the ground before withdrawing, turning and "emptying his magazine" by firing some 10 bullets at her body."
from what I read, it sounded like a large cleared area, with sand underfoot to slow people down, that would take a long time to cross. and the girl was walking steadily at the tower. Suicidal? flowers for their guns? only God knows her motives now.
She was shot in the legs - pain changed her mind and she tried to run away. Shot again and fell, and then the officer approached and shot her at close range, as his men yelled for him to stop.
very sad. I have a thirteen year old daughter and they do strange things some times.
The one nation in the region with a legal system which addresses incidents like this.
who wrote this?
What kind of "BS" is this. How do you ID a child is unarmed without approaching close enough to been blown up? The IDF guy did what he had to do. Like the young marine in Fallujah who "offed" the wounded iraqi, he'll probably be racked over the coals. Unofficial reports from Iraq indicate our guys have even had to kill kids as young as 4-5 yrs old acting as spotters and sappers for al qaeda. The enemy we're dealing with is about as rotten as it gets...lower than lib politicians. They play by no rules and will do anything to exploit the humanity of our troops. Come to think of it, isn't that exactly what our lib politicians do? Exploitchildren all the time to get votes or pass "pork" legislation.
Meantime we, as well as the IDF, seem to have a miltary chain of command composed of a bunch of "butt kissers" willing to screw over their own combat troops for the benefit of "world opinion". The same pentagon butt kissers that helped Kerry and McCain abandon our MIA's in Vietnam. How can they look themselves in the mirror. They make me puke.
I just did a google and found it here. The link includes a video with BBC commentary.
"She was a decoy. Snipers were waiting to take out any troops that approached her."
So then when this soldier that shot her "at close range" where were those snipers???
man - disgusting. thanks for the info.
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