From the March 07, 2005 edition.
Good morning Gucho, all
Iraqi policemen and an Italian soldier discuss in Nasiriyah. A senior Iraqi official was gunned down in Baghdad after a day of attacks waged by insurgents against the country's security services that left at least 27 people dead.(AFP/Essam al-Sudani)
Senior Iraqi official slain, 15 headless corpses found
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Al-Qaeda militants gunned down a senior Iraqi offical and soldiers discovered 15 beheaded bodies as the furore over the US shooting of an Italian intelligence agent threatened to carve a deep rift between Washington and Rome.
The US military's conduct in Iraq was under scrutiny over the shooting of the Italian and a Bulgarian soldier in a separate incident, and a video of soldiers abusing at least one wounded prisoner.
On the policial front, a senior Shiite official said the country's new government lineup would be unveiled after the first freely elected parliament in half a century convenes on March 16.
The deputy director of the Iraqi interior ministry's naturalisation department, Ghazi Mohammed Issa, was killed in broad daylight outside his Baghdad home by masked gunmen in a car, ministry official Sabah Kadhim said.
The assassination was claimed in a statement posted on the Internet by Al-Qaeda's group in Iraq, headed by Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It was impossible to verify its accuracy.
More than 1,300 police and national guards have been killed by rebels since the fall of Saddam in April 2003.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi army said it found 15 beheaded corpses, both men and women, on an old military base near Latifiyah, south of Baghdad.
The corpses were found during an army raid on the old Hatin army base, now believed to be used by insurgents, said Captain Mohammed Abdul Hussein al-Saedi.
The soldiers launched the operation after reports some Shiite pilgrims on their way to the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf had disappeared near Latifiyah, around 40 kilometres (30 miles) from Baghdad, where rebels frequently launch attacks.
In Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini demanded answers over the differences in US and Italian versions of the killing of intelligence agent Nicola Calipari and wounding of freed journalist Guiliana Sgrena Friday by US soldiers at a Baghdad checkpoint.
Fini dismissed Washington's view that the incident could be blamed on miscommunication and said the United States must "identify and punish" the soldiers who opened fire on the Italian convoy.
An experienced operator in Iraq, Calipari had made "all the necessary contacts" with US authorities in Baghdad, he said.
"We ask for truth and justice," Fini said, although he rejected allegations that the US soldiers had deliberately targeted the Italian convoy taking Sgrena to the airport, newly free after a month-long hostage ordeal.
US President George W. Bush has promised a full investigation into the incident, which has rekindled Italian public opposition to the war in Iraq and calls for a withdrawal of Italy's 3,000-strong military contingent from the country.
Another ally, Bulgaria with 450 soldiers, is also demanding answers from the US government over the accidental killing of one its soldiers in central Iraq in incident that involved a US soldier.
The US military was also under the spotlight over the release of a video of soldiers in Ramadi abusing at least one wounded prisoner in Iraq and showing disrespect to dead Iraqis as well as Iraqi civilians.
A timeline for Iraq's next government came into into clearer focus Tuesday as senior Shiite politicians from the winning United Iraqi Alliance said the next cabinet will not be announced until after the first session of the 275-member national assembly.
"I do not think the names of those that will occupy the ministries will be announced before the meeting of the national assembly," said Sheikh Humam Hamoudi.
In Ramadi, the provincial capital of Al-Anbar province, new Iraqi commandos raided a hospital Tuesday "to investigate possible insurgent activity taking place on the premises," said a US military statement.
Clashes between rebels and insurgents left three people killed and four wounded, a hospital doctor said.
An oil pipeline feeding Baghdad's Dura oil refinery was blown up in Jorf al-Sakhr, 60 kilometres (46 miles) south of the capital, said state oil official Muayaad al-Shemmari.
Five soldiers were killed overnight in Iskandariya when a coffin attached to a car's rooftop exploded near their checkpoint, the Iraqi army said.
Four women with suicide belts were also arrested in Iskandariyah and confessed to working for the militant group, the Islamic Army in Iraq, it added.
On the hostage front, a Jordanian businessman was released on Monday, his brother told AFP in Amman, after his captors agreed to a 100,000 dollar ransom, half of what was initially demanded.
Ibrahim Maharmeh was seized Friday by unknown kidnappers in the upmarket Mansur neighbourhood of Baghdad.
ChaldoAssyrians See Face of Evil on TV
by Gordon Lake
His name is First Lieutenant Shuqair al-Farishi of the Badrani tribe. He was a police officer in Mosul. He also raped and murdered Christians while on duty.
Shuqair al-Farishi is seated next to fellow police officer Hussein Sheikhu. Both are being interrogated by a judge accusing them of being terrorists. The two men are confessing their crimes on video which was broadcast on Al-Iraqiya TV in Iraq.
The judge asks Hussein “who else did you kill?”, “I killed those Christians” he replied. Judge: who were they? Hussein: Aiman Ishu and Boutros. Judge: Why? Hussein: They were collaborators.
The broadcasts are a response to video releases by the insurgency. The thought was the propaganda advantage could be taken from the insurgency by showing captured terrorists who seem so confident in beheading videos, now appearing weak and scared in captivity.
And it seems to be working. According to some in Mosul who are frequent Paltalk users (audio chat rooms on the internet) “Mosul is a different city since the broadcasts began. People are less scared to turn in insurgents” says naabo_1 (screen name), “and more trusting of the police as legitimate now and not as members of the insurgency.”
The broadcasts are powerful, both in the confessions and in the interrogations. At one point the judge asks Shuqair, who had already admitted he worked for an Iraqi and a Syrian, “who gave you the money?”, Shuqair seemed unsure and the judge responded “are you stupid or are you just pretending?”.
The judge asked Hussein “how many people did you and your filthy terrorist squad kill?” Hussein: 36, including the girls, sir. Judge: with the girls? Hussein: yes sir. Judge: how many girls? Hussein: 10 sir. Judge: you killed 10 girls? You raped and killed them? Hussein: Yes, we raped and killed them. Judge: were they unmarried, or what? Hussein: Unmarried, but there were also some married ones. They were university students.
Hussein explained that of the 36 people he killed, most were police, National Guards and collaborators. He had killed no Americans, just Iraqis.
Shuqair and Hussein appeared scared but calmly told of the rapes and murders. The judge was not calm, at one point saying “may Allah grind your ribs”.
Even the concept of that didn’t seem like justice enough.
Related External Video Al-Iraqiya broadcast