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Arab TV shows scenes of alleged Americans held by Iraq
The Associated Press

DOHA, Qatar (AP) - The Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera aired footage Sunday of interviews with what the station identified as captured American prisoners, and also showed bodies in uniform in an Iraqi morgue that it said were Americans.

The station said the prisoners were captured around Nasiriyah.

In the interviews, two of the prisoners identified their unit only as the 507th Maintenance.

Al-Jazeera was broadcasting footage from Iraqi television.

Four bodies could be seen lying on the floor of the room.

At least five prisoners, speaking American-accented English, were interviewed. Two were bandaged.

One of the men, sitting up, was being interviewed by an unseen person holding a microphone labeled "Iraqi TV." The soldier spoke in English and at one point said: "I'm sorry. I don't understand you."

The U.S. Central Command had no comment on the footage.

The television crew interviewed several of the troops, including one woman. The narrator provided an Arabic translation, but it was possible to hear some of the comments in English.

"I come to shoot only if I am shot at," said one of the Americans, who said he was from Kansas, when asked why he was fighting Iraqis. "They don't bother me, I don't bother them."

Another prisoner, who said he was from El Paso, Texas, said only that "I follow orders."

A voice off camera asked: "How many officers" were in his unit.

"I don't know sir," the soldier replied.

One of the prisoners was shown lying on his back on a bed, with apparent wounds to both arms and hands and marks on his forehead. He had a bandage on one hand and what appeared to be dried blood on his shirt, arms and face.

On CBS's "Face the Nation," Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said that if those are indeed coalition soldiers being shown on the Al-Jazeera TV footage, "those pictures are a violation of the Geneva Convention."

There was no confirmation that the prisoners were U.S. troops, or if they were, what unit they were attached to.

The U.S. Army's 507th Maintenance Company is based in Fort Bliss, Texas. The unit is part of the Army's 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, which includes Patriot missile batteries.