U.S. General Accuses Iraq of Killing POWs

Associated Press ^ | Mar. 26, 2003 | MATT KELLEY

[Dubya]

WASHINGTON - Iraq has executed prisoners of war, the Pentagon's No. 2 general said Wednesday night as he listed a series of what he called unprecedented Iraqi violations of the laws of war.

Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, apparently was referring to some of the U.S. Army troops captured Sunday by Iraqi forces in the city of An Nasiriyah. Iraqi state television later showed video footage of five living POWs and the bodies of at least five U.S. soldiers.

Defense officials who have viewed the tape have said privately that several of the bodies had execution-style gunshot wounds to their heads.

Intelligence officials have received one uncorroborated report indicating that at least some of the dead soldiers had been captured alive and executed in public, a senior Pentagon official said Wednesday on condition of anonymity. The information - which did not come from an intercepted communication, as the New York Times reported Wednesday - is of undetermined reliablility, the official said.

Pace, interviewed on CNN's "Larry King Live," said Iraqis had engaged in many atrocities in the six days since the war began.

"They have executed prisoners of war. ... They have used women and children as human shields and they have pretended to surrender and then opened fire," Pace said. "I've never seen anything like this. It's disgusting."

Pentagon officials said Wednesday the International Committee of the Red Cross still had not been granted access to the five Army soldiers captured Sunday and the two Army helicopter pilots captured a day later. All seven were questioned in front of Iraqi video cameras and the tapes were later played on Iraqi television - which U.S. officials say violated Geneva Convention prohibitions on subjecting POWs to public humiliation.

The first group of Army soldiers captured were part of a maintenance convoy which made a wrong turn in the south-central Iraqi town of An Nasiriyah on Sunday and was attacked by Iraqi forces. Of that unit, the Army says, two soldiers are confirmed dead, five are confirmed as prisoners of war and eight are missing.

Pentagon officials say the prisoners thought to have been executed are among the eight formally listed as missing. Final determinations that they are dead and how they were killed can only happen once the bodies are located, officials said.

[pipecorp]

This is why there can be no rules in war. Only the righteous are constrained by them.

[Dubya]

Thats true. I hope we start trying to win the war.
No more Korea

No more Nam.

[socal_parrot]

While the minnions of Saddam practice terrorism and murder on the people of Iraq, we must remember that the targets of this terrorism are not the target of this war. If we throw out the rules of war, we put in danger those we profess to want to liberate. While these tactics may delay us, we will prevail at the end of the day and the people of Iraq will be able to control their destiny.

[kitty_wilson_esquire]

What do you expect. We are fighting a Corporate machine, patterned after the Leadership style of Joseph Stalin, the Management style of the Mafia and a religious style 180 degrees from our Christian principles and beliefs.

Wake up, read history and advocate that our policy be to treat the opposing IRAQI forces in a manner that strikes FEAR into their very being.

Harry Truman fully understood what the situation called for to end the confilct in the Pacific and I pray that George Bush continues to have the internal wisdom, the understanding and the conviction to see what this current situation requires.

[pnz1]

Shepherd Smith just announced this on Fox..

[Dubya]

Very true.

[opbuzz]

I believe that Gen Pace was the HMFIC of Somalia as a 3star.

He could run three miles in less than 16 minutes.

[teletech]

Time to hit them HARD! Take NO prisoners!

[gcruse]

We are fighting a Corporate machine

What does that mean?

[Dubya]

Thats right.

Play time is over. Should have been over from the start.

[ysoitanly]

I've been watching Fox and it seems the Brits, too, are caught in this PC stuff of not hurting civilians at any cost, or they could have moved on from their current positions by just calling in air strikes. We're going to have to make a decision NOW - do we want to WIN or do we continue to protect 'innocent'lives (which we can't even determine when they're donning our uniforms and faking surrenders while murdering our POWs) and have the only means to attack by violating every single rule of engagement? And please do not misconstrue this to mean I don't care about innocents and we should stoop to their level - but - we need to keep our troops safe and our goal clear. Now I just hear it will take 'months' to win this from Shepard Smith's sources which he said was from the highest source - all due to PC IMHO. We need to WIN and save OUR troops!!!

[ET(end tyranny)]

I have a question. When the U.N. met today, did any of them by chance mention the Iraqi violations of the Geneva Convention?

If the US were killing prisoners and dressing up like Iraqis to lure people into an ambush, you can bet the entire UN would be screaming about the violations, and a bunch of other organizations out there as well!

[dsaint]

You're saying Bush should nuke Iraq the way Truman nuked Japan?

[ysoitanly]

Amnesty International said NOTHING about the grisly pictures of obvious Iraqi torture and execution of our prisoners as crystal-clear violations of ANY wartime rules of engagement, but oh, boy - they thought that our temporary taking out of Iraqi TV was a violation of the Geneva convention! (Anyway, NOT - it's state-owned, and therefore a legitimate target) and anyway, it's apparently now grinding out their propaganda again as we speak. But their priorities are stunning. I wrote them venomously hateful email today. They responded that 'everyone's rights need to be respected, even in the most adverse conditions'. Oh.

[ET(end tyranny)]

What did they say about the rights of our POW's... especially the ones that were executed?

My guess is that they said nothing.

[ysoitanly]

Yep - nothing.