BAGHDAD, 12 June 2003 — A Baghdad newspaper yesterday retracted claims that US troops in Iraq had gang-raped two teenage girls, saying it had fired the two journalists who penned the report, which sparked a furious reaction from the US military.
“On Saturday we published a report by two of our correspondents Ahmad Abdel Karim and Mohammad Fadel, saying that US soldiers had raped two young girls,” As-Saah wrote. “Considering the sensitive nature of this affair, we sent out chief editor and two other reporters to Suwairra and they found the article was based on local hearsay.” US Central Command said a “thorough investigation” had shown the report to be “absolutely false” and charged that the paper was “purposefully” seeking to “damage the credibility of our forces”. It accused the paper of supporting the ousted regime.
Meanwhile, a former senior official at the Iraqi Information Ministry during Saddam Hussein’s rule said yesterday Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction had all been destroyed years ago.
Amir Al-Helou, previously editor-in-chief of the Baathist government weekly Alif Baa magazine, has resurfaced since the US-led war as a contributor to London-based daily Azzaman. “The story of weapons of mass destruction is all a lie and the Americans know that very well,” Helou told Reuters.
“Iraq used to have weapons of mass destruction in 1991 but did not use them against the US-led forces in the war that drove Iraqi troops out of Kuwait,” he said.
He said all such weapons had been destroyed either by UN arms inspectors or US air strikes during the 1991 Gulf War.
“Washington and London knew all about Iraq’s banned weapons because the West helped Iraq to acquire them,” he added.
