BAGHDAD, 18 November 2004 — Arabs voiced outrage yesterday at the shooting of an unarmed Iraqi by a US Marine in Fallujah, calling for an immediate investigation of this war crime.
US and other television channels this week broadcast footage that showed a marine shooting an unarmed and wounded Iraqi at point blank range in a mosque in Fallujah, where a massive US-led assault began over a week ago.
The Arab League called for “an immediate enquiry into this incident and for the soldier who committed this act, considered a war crime, to be severely punished,” if he is found guilty, said spokesman Hossam Zaki.
The US military said Tuesday that it had opened an investigation into the incident but that the soldier involved had been withdrawn from the battlefield.
Zaki also called for investigations into similar incidents in Fallujah and in other Iraqi cities which have not been revealed through the media.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement also condemned the “crime against humanity” saying it showed the values that the United States wants to “install in Iraqi cities and throughout the rest of the region.”
Viewers said images, which Arab televisions aired repeatedly of the killing, fueled growing hatred against America and helped create more “terrorists”.
“I am not a Jihadist, I am just a normal Muslim but such scenes are pushing me to Jihad,” said Dubai-based engineer Abdallah. “We don’t expect this from the representative of democracy in the world.”
“This is one of the things we saw on TV. God knows how many crimes they have committed which we have not seen,” he added.”
Newspapers across the region also vehemently condemned the action.
“This footage reveals the most atrocious war crimes and shameful human rights violations, which are unworthy of those who present themselves as defenders of freedom, democracy and human rights,” said Al-Bayan in the United Arab Emirates. The Abu Dhabi newspaper Al-Ittihad wrote that “international public opinion calls on American to swiftly arrange the trial, in total transparency, of the soldier who committed this crime.”
Violence continued unabated in Iraq yesterday with a car bomb killing 14 people and reports of tens of newly trained policemen being kidnapped. The number of the kidnapped policemen varied with Agence France Presse putting the number at over 60 and the Associated Press 31. They were kidnapped on Sunday as they returned from training in Jordan, one of the few who managed to escape said in Karbala yesterday.
“We were around 65 policemen returning from training in Jordan when around 20 masked gunmen entered our hotel on Sunday morning in Trebil,” said the policeman.
“They hooded all the policemen, tied their hands and took them away,” said Leith Naama Al-Kaabi. “I managed to escape thanks to one of my colleagues. He was frog-walked into my room by a gunman but he managed to convince him that he was a car-dealer and that he didn’t know who I was. The attacker hit me on the head with his gun and I lost consciousness,” he recounted.
“When I awoke, I realized that the one who saved me and my room-mate had not been kidnapped. So we took a taxi and returned to Karbala,” he was quoted as saying.
Fifteen Iraqis were killed and 22 wounded when a suicide bomber rammed his car into a US armored vehicle in the northern oil city of Baiji. Witnesses said the bomb, which blew up in a market area near the center of the city, damaged the US vehicle and wounded some troops, prompting them to open fire.
A US military spokesman confirmed that a suicide bomber had driven into what he believed was a Bradley infantry fighting vehicle but he had no information on casualties.
Clashes between US-led troops and insurgents later erupted in several parts of Baiji prompting the US military to seal off the oil refinery in the north of the city to protect it from attack.
— Additional input from agencies
