March 23, 2006
The U.S. military has launched an investigation into the killing of
Iraqi civilians by U.S. forces in a raid last week. Iraqi police have
accused American troops of murdering 11 civilians in the assault. The
dead included five children and four women and ranged in age from 6
months to 75 years old. We go to Baghdad to speak with the Knight
Ridder reporter who broke the story. [includes rush transcript]
The US military has launched an investigation into the killing of Iraqi civilians by US forces in a raid last week.
Iraqi police have accused American troops of murdering 11 civilians
in the assault. According to an Iraqi police report first obtained by
the Knight Ridder news agency, the villagers were killed after US
troops herded them into one room of a house near the city of Balad. The
dead included five children and four women and ranged in age from 6
months to 75 years old. The report said the troops burned three
vehicles, killed the villagers' animals and blew up the house. Local
medics said the bodies of those killed had bullet wounds to the head.
The US military contends that only four civilians were killed in the
raid after they came under fire while trying to capture an al-Qaeda
suspect. Photographs in the aftermath of the incident show locals
cradling the bodies of dead children, and laying out their bodies in an
emotional burial ceremony.
The report of the killings is unusual because it originated with Iraqi
police and because Iraqi police were willing to attach their names to
it. It was compiled by the Joint Coordination Center in Tikrit, a
regional security center set up with United States military assistance.
The investigation into the killings comes hot on the heels of a US Navy
criminal probe into reports that marines intentionally shot 15
civilians dead near the western town of Haditha last November.
Several Iraq veterans recently told BBC's NewsNight program that the
Haditha attack was not an isolated. Specialist Michael Blake, who
served in Balad, said it was common practice to "shoot up the landscape
or anything that moved" after an explosion. Another veteran, Specialist
Jody Casey said he was always advised to carry a shovel, which he could
plant on any civilian victims to make it look as though they were
digging roadside bombs.
We go to Baghdad to speak with the reporter Matthew Schofield. He is
the European Bureau Chief for the Knight Ridder news agency, currently
reporting from Iraq. He first obtained the Iraqi police report that
accused US troops of the civilian killings.
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
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AMY GOODMAN: We go now to Baghdad to speak with reporter
Matthew Schofield. He's the European Bureau Chief for Knight Ridder
news agency, currently reporting from Iraq, the first to obtain the
Iraqi police report that accused the U.S. troops of the civilian
killings. We welcome to you Democracy Now!, Matthew.
MATTHEW SCHOFIELD: Thanks very much, Amy.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you explain exactly what you know at this point?
MATTHEW SCHOFIELD: Well, the story, as you and Juan just
outlined it, pretty much goes through the basics of the story. We've
talked quite a bit further in the last couple days with people
surrounding the story. But what we have is a divergence on the story
between the two -- there are two accounts. There’s a U.S. military
account, and then there’s an Iraqi police account of what happened.
As you know, the U.S. military account is that after showing
up and getting into a shootout to get into this house, the house
collapsed during the shootout. People were killed either in the
shootout or by the collapsing house. They left. They found four bodies
and left. They found this suspect. They arrested him. And that's pretty
much that story.
The other story is that the house was standing when the U.S.
troops went in. They were herded into one room -- eleven people herded
into one room, executed. U.S. troops then blew up the house and left.
We were talking with the police officer who was first on the
scene earlier today. He explained the scene of arriving. He said they
waited until U.S. troops had left the area and it was safe to go in.
When they arrived at the house, it was in rubble. I don't know if
you've seen the photos of the remains of the house, but there was very
little standing. He said they expected to find bodies under the rubble.
Instead, what they found was in one room of the house, in one corner of
one room, there was a single man who had been shot in the head.
Directly across the room from him against the other wall were ten
people, ranging from his 75-year-old mother-in-law to a six-month-old
child, also several three-year-olds -- a couple three-year-olds, a
couple five-year-olds, and four other -- three other women.
Lined up, they were covered, and they had all been shot.
According to the doctor we talked to today, they had all been shot in
the head, in the chest. A number of -- you know, generally, some of
them were shot several times. The doctor said it's very difficult to
determine exactly what kind of caliber gun they were shot with. He said
the entry wounds were generally small and round, the exit wounds were
generally very large. But they were lined up along one wall. There was
a blanket over the top of them, and they were under the rubble, so when
the police arrived, and residents came to help them start digging in,
they came across the blankets.
They came across the blankets. They picked the blankets up.
They say, at that point, that the hands were handcuffed in front of the
Iraqis. They had been handcuffed and shot. And the Iraqi assumption is
that they were shot in front of the man across the room. They came to
be facing each other. There is nothing to corroborate that. The U.S. is
now investigating this matter, along with the Haditha matter. That's
kind of where we stand right now.
AMY GOODMAN: We're talking to Matthew Schofield. He's
European Bureau Chief for Knight Ridder news agency, speaking to us
from Baghdad, recently wrote an article on how the Iraqi police have
accused the U.S. troops in Balad of executing eleven people from a
six-month-old to a 75-year-old woman. Juan?
JUAN GONZALEZ: Matthew, you mentioned the doctor that you spoke to. Was this a doctor at the local hospital? Was this a medical examiner?
MATTHEW SCHOFIELD: This was the doctor who conducted the autopsies.
JUAN GONZALEZ: But he said that he could not determine the caliber of the bullets that were used in the killings.
MATTHEW SCHOFIELD: Yeah. What we're looking at -- I mean,
I think when we hear autopsy, especially with all the crime shows on
television, we have this image of kind of scientific wonder stuff going
on. As he explained it, he said, "Listen, I don't have any equipment to
do this with. What I have are my eyes. I examined the bodies by looking
at the bodies." He did not find any powder residue on the bodies. Now,
when we see the same in the United States and Canada, in Europe, we see
this and we say, 'Okay, that means that there was no -- there might not
have been powder burns, so maybe the shots didn't come from a very
close range.’ It doesn't necessarily mean that, but it can mean that.
However, in this case, he said, "I was looking at the bodies.
I didn't see the powder." What he means is not that he did chemical
tests and sort of things like that. He said, "I physically couldn't see
the powder." If you've seen the pictures of the bodies, they were
covered in the concrete rubble. This thin powder of concrete covered
the entire – covered them all. They were almost white from this powder,
you know, chalky white from this powder. And these sorts of things --
the investigation is hampered by the fact that, he says, "Listen, this
was eleven bodies came into our office. This is not a particularly big
deal. We're very busy. We get between five and fifteen bodies a day,
anyway."
JUAN GONZALEZ: And have you been able to determine what unit of the U.S. military was involved in this action?
MATTHEW SCHOFIELD: The U.S. Military so far has refused
to identify the unit. We've had reports from other sources on what the
unit is, but until we confirm that, I don't feel at ease going out,
because the U.S. is going to know the unit much better than anyone
else.
AMY GOODMAN: You know, these stories are coming out one
after another. The Haditha report, now the Navy launching a criminal
investigation. This report that you have made, coming out of Balad.
This is the week that President Bush is launching another sort of
offensive, where he goes out and speaks to the public about the
good-news stories that are coming out of Iraq and really going after
the media, saying they choose only the negative stories. Your response?
MATTHEW SCHOFIELD: Well, if you’re looking at these two
stories as isolated incidents of times when Iraqis believe Americans
have gone out of control and killed people, that's missing the mark by
a wide margin. This is commonplace everyday Iraqi belief. The belief
over here is that this is happening all the time. What's different in
these cases is that there is some level of credence given to it by U.S.
investigations into the matter, by police reports.
In the county next to -- in the province next to Balad is
Diala. Diala has officially named this "the year of the cop," because
they're very pleased with the progress Iraqi police have been making,
and they want to highlight the increasing professionalism of the
police. What's going on in Balad is the police are going through their
investigation, and they are targeting -- they are targeting Americans
as the perpetrators in this. It's very similar to any crime, I suppose,
at that level. And they're going about their business. And when we talk
to them, they're saying, "Listen, we don't have any axe to grind here.
This is just the way we're doing our work."
Now, if Bush wants to come out and say that we're ignoring the
good news, I think there is, on the other side, an effort to ignore the
depth of the bad news here.
AMY GOODMAN: And BBC specialist Michael Blake, serving
in Balad, saying it's common practice to shoot up the landscape or
anything that moved after an explosion, linking, you know, these two
stories very much, Balad and Haditha, A bomb goes off and then the
attacks in the residential area around it by the U.S. military in
retaliation.
MATTHEW SCHOFIELD: I've been in several car bomb I.E.D.
attacks, and the amount of gunfire laid down immediately after one of
these when you’re in the presence of security forces is amazing. There
are thousands of bullets flying through the air at these moments. And
all you can do is hit the ground and wait for it to end.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you very much for being
with us. Matthew Schofield, European Bureau Chief for Knight Ridder
news agency, speaking to us from Baghdad. Be safe.
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