Reply #9: The Secrets of Occupation: Scott Taylor on Iraq

[quagmire_iraq]

Scott Taylor: My major impression was the sheer inhumanity and disregard for life displayed by the occupation forces towards ordinary Iraqis.

Since the Abu Ghraib scandal, more stories are starting to come out. One particularly telling one was recounted to me by a native Turkman, whose nephew was brutally gunned down by US forces a few months ago. The family’s ongoing saga dealing with the US government over this tragedy speaks volumes about the regard the coalition has for Iraqis today.

Even Fatal Mistakes…

CD: So, what was the story?

ST: A mysterious explosion on the evening of Kirkuk, back on February 2, triggered an American response- but unfortunately on an innocent civilian. There was almost no one on the streets after the blast, but since an American ambush patrol spotted a “suspicious” vehicle driving near the blast site, they tracked the car with their night vision goggles, waited until the driver was in range, and then riddled the car with fifty-three bullets.

The driver, 21-year-old Sinan Ibrahim Ismail, was hit 13 times. Eyewitnesses reported that he was visibly moving inside his car for several minutes after the attack, but that they were prevented from aiding him by the Americans.

CD: Didn’t the soldiers have some reason, some intelligence, to have targeted this car?

ST: Actually, it seems they didn’t. “When I asked them why this happened, an American told me that 'this was a terrorist,’” Iraqi doctor Ali Terzi told me. “But when I saw the car I told them they were wrong…this was my cousin.”

Indeed, Iraqi police who arrived at the scene quickly confirmed that Sinan was the wrong guy. He had just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The young man was in fact a nursing student at the local college. In a tragic irony, he had actually worked part-time for the previous six months at the U.S. airbase in Kirkuk.

http://iraqwar.mirror-world.ru/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=11405