US Soldier, 4 Iraqis Killed in War Attacks, No Evidence to Convict 10,000 Iraqi Detainees in US Prisons

US Soldier, 4 Iraqis Killed in War Attacks, No Evidence to Convict 10,000 Iraqi Detainees in US Prisons

December 22, 2008 News Reports

Editor's Note (Below)

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Yaqen.net reported the following Tuesday news:

- Two Iraqis were killed in an explosion in Balad, Salahuddin Province, north of Baghdad.

- An investigative police officer was assassinated in Basrah by an explosive sticking to his car.

- The 1920s Brigades announced destruction of a US armored vehicle south of Baghdad, with casualties of the US crew. The announcement came with a video-taped link.

- US forces announced the death of a fourth soldier (a marine) in Al-Anbar Province, west of Iraq. He is the fourth to die in Iraq this month, increasing the number of US death since the 2003 invasion to 4,211. This figure does not include American soldiers who die of wounds later. The announcement mentioned that the death was not related to combat, as have been other recent announcements.

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IEDs wound 2 civilians in Kut

December 22, 2008 - 12:21:12

WASSIT / Aswat al-Iraq: Two civilians on Monday were wounded when two explosive charges went off in northern Kut city, according to a security source.

“Two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) detonated today on a road leading to al-Gohayshat village, al-Suweira district, wounding two civilians and causing damage to their vehicle,” Lt. Aysar al-Akeedy told Aswat al-Iraq.

SS (P)

Unknown corpse found, child wounded in Babel

December 22, 2008 - 01:35:31

BABEL / Aswat al-Iraq:

An unknown body was found in the south of Hilla, while a child was wounded by gunshot in the north of the city, a source from Babel province’s police said on Monday.

“The corpse was found in al-Kifil River, 40 km south of Hilla, with torture signs on it,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq. He did not mention further details, but pointed out that “a child was wounded by gunshot while she was on the roof of her house in al-Iskandariya, 50 km north of Hilla.” Hilla, the capital city of Babel province, lies 100 km south f Baghdad.

MH (P) / SS

No evidence to convict 10,000 detainees– U.S. commander

December 22, 2008 - 01:56:49

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq:

U.S. forces in Iraq have detained 10,000 prisoners without evidence of their wrongdoing, a U.S. detention centers in Iraq commander said on Monday.

”A joint Iraqi – U.S. committee is working out a mechanism to hand over the interrogation files of 1,500 detainees to the Iraqi government every month,” the U.S. official told Aswat al-Iraq.

“My forces have evidence to convict 2,000 detainees, who will be referred to the Iraqi judiciary,” he said. “A total of 350 detainees have been convicted, and more than 100 received death sentences,” he added. “There are also 50 teenage detainees,” he noted.

MH (P) / SS

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Editor's Note:

Only God knows how many Iraqis are killed everyday. The following represents part of the reporting but readers are advised that the actual number of deaths should very much exceed what's reported.

Concerning deaths of US soldiers, only those US citizens who die in Iraq are included in the statistics. There are no published statistics about US soldiers who die of their injuries after that. There are no published statistics about the deaths or injuries of the private army soldiers (security contractors), or about those without US citizenship.

It is noteworthy that May 20, 2008 news reports showed that death squads which execute Iraqis on daily basis are no longer hiding themselves. Previously, Sunni leaders pointed to Mahdi Army and Badr militiamen as the perpetrators. Now, death squads are composed of the US-recruited Sahwa fighters and policemen.

On September 6, 2008, news reports mentioned the killing of nine Iraqis who were arrested by Al-Muthanna Brigade of the Iraqi Army stationed in the city of Al-Falloujah. There corpses were found with bullets shot on their heads and chests. This incident is evidence that the sectarian-based Iraqi forces have been functioning also as death squads, which killed Iraqis for suspicion of belonging to resistance organizations, without any legal procedures or trials.

Despite the fact that there are scores of organizations involved in the Iraq war, the Iraqi government officials prefer to refer to them as Alqaeda gunmen for propaganda purposes, as mentioned in the June 4, 2008 news report. For accuracy purposes, the term "Alqaeda gunmen" may be replaced with "Iraqi fighters."

Finally, on daily basis, US-led forces arrest scores of Iraqis in an attempt to pre-empt them from resistance. Tens of thousands of Iraqis are still there in US detention camps and in the prisons of the US-backed Iraqi government. Daily records of these arrests can be obtained from the following three Iraqi sources of news: yaqen.net, amsi.org, and Voices of Iraq.

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