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The Public Has A Right To Unfiltered
Information About The Human Cost Of War
An ACLU Statement
ccun.org, July 6, 2008
The American Civil Liberties Union today released thousands of
pages of documents related to Navy investigations of civilians
killed by Coalition Forces in Iraq, including the cousin of the
Iraqi ambassador to the United States. Released today in response to
a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the ACLU filed in
June 2006, these records provide a vivid snapshot of the
circumstances surrounding civilian deaths in Iraq.
"At every step of the way, the Bush administration and Defense
Department have gone to unprecedented lengths to control and
suppress information about the human cost of the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan," said Nasrina Bargzie, an attorney with the ACLU
National Security Project. "Our democracy depends on an informed
public and that is why it is so important that the American people
see these documents. These documents will help to fill the
information void around the issue of civilian casualties in Iraq and
will lead to a more complete understanding of the prosecution of the
war."
The ACLU obtained documents from eight Naval Criminal Investigative
Service (NCIS) investigations. One of the files documents the
investigation of the death of Mohammed al-Sumaidaie, a cousin of the
Iraqi ambassador to the U.S, Samir al-Sumaidaie. In 2006, the
ambassador accused Marines of "intentionally" killing his cousin and
today's records shed light on al-Sumaidaie's NCIS investigation for
the first time. Among the findings uncovered in this file are
conflicting accounts of events, questions of credibility, possible
command influence issues and cover-ups.
"As these files remind us, many charges of war crimes in Iraq have
not seen the light of day," said Michael Pheneger, a retired Army
intelligence colonel who is also a board member of the ACLU. "There
are many discoveries here that should bring pause to any American
who cares about this country and hopes to restore the United States'
respected role in the world. It is time to bring the facts about
this war into the sunlight and end practices that go against our
laws and national values."
Through its FOIA project, the ACLU has made public information on
Defense Department policies designed to control information about
the human costs of war. These practices include:
€ Banning photographers on U.S. military bases from covering the
arrival of caskets containing the remains of U.S. soldiers killed
overseas;
€ Paying Iraqi journalists to write positive accounts of the U.S.
war effort;
€ Inviting U.S. journalists to "embed" with military units but
requiring them to submit their stories for pre-publication review;
€ Erasing journalists' footage of civilian deaths in Afghanistan;
and
€ Refusing to disclose statistics on civilian casualties.
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666;
media@aclu.org
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