This entry was posted on
Tuesday, November 16th, 2004 at
9:53 am and is filed
under It’s War! It’s Legal! It’s Lovely!, Page 3 – News in Briefs.

Guardian – Inquiry into shooting of wounded Iraqi shown in television footage : The Pentagon said last night it was opening an investigation into the shooting of an unarmed and wounded Iraqi in Falluja, following the release of television footage showing what appeared to be a close-range execution-style killing. The Iraqi was one of five wounded prisoners left in a battle-scarred mosque after marines fought their way through the city at the weekend.

Independent – ‘This one’s faking he’s dead’… ‘He’s dead now’: The footage showed several Marines with a group of prisoners who were either lying on the floor or propped against a wall of the bombed-out building. One Marine can be heard declaring that one of the prisoners was faking his injuries. “He’s fucking faking he’s dead. He faking he’s fucking dead,” says the Marine. At that point a clatter of gunfire can be heard as one of the Marines shoots the prisoner. Another voice can then be heard saying: “He’s dead now.” The footage was obtained by a team from the American NBC network that was embedded with the Marine Corps during last week’s seven-day battle to capture the city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, which military commanders say has been a focus of Iraqi resistance. The film was then pooled and made available to other media.

Rest assured that if there were no camera there, you probably wouldn’t have even heard about this. For the same reason you’ve probably never heard of Hanan Saleh Matrud. And for the same reason Bush and Blair didn’t feel the need to act on the torture of prisoners until everyone saw the pictures.

How many prisoners are the U.S. hiding from the world in Iraq? Is it a “handful”? Dozens? They assure us there are no female detainees in custody in Iraq (well, maybe a couple of really, really evil ones… but can we really believe that?

the scant 188 words The Sun affords this today, they make room to point out that; “Terrorists have been known to play dead to lure in US troops before opening fire.”You can expect to hear this in many a defence in the coming days. Along with how the marine involved was wounded, and his buddies were dead etc. etc. etc.But now I’m confused. Was this man an insurgent or militant or a terrorist? There is a difference, isn’t there? And wouldn’t lying wounded for a day without medical attention leave you feeling just a little bit under the weather?No matter. On the facing page is a girl with lovely, pert breasts. The space she takes up is double that of the story of the (ahem) unfortunate Iraqi.Her name is Ruthie. She’s 23, and from Ashford in Kent. She’s delighted the Black Watch will be home soon (just as Tony Blair has promised). She says: “They’ve done a terrific job and it’s great to know their time in Iraq is coming to a close. But all of our thoughts this Christmas will be with the families of those who didn’t make it back alive.”They’re not mentioned specifically, but Christmas being a time of brotherhood and goodwill, I’m sure this statement includes wounded and unarmed Iraqis who get mown down for ‘playing dead’.