Amnesty indicts UK troops in Basra--disturbingly familiar BS

[StarvingStudent47]

Full CNN story (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/10/iraq.british.troops/index.html)


LONDON, England (CNN) -- As furor grows over the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees, a report from a human rights group has charged that British troops occupying southern Iraq killed a dozen civilians who posed no threat to them.

Many of those killings have not been investigated by the British military, and the families of the victims have not been compensated, according to a report released on Tuesday in London by Amnesty International.

"In several cases documented by Amnesty International, UK soldiers opened fire and killed Iraqi civilians in circumstances where there was apparently no imminent threat of death or serious injury to themselves or others," the report says.

It listed examples of 12 civilians who were apparently killed by British forces under questionable circumstances, including the shooting of an eight-year-old girl who was standing with a group of children when a British patrol moved into her town.

A report on the August 21 shooting incident from the First Battalion of the King's Regiment said mobs threw stones at the troops as they drove into Karmat Ali, and one soldier fired a warning shot to disperse the crowds.

However, Hanan Salih Matrood's family said there was no stone-throwing when the British soldiers moved in.

An eyewitness told Amnesty investigators that a few British soldiers got out of an armored vehicle at the entrance to the alley where Hanan lived.

The witness said a group of children, including Hanan, were attracted by the soldiers and stood more than 70 meters (200 feet) away, observing them.

"Suddenly a soldier aimed and fired a shot which hit Hanan in her lower torso," the report says.

Somehow, I've read this account before. The "peaceful Arab mob peacefully observing the highly professional soldiers, who suddenly open fire on them without reason or provocation." Mmhmm. The "highly professional soldier who is trained under very strict RoE who suddenly decides to carefully take aim at a little Arab girl and gun her down for the sheer sport" (she certainly wasn't being used as a human shield by Kalashnikov-wielding jihadists, no sir). The single "eye witness" who probably was one of the insurgents who started the incident and is now lying his ass off to turn his comrades-in-arms into "innocent civilians."

As a matter of fact, if you change "Basra" to "Gaza" and "King's Regiment" to "IDF," there isn't one line of this Amnesty garbage that we haven't heard before.

I for one believe that the British soldiers probably didn't do anything wrong, and this is just horrifically biased reporting. Still, it'll be interesting to see how all the folks who normally believe these stories about the IDF treat this one. Will British soldiers also be "guilty until proven innocent (and still guilty even when proven innocent)" in the Israel-hater's eyes, or are they going to try and draw some BS distinction?

[HELEX]

Full CNN story (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/10/iraq.british.troops/index.html)


LONDON, England (CNN) -- As furor grows over the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees, a report from a human rights group has charged that British troops occupying southern Iraq killed a dozen civilians who posed no threat to them.

Many of those killings have not been investigated by the British military, and the families of the victims have not been compensated, according to a report released on Tuesday in London by Amnesty International.

"In several cases documented by Amnesty International, UK soldiers opened fire and killed Iraqi civilians in circumstances where there was apparently no imminent threat of death or serious injury to themselves or others," the report says.

It listed examples of 12 civilians who were apparently killed by British forces under questionable circumstances, including the shooting of an eight-year-old girl who was standing with a group of children when a British patrol moved into her town.

A report on the August 21 shooting incident from the First Battalion of the King's Regiment said mobs threw stones at the troops as they drove into Karmat Ali, and one soldier fired a warning shot to disperse the crowds.

However, Hanan Salih Matrood's family said there was no stone-throwing when the British soldiers moved in.

An eyewitness told Amnesty investigators that a few British soldiers got out of an armored vehicle at the entrance to the alley where Hanan lived.

The witness said a group of children, including Hanan, were attracted by the soldiers and stood more than 70 meters (200 feet) away, observing them.

"Suddenly a soldier aimed and fired a shot which hit Hanan in her lower torso," the report says.

Somehow, I've read this account before. The "peaceful Arab mob peacefully observing the highly professional soldiers, who suddenly open fire on them without reason or provocation." Mmhmm. The "highly professional soldier who is trained under very strict RoE who suddenly decides to carefully take aim at a little Arab girl and gun her down for the sheer sport" (she certainly wasn't being used as a human shield by Kalashnikov-wielding jihadists, no sir). The single "eye witness" who probably was one of the insurgents who started the incident and is now lying his ass off to turn his comrades-in-arms into "innocent civilians."

As a matter of fact, if you change "Basra" to "Gaza" and "King's Regiment" to "IDF," there isn't one line of this Amnesty garbage that we haven't heard before.

I for one believe that the British soldiers probably didn't do anything wrong, and this is just horrifically biased reporting. Still, it'll be interesting to see how all the folks who normally believe these stories about the IDF treat this one. Will British soldiers also be "guilty until proven innocent (and still guilty even when proven innocent)" in the Israel-hater's eyes, or are they going to try and draw some BS distinction?

Sure its like about the torture scandal, they didnt do anything wrong and its just biased reporting. rofl

The killing of a 8 year old girl cant be justified by any situation. Of course I know the Brain suffers when someone is starving, but you should admit that..... :cantbeli:

[Argyll]

HELEX you cockmunching asshole,do you ever stop for a minute to think the story of an 8 year old is total Bull****?
Have you vere looked at a kid through a SUSAT sight at a kid from 60m?
It looks like a kid,a fuc*ing big one,all in glorious technicolour,and he just "gunned her down"..............what a crock of ****e,was AI actually present when this happened?
Was an autopsy carried out on the victim to determine the cause of death?

"Oh look over there Billy there's an 8 year old girl,I'm going to drop her,watch this"

I'm sick to fok of your hypocracy here ,and YOU with your countries historical background are in no position to judge others,start to keep your trap shut,Last warning about Flaming and trolling HELEX.

[Chris0176]

There is rotten people everywhere.. Off course this kind of thing could have happen. And probably some things that never will rise to the surface. But the main point to all these kind of "news" articles are the question about whether they are just reporting the same incident several times just to confuse the general public thinking that for example the jail abuse happened several times rather then in one incident. I'm NOT defending what has happened but to keep an open mind about the problem it self. The sad part is, that since the war is over(officially) things get complicated since the situations probably(I have not been there my self so I have no real experience) is very much war-like and therefore the consequences are the same as in a war situation. Civilian casualties and extreme measures like psychological torture and the like. Once more, I do not say this is right or wrong but I just want to point out that the situation itself must be counted for when to judge situations like this.

my 2 cents anyway...

[duck]

Why would anyone want to compare the two cases?

It has been stated many times by Israeli and Jewish-American members of this board that Israel has nothing to do with OIF planning or execution. And that any suggestions in that direction are antisemite propaganda.

So let's better stop here, the British troops are part of OIF and the global War on Terrorism while the IDF has their own agenda in Gaza unrelated to those two operations.

[cut]

Full CNN story (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/10/iraq.british.troops/index.html)


LONDON, England (CNN) -- As furor grows over the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees, a report from a human rights group has charged that British troops occupying southern Iraq killed a dozen civilians who posed no threat to them.

Many of those killings have not been investigated by the British military, and the families of the victims have not been compensated, according to a report released on Tuesday in London by Amnesty International.

"In several cases documented by Amnesty International, UK soldiers opened fire and killed Iraqi civilians in circumstances where there was apparently no imminent threat of death or serious injury to themselves or others," the report says.

It listed examples of 12 civilians who were apparently killed by British forces under questionable circumstances, including the shooting of an eight-year-old girl who was standing with a group of children when a British patrol moved into her town.

A report on the August 21 shooting incident from the First Battalion of the King's Regiment said mobs threw stones at the troops as they drove into Karmat Ali, and one soldier fired a warning shot to disperse the crowds.

However, Hanan Salih Matrood's family said there was no stone-throwing when the British soldiers moved in.

An eyewitness told Amnesty investigators that a few British soldiers got out of an armored vehicle at the entrance to the alley where Hanan lived.

The witness said a group of children, including Hanan, were attracted by the soldiers and stood more than 70 meters (200 feet) away, observing them.

"Suddenly a soldier aimed and fired a shot which hit Hanan in her lower torso," the report says.

Somehow, I've read this account before. The "peaceful Arab mob peacefully observing the highly professional soldiers, who suddenly open fire on them without reason or provocation." Mmhmm. The "highly professional soldier who is trained under very strict RoE who suddenly decides to carefully take aim at a little Arab girl and gun her down for the sheer sport" (she certainly wasn't being used as a human shield by Kalashnikov-wielding jihadists, no sir). The single "eye witness" who probably was one of the insurgents who started the incident and is now lying his ass off to turn his comrades-in-arms into "innocent civilians."

As a matter of fact, if you change "Basra" to "Gaza" and "King's Regiment" to "IDF," there isn't one line of this Amnesty garbage that we haven't heard before.

I for one believe that the British soldiers probably didn't do anything wrong, and this is just horrifically biased reporting. Still, it'll be interesting to see how all the folks who normally believe these stories about the IDF treat this one. Will British soldiers also be "guilty until proven innocent (and still guilty even when proven innocent)" in the Israel-hater's eyes, or are they going to try and draw some BS distinction?

Sure its like about the torture scandal, they didnt do anything wrong and its just biased reporting. rofl

The killing of a 8 year old girl cant be justified by any situation. Of course I know the Brain suffers when someone is starving, but you should admit that..... :cantbeli:

****head you obviously know nothing about the papers you quote from all the time.

[martinexsquaddie]

now I can understand an 8 yr old kid getting shot during a riot **** happens :(
or from happy fire the iraq's have a horrible habit of dischargeing aks into the air at any excuse :(. the british army have issued a pamphlet why the practice is a bad idea :roll: (well you try disarming 100 or so happy drunk iraqi's who are all armed and you have 8 men backing you up it's not going to happen :( )
But some squaddie going and delibertly shooting a child for jollies I find that very hard to belive

[HELEX]

HELEX you cockmunching asshole,do you ever stop for a minute to think the story of an 8 year old is total Bull****?
Have you vere looked at a kid through a SUSAT sight at a kid from 60m?
It looks like a kid,a fuc*ing big one,all in glorious technicolour,and he just "gunned her down"..............what a crock of ****e,was AI actually present when this happened?
Was an autopsy carried out on the victim to determine the cause of death?

"Oh look over there Billy there's an 8 year old girl,I'm going to drop her,watch this"

I'm sick to fok of your hypocracy here ,and YOU with your countries historical background are in no position to judge others,start to keep your trap shut,Last warning about Flaming and trolling HELEX.

What are you talking about?




[...]and YOU with your countries historical background[...]

You know how idiotic that is. Well, perhaps not you but everybody else.... :cantbeli:


So what else happened? Did she commit suicide?
That moron who did it was perhaps just thinking "I can shoot that little Sand****** and nobody will care *laugh*". He just wanted to play God for a second....

http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1214111.jpg


'SHOT DEAD BY BRITS'

An Amnesty International report has accused British forces in Iraq of killing "many" civilians who had posed no threat, among them an eight-year-old girl.


The claims will add pressure on Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, who is already facing allegations that UK soldiers abused prisoners.

The report says many cases of civilian killings by UK troops have not been investigated properly, and claimed that investigations by the Royal Military Police had been "secretive".

On Monday, Mr Hoon told MPs that a Red Cross report given to the Government in February which alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners was not seen by ministers until last week.

He also said the pictures of abuse printed in the Daily Mirror were probably fake, a claim refuted by the newspaper.

The Daily Telegraph claims the pictures were faked in a Territorial Army barracks in Preston, Lancashire.

Amnesty called for a civilian-led investigation into all killings by British forces, with findings made public.

The report singled out the case of eight-year-old Hanan Saleh Matrud, who was reportedly shot by a soldier of B Company of the 1st Battalion of the King's Regiment in August last year.

An eye-witness told Amnesty's researchers that, rather than being hit accidentally by a warning shot as the Army has said, Hanan was killed when a soldier aimed at her and fired a shot from around 60 metres.

Amnesty's UK director, Kate Allen, said: "We are told in the UK that southern Iraq is comparatively safe and secure, yet Iraqis on the ground have painted a very different picture.

"People live in fear of armed groups who can strike with seeming impunity."

The Ministry of Defence declined to comment until it had considered the details.

A spokesman added: "There are a number of investigations into allegations of mistreatment under way, but until we see the report we cannot really comment in detail."

An official spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair said the MoD was already aware of all the cases raised by Amnesty, or had addressed them.