What Happened In Mosul?
Sam Smith, PROGRESSIVE
REVIEW
http://www.prorev.com
Commentary And Links
To The World's MediaA number of innocent Iraqis
were killed and many more injured by the U.S. troops in
Mosul in an incident that has been generally downplayed by
the U.S. media. Yesterday we ran the first story, from
Agence France Presse. Since then the coverage has ranged
from the initially silent - Washington Post - to the
dutifully stenographic on behalf of Centcom - NPR - to the
good - NY Times - to the truly Orwellian: the San Jose
Mercury News ran a headline over its coverage of the
massacre that read: U.S. SOLDIERS SHOOT AT MOB TO STOP
VIOLENCE IN MOSUL.
[The Post subsequently added an AP
story to its website and then its own account after more
civilian deaths the next day. Note the difference between
the balanced account of the NY Times and the Post's
pro-military spin.]
The treatment of the Mosul killings
offers insight into the nature of current war coverage.
Clearly the American press relied heavily on "official
sources" such as the Pentagon, despite the fact that such
sources are among the most unreliable. While many people
lie, government officials are highly trained prevarication
professionals. For reasons never explained in the corporate
media, reporters typically regard them as trustworthy. They
daily accept "official" statements without a second
source, a level of trust not accorded your average honest
citizen.
Below are a number of accounts of the incident.
Note the difference between American and foreign coverage
and some of the internal conflicts in the Centcom story. In
one account, military flack and Brigadier General Vincent
Brooks said demonstrators fired at marines and special
operations forces near a government building the Americans
had occupied in the center of the city. Fire was directed
at the marines and special operations forces in this
complex. "It was aim fire and aim fire was returned against
some of the demonstrators, against some of the agitators
climbing the wall of the compound. It was lethal fire." If
you want to test Brooks' assertion try ascending the wall of
a compound with one hand while firing with the other.
Finally, there seems little understanding on the part of
Brooks or the American press he spins that it is generally
not wise to kill the people you are liberating. They tend to
take it the wrong way.
************ SUNDAY TIMES,
AUSTRALIA - US troops opened fire on a crowd hostile to
the new pro-US governor in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul
today, killing at least 10 people and injuring as many as
100, witnesses and doctors said. The incident overshadowed
the start of US-brokered talks aimed at sketching out a
post-Saddam Hussein Iraq and could ignite anti-US sentiment
sparked in protests in Baghdad and at the talks in the
southern city of Nasiriyah. Witnesses reported that US
troops had fired into a crowd which was becoming
increasingly hostile towards the new governor in the
northern oil city, Mashaan al-Juburi, as he was making a
pro-US speech. "There are perhaps 100 wounded and 10 to 12
dead," Dr Ayad al-Ramadhani said at the city
hospital.
http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,6291696%255E1702,00.html
************
AL JAZEERA - Mishaan Al-Juburi, an Iraqi Arab Sunni and
self-appointed leader in Basra, told Al Jazeera that Mosul
has been relatively calm this morning, after yesterday's
shootings that resulted in 17 deaths. "I think we had only
one problem today. When some people tried to rob a bank, an
exchange of fire took place between them and the police.
Three thieves were killed. That is all, otherwise the city
is fine," he said. Earlier, Al Jazeera TV's Waddah Khanfar
had reported popular resentment at Al-Juburi's appointment.
However, the governor criticized these claims.
"This news
is an exclusive invention of Al Jazeera. I was among the
protesters yesterday, I was trying to calm them as they were
throwing stones on American soldiers. What happened was
that the US commander moved from the airport to the
Governor's palace and when the people saw US troops
entering their city and raising the American flag, they
became angry and started throwing stones on them," he
explained.
"I am not the governor of Mosul. I am the one
who liberated it, and preserved its security. I enjoy a
warm relationship with the people of Mosul. The proof of
this is in the fact that many have come to me for their
needs," he added.
Blaming the US for the violence in Mosul
today and yesterday, he said "the Americans committed a
strategic mistake. I was forced to take my place with my
people, and leave the building and find myself a different
headquarters. We left the Governor's complex for the
American ruler. The tension is between people and the
American ruler, and I have nothing to do with
it."
http://english.aljazeera.net/topics/article.asp?cu_no=1&item_no=2728&
version=1&template_id=277&parent_id=258
************
PATRICK COCKBURN, INDEPENDENT - American soldiers killed
at least 10 Iraqis and wounded dozens of others yesterday
when they reportedly fired on a political rally in Mosul.
"There are perhaps 100 wounded and 10 or 12 dead," said
Ayad al-Ramadhani, director of the Republican Hospital in
Mosul. The shooting of civilians will further sour the mood
in Iraq, where there were three other protests yesterday
against an American occupation.
The events leading up to
the deaths are still unclear. Said Altah, another doctor at
the hospital, said: "The wounded say that the crowd was
listening to a speech by the new governor, Mihsan
al-Jaburi." Mr Jaburi is a member of the Iraqi opposition
who entered the northern city with Kurdish forces last week.
Mr Jaburi had said that co-operation with the Americans was
necessary. This angered the crowd and, in circumstances
still unexplained, the troops fired. An American military
spokesman said that the troops were fired on before they
returned fire.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=397631
************
DAVID ROHDE, NY TIMES - American marines killed at
least 10 Iraqi men today and wounded up to 16 others in a
chaotic clash with thousands of protesters in northern
Iraq, Iraqi officials said. No Americans were hurt, and
American military officials said they could give no precise
estimate of the number dead. But Dr. Ayad Ramadhani, a
doctor at the general hospital, said 10 Iraqis had been
killed. . . The shooting began after a group of marines took
control of the governor's office in downtown Mosul this
morning. A first attempt to secure the building by a dozen
American Special Forces soldiers on Friday ended with the
Americans coming under fire and retreating. The identity of
the gunmen is not known, but Mosul has long been a
stronghold of President Saddam Hussein's Baath
Party.
This morning, roughly 130 marines returned to
secure the building for a civil affairs team that planned
to reopen it as a sign of restored normalcy in a city
racked by looting and gunfire. But a large crowd - 3,000 by
Marine estimates - quickly formed around the building.
American and Iraqi officials agree that tensions quickly
rose, but their versions of what happened next diverge. Col.
Andrew P. Frick, commander of the 26th Marine Expeditionary
Unit, which began arriving here only two days ago, said the
crowd was hostile toward the Americans. "There was a lot of
pushing and shoving," he said. "A couple of drivers were
spit on."
The crowd started beating Paul Watson, a
reporter for The Los Angeles Times, who was rescued by the
marines. Later, men in the crowd started shooting, and the
marines withdrew into the building but continued to receive
fire, Colonel Frick said. After the marines fired warning
shots, most of the people dispersed, the colonel said. But
when shots continued to hit the building, Colonel Frick
said, "the marines said, `O.K., the fight is on,' " and
they returned fire. The shooting went on for 10 to 15
minutes, until American planes arrived and the gunmen
scattered. Colonel Frick said he did not know how many
Iraqis had been killed.
Wounded Iraqis in the city's
general hospital today gave a different version of events.
They said an Iraqi opposition leader, Mishaan al-Jabouri,
started speaking to the crowd and hailing the arrival of
American forces in Mosul. . . His message angered the crowd,
Iraqis said. "They began throwing stones," said Fateh Tata
Abed, a 32-year-old man shot in the chest and upper arm.
"And the American forces started shooting at us." Sadullah
Ghanal, 39, who was also shot, gave roughly the same
version of events. "After we threw stones at Mishaan
Jabouri," he said, "the Americans started to fire on us.".
. .
Outside the hospital, as an American jet roared a few
hundred feet overhead and hospital workers glanced up
fearfully, Dr. Ramadhani criticized American tactics. "This
is terrorism!" he shouted, as the windows of the hospital
rattled. "We are scared. What about the children? What
about the sick people?" A few feet away, an American Special
Forces soldier guarding the hospital said Iraqis
misunderstood American actions here. "The marines took fire
and had to return it," he said. The low-flying planes, he
said, were to deter attacks. "It's a show of force, but
people don't understand it," said the soldier, who did not
want to be identified. "They're not grateful."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/16/international/worldspecial/16NORT.html
************
PAUL WATSON, LOS ANGELES TIMES - U.S. special-forces
troops, caught in the middle of a political power grab,
battled a violent mob with assault rifles and heavy machine
guns from the governor's building here Tuesday. A crowd of
more than 2,000 repeatedly surged at the building for around
an hour, hurling rocks and chunks of concrete, as U.S.
soldiers drove them back with one barrage after another,
including rounds from .50-caliber machine guns. There were
unconfirmed reports that at least 10 people were killed and
16 injured. After the mob broke up, smaller groups formed
throughout the afternoon to attempt new attacks. The
special forces called in two American warplanes that
shrieked just above the city's rooftops. But the low passes
were no more frightening than a county-fair air show to the
angry protesters.
What started the fighting was unclear.
One chieftain claimed it came because U.S. troops raised an
American flag above the governor's house, an accusation
denied by the special-forces commander. Another cause could
be rising tensions between rival Kurdish guerrilla forces
that entered Mosul with U.S. troops last week. The unrest
broke out around 11:30 a.m., when a crowd of about 1,000
people was listening to a speech by an official of the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two Kurdish guerrilla
factions. Misha'an Juburi, an Arab clan leader who laid
claim to the governor's building last week, said the mob
was enraged at the sight of a U.S. flag that he claimed was
raised atop the building alongside three Iraqi flags during
the speech.
Lt. Col. Robert Waltemeyer, commander of the
10th Special-Forces Group defending the building, said he
gave no order to raise a U.S. flag there, and turning to
one of his officers, added: "Make sure there's no American
flag on the roof.". . . As the PUK leader, surrounded by
members of his special-forces unit, was giving the speech,
local Arab leaders appeared on the steps of the governor's
house accompanied by fighters from the other Kurdish
guerrilla group -- the Democratic Party of Kurdistan, or KDP
-- and U.S. troops. The mob began hurling rocks and pieces
of broken concrete at the politicians and U.S. soldiers and
overturned a car near the building's front entrance. The
crowd swelled to about 3,000, and U.S. soldiers rushed in
to reinforce the building's defenses.
Spanish journalist
Miguel Rovira, who was at the scene, said U.S. troops held
their fire for around 20 minutes but began shooting when the
crowd tried to rush the building. A .50-caliber machine gun
mounted on a U.S. Humvee pounded off at least two dozen
rounds. Other soldiers took up firing positions behind
overturned desks in the lobby with assault rifles and light
machine guns.
Several boys ran within a few yards of the
front gate, hurling stones at the soldiers even as the air
crackled with gunshots. Most of the firing was over their
heads, and many people ran back into the fray when they
realized they were not being shot at. Waltemeyer said he
would not speculate about the number of casualties but
insisted U.S. soldiers would not fire at stone
throwers.
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/5644817.htm
************[Watson saves his own
beating for another story]
PAUL WATSON, LA
TIMES - In the middle of a riot Tuesday, a group helping
a man with a long, deep gash on his forehead asked whether I
would photograph them. When I did, about 300 people rushed
me, shouting, "American! American!" As the mob approached,
I saw that I had no escape. The only thing that kept them at
bay - for several minutes anyway - was a group of about 20
people who tried to fend off my attackers. "He's innocent!
He's innocent!" shouted one man. "Leave him alone!" But the
mob wanted blood, and I could see two men who had pulled out
knives. "Let me through - I want to kill him!" screamed
one.
After several minutes of struggling and
stone-throwing, the mob knocked me to the ground and kicked
me repeatedly in the head and back before stabbing me in
the buttocks. My defenders managed to drag me into a
restaurant and the mob smashed the windows and door before
the owner was able to pull down the metal security shutter.
Just then, U.S. troops opened fire and the mob gave up the
chase. Two of my defenders, who were Arabs, brought me and
my Kurdish translator to the Mosul governor's building,
where the Americans had taken up positions.
http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcase/la-war-stab16apr16.story
************
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE - Many Iraqis fear US plans for the
future of Iraq and popular anger has been mounting over the
widespread anarchy and chaos since Saddam was toppled last
Wednesday. That anger was visible in Nasiriyah as a crowd of
20,000 marched through the street chanting "Yes to
freedom... Yes to Islam... No to America, No to Saddam."
Such anger was also visible in the northern city of Mosul,
when a firefight broke out as the newly-appointed governor
was making a speech which listeners deemed was too pro-US,
witnesses said. A doctor at the city hospital, Ayad
al-Ramadhani, said 12 people had been killed and 60 wounded
in the shooting.
US troops guarding the governor said
they opened fire after gunmen on an opposite roof began
shooting. "We didn't fire at the crowd, but at the top of
the building," said a US military spokesman. At US Central
Command in Qatar, Navy Commander Charles Owens said: "We're
investigating, all we can say now is that we did not shoot
into a crowd."
But witnesses said US troops fired into
the crowd after it became increasingly hostile towards the
new governor, Mashaan al-Juburi. "They (the soldiers)
climbed on top of the building and first fired at a
building near the crowd, with the glass falling on the
civilians. People started to throw stones, then the
Americans fired at them," said Ayad Hassun. "Dozens of
people fell," he said, his own shirt stained with
blood.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_234902,001300180035.htm
************ IC WALES - Jamal
Mahmoud, a 40-year-old taxi driver, said he had seen the
Americans shooting at people in front of the governor's
office. Five men were hit and taken to a hospital, he said.
"There were people inside the central bank, which is next
door to the governor's office," he said. "They had been
looting money for several days. Police were standing
outside the bank and fired shots in the air to disperse the
looters. "The Americans started firing at the people in
front of the governor's office," he said - rather than at
the looters.
The US military denied the Marines fired on
the crowd. "It absolutely didn't happen," said Navy Capt
Frank Thorp, a spokesman for US Central Command in Qatar.
He said the marines did shoot, but were returning fire that
came from a site away from the crowd. "The Marines were
fired upon ... away from the crowd," Thorp said. "They
fired back, but they never fired at the crowd. They fired
to suppress the fire that was coming at them. I don't have
any reports that they hit anybody." Thorp said the shooting
ended as soon as the marines returned fire.
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0600uk/page.cfm?objectid=12855242&method=full
************
MICHAEL HOWARD, GUARDIAN - US special forces struggled
to impose order in Mosul yesterday after a public address
by the self-styled governor of Iraq's third largest city
descended into a riot involving several thousand people, in
which 12 were reported killed and at least 16 injured. The
death toll and details of the unrest could not be
independently confirmed. . . A witness told the Guardian
that US troops protecting the city's government building
had fired on a crowd which became hostile towards Mashaan
al-Juburi, a prominent Iraqi opposition leader, as he was
making a speech. The witness said members of the crowd had
thrown stones at the self-styled city governor and one
person had tried to attack him with a knife. His car had
been overturned and set ablaze. In the ensuing chaos, US
troops protecting the area had come under fire from a
building opposite.
Some witnesses claimed the US soldiers
had lost their cool and began firing into the crowd. Others
said the killing had taken place after the American unit
withdrew and a gunfight broke out between Mr Juburi's
supporters and his opponents.
A US marine officer last
night confirmed there had been a gun battle lasting about
15 minutes after US forces came under attack from elements
within the crowd. They returned with "accurate fire."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,937639,00.html
************ DEBORAH PASMANTIER,
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - Three witnesses questioned by AFP
and casualties who spoke to hospital staff said US troops
had fired on the crowd, which was becoming increasingly
hostile toward Governor Mashaan Al-Juburi as he was making
a pro-US speech. An AFP journalist saw a wrecked car in the
square and ambulances ferrying wounded people to hospital,
while a US aircraft flew over the northern city at low
altitude.
At US Central Command's war headquarters in
Qatar, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks told a press briefing he
had seen no military reports of the incident and could not
confirm it. But the military spokesman in Mosul later said
"there were protesters outside, 100 to 150. There was fire.
We returned fire." He said the fire came from a roof
opposite the building, about 75 meters away. "We didn't
fire at the crowd, but at the top of the building," the
spokesman added. "There were at least two gunmen. I don't
know if they were killed. The firing was not intensive but
sporadic, and lasted up to two minutes.
A man who said he
was a witness told a different story. "We were at the
market place near the government building, where Juburi was
making a speech," said Marwan Mohammed, 50. "He said
everything would be restored, water, electricity, and that
democracy was the Americans. As for the Americans, they
were going through the crowd with their flag. They placed
themselves between the civilians and the building.
"The
people moved toward the government building, the children
threw stones, the Americans started firing. Then they
prevented the people from recovering the bodies," he told
AFP. . .
"Juburi said the people must cooperate with the
United States. The crowd called him a liar, and tempers rose
as he continued to talk. They threw objects at him,
overturned his car which exploded," said Dr. Said Altah.
"The wounded said Juburi asked the Americans to fire," he
said.
Ayad Hassun, 37, another witness, said the trouble
broke out after the crowd interrupted Juburi's speech with
cries of, "There is no God but God and Muhammad is His
Messenger." "You are with Saddam's Fedayeen," retorted
Juburi, to which the crowd chanted that "the only democracy
is to make the Americans leave."
He explained that 20 US
soldiers escorted Juburi, an opposition leader installed as
Mosul governor, back into the building as the situation ran
out of control with the crowd's protests growing louder.
"They (the soldiers) climbed on top of the building and
first fired at a building near the crowd, with the glass
falling on the civilians. People started to throw stones,
then the Americans fired at them," Hassun said. . .
According to a third witness, Abdulrahman Ali, a 49-year-old
laborer, the American soldiers opened fire when they saw
the crowd running at the government
building.
************ BBC - US
ADMITS MOSUL KILLINGS - A US commander has admitted that
American troops did shoot and kill a number of Iraqis during
a protest in the northern city of Mosul. Brigadier-General
Vince Brooks said US marines and special forces soldiers
fired at demonstrators on Tuesday after they came under
attack from people shooting guns and throwing rocks. "Fire
was indeed delivered from coalition forces, it was lethal
fire and some Iraqis were killed as a result, we think the
number is in the order of seven and we think there were
some wounded as well," he said.
A BBC correspondent in
the city says Mosul is extremely tense - and latest reports
from there say at least three people have been killed and
several others wounded by gunfire. The French news agency
quotes an Iraqi police officer as saying the police fired
into the air to disperse looters who were trying to rob a
bank. Eyewitnesses said US troops then fired on a crowd
close to the building from nearby rooftops.
US forces had
earlier denied responsibility for the killings on Tuesday.
Witnesses said US troops fired into a crowd growing
increasingly hostile to a speech being given by the town's
newly appointed governor. A US spokesman said troops were
returning fire from a nearby building and did not aim into
the crowd. . . Some reports suggest up to 15 people were
killed in Mosul, with between 60 and 100 people injured. The
trouble began as an angry crowd gathered outside the
governor's building, demanding that Kurdish peshmerga
fighters and Americans leave the city, witnesses told the
BBC.
Mosul's new governor, Mashaan al-Juburi - an Arab
associated with the peshmerga - appears to have tried to
pacify the crowd. "He said everything would be restored,
water, electricity, and that the Americans [were
democratic]," Marwan Mohammed told AFP. "The Americans
[troops] were turning around the crowd. The people moved
toward the government building, the children threw stones,
the Americans started firing. Then they prevented the
people from recovering the bodies," he said.
But this
account was contradicted by another witness who told the BBC
the first shooting sounded like it came from a light weapon
- "a Kalashnikov, not like the weapons Americans have".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2951789.stm
************[Mid-day
Wednesday, the Post comes to Centcom's defense]
THOMAS W. LIPPMAN, WASHINGTON POST - The U.S. military's
struggle to restore order in postwar Iraq suffered another
setback today in the violence-plagued, ethnically divided
northern city of Mosul, where three people were reported
killed in a burst of gunfire that local citizens said came
from American weapons. The reported shooting in an open
market near the center of the city came a day after at least
seven Iraqis died in a firefight with U.S. Marines. In that
incident, Marines opened fire on a mob trying to scale the
wall around a compound where the U.S. military was setting
up an administrative post, military officials said.
[.
. . now the justification]
That encounter appeared to
represent exactly the sort of urban conflict that U.S.
officials had feared they would face as troops entered Iraqi
cities. U.S. commanders have stressed since the beginning of
the war a month ago that all their planning was intended to
minimize civilian casualties, but with the collapse of
government authority U.S. troops are confronting a restive,
fractious population in an environment where weapons are
plentiful and it is difficult to distinguish true civilians
from former military personnel who have doffed their
uniforms.
[. . . probably just a bunch of Saddamites,
anyway]
He put the number of dead at seven, but some
news accounts said at least 10 Iraqi men died. There is no
indication yet who they were, but Mosul -- a city of about
1.5 million residents -- has been a stronghold of Arab
nationalism and of militias loyal to ousted president Saddam
Hussein. If members of such militias are wearing civilian
clothes and firing at U.S. troops in public places where
civilians congregate, the distinction between civilian and
military casualties becomes virtually meaningless to the
troops taking fire.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/a37798-2003apr16.html
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=focusIraqNews&storyID=2569543
******
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