U.S. concedes Iraq victims were law-abiding, not insurgents

[sabra]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

BAGHDAD -- The U.S. military said Sunday that the three people killed last month after U.S. soldiers shot at their car in one of the most secured areas of Iraq were civilians, not criminals as the military initially reported.

The correction came more than a month after a bank manager at a branch inside the airport, Hafeth Aboud Mahdi, and two female bank employees were shot at by U.S. soldiers as they sped to work on a road within the secured airport compound. The road is used only by people with high-level security clearance badges. The car veered off the road, hit a concrete blast wall and burst into flames.

The original statement said that Mahdi and the two women were "criminals" and that an American convoy on the side of the secured road came under small-arms fire from the vehicle. Soldiers said they shot back. A weapon was found in the debris and two U.S. military vehicles were struck by bullets from the attack, the statement on June 25 said.

...

Soldiers had pulled off the road because one of the vehicles in the convoy was having maintenance problems. As they worked on the vehicle they saw Mahdi's car and thought it was moving too quickly toward them, the statement said. Believing they might be in danger, the soldiers warned the car. When the driver ignored the signals they shot at the vehicle, the statement said.

The alleged attack and the weapon that was said to have been recovered from the burned vehicle were misunderstandings, the statement said.




Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/103/story/45701.html

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Two of Hafd Abood's seven children, Hussein (left) and Ali, hold an old photo of their father

[Mind_your_head]

1. Well, that 'concession' makes it "all good"/"go away" now..

NO, IT DOESN"T!

:cry: I cry for these people/victims, and I cry for us unwitting/unwilling perps. Regular people caught in this maze of insanity.....victim and 'unwilling perps' are really kindred spirits. It's out of our control, for the both of us (doesn't have to stay that way, necessarily....

[Supersedeas]

13. and like compliant little children--the Media returns to their poll numbers

[LiberalFighter]

2. Americans deciding whether Iraqis are obeying their laws.

[Mind_your_head]

5. That's illogical, as you well know.....please don't reinforce the meme.

[BlooInBloo]

3. As always to the US military, the only good brown-skin is a dead brown-skin.

[Mind_your_head]

6. That's illogical, as you know. Please don't reinforce the meme.

[BlooInBloo]

7. The history of the US military is indeed illogical.

[yardwork]

4. Sometimes sorry isn't good enough.

This is one of those times.

[Mind_your_head]

8. True. "Sorry" ..... "Sowway" isn't d*mn near good enough.

*whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me* (my sig line)

What's been done to THEM is as much been done to *me*....b/c we're ALLLLLLLLLLLLL connected ~ like it or not! And *I* am 'mad as hell'! I believe/hope/think many other of my brothers/sisters are *mad as hell* as well!

Peace,
M_Y_H

[scarface2004]

9. the us military is a criminal organization!

headed by a dimwitted psycho killer!!

[DCKit]

10. Here's a meme for you:

U.S. military slaughters innocent civilians and lies to cover up for it. AGAIN.

Add that to the murders of Pat Tillman, the raped then suicided military women, civilians, children and all the other "misunderstandings" they lied to cover and you're talking a real body count.

We don't need apologists, we need answers, a way out and accountability.

[LynnTheDem]

11. "misunderstandings".

Like the rest of the world, all I can do anymore is continue to shake my head in total disbelief.

[High Plains]

12. I guess the US military are fucking murdering liars. Who knew?