Allawi (IRAQI PM) shot inmates in cold blood, say witnesses

[rooboy]

Iyad Allawi, the new Prime Minister of Iraq, pulled a pistol and executed as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad police station, just days before Washington handed control of the country to his interim government, according to two people who allege they witnessed the killings.

They say the prisoners - handcuffed and blindfolded - were lined up against a wall in a courtyard adjacent to the maximum-security cell block in which they were held at the Al-Amariyah security centre, in the city's south-western suburbs.

They say Dr Allawi told onlookers the victims had each killed as many as 50 Iraqis and they "deserved worse than death".

The Prime Minister's office has denied the entirety of the witness accounts in a written statement to the Herald, saying Dr Allawi had never visited the centre and he did not carry a gun.

But the informants told the Herald that Dr Allawi shot each young man in the head as about a dozen Iraqi policemen and four Americans from the Prime Minister's personal security team watched in stunned silence.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/16/1089694568757.html?oneclick=true

[thebigidea]

1. could be bullshit to bolster the current PR theme: he's a "strongman"

Why, he once shot a man just for snoring too loud!

If it is true, its not particularly surprising. This is America, after all. We just luuuuuv our "strongmen."

[shaolinmonkey]

3. Exactly. We install strongmen, knowing that after they do our dirtywork

we can wage war to overthrow them. It's absolutely amazing, the trail of slime these people leave.

[colonel odis]

17. and so ironic when you think about what a coward

our "leader" is.

the guy can't finish his national guard stint, his "vice" president can't be bothered with serving his country during the vietnam era. yet they have an affinity for thugs and murderers.

i have to go puke now.

[Hoping4Change]

82. There was something a mediawhore said today that left me

with the same impression that there is a PR campaign to sell him as a strongman now I see this story I'm convinced it is PR.

[rooboy]

7. I don't think so...

Allawi's a terrorist and a pig. I hope they find his headless body in an orange jump suit one day.

[thebigidea]

9. indeed he is...

... but this sounds like the sort of thing some Wolfie-appointed propaganda division would cook up to instill fear of Allawi amongst the insurgents...

"Oooo, we better think twice about him just being a puppet... he's so tough! He kills 6 people at a time, personally! I think I'm going to give up fighting him now."

I just don't think he'd try to pull something like this so early in his glorious reign...

He's gotta ease into the role of murderous despot... maybe they can endlessly replay a clip of him firing a rifle into the air or something.

[rooboy]

15. Paul McGeogh is a very good journalist...

and know his way around Baghdad very well. If you haven't read the whole (rather lengthy) article, I'd suggest you do - it's quite detailed.

[thebigidea]

20. I don't doubt him, I doubt the witnesses, since they approve of it

It all seems extremely fishy... there will probably be no investigations, no followups - but the seed is planted, and the rumors spread: Allawi is a strongman. He's "tough."

[rooboy]

23. If I were in Iraq right now...

I reckon my odds of survival would be greater as an insurgent than as a member of the Iraqi government. This guy's a dead duck, and even more so after a story like this, imo.

[thebigidea]

26. Oh, definetely.

I'm just trying to put on my neocon hat and think like them... if I had to install a puppet and create respect and fear for him, what would I say about him?

WOLFOWITZ: "These Arabs only understand strength..."

GAFFNEY: "They only respect power..."

PERLE: "We need to create a new Saddam..."

WOOLSEY: "We need to make them FEAR Allawi, not hold him in contempt..."

And if I had an office established to spread disinformation to foreign news services, how would I use it?

Oh wait, that office was disbanded. Cough.

[The Magistrate]

24. That, Sir

Seems to me rather to lend credibility to the tale they tell. There is no question Allawi has been previously involved in killings: he was the chief of a bombing campaign in Iraq in the early ninties carried out with C.I.A. assistance....

[CWebster]

27. "...so early in his glorious reign..."

the guy already has a star studded past.

%3BLC%0D%0A%0D%0A%3Ablue%3BLH%3A75%3BBGC%3Awhite%3BAH%3Acenter%3BVLC%3Apurple%3BGL%3A0%3BS%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%3BAWFID%3A558a065e2b806dc5%3B&domains=www.commondreams.org&sitesearch=www.commondreams.org

[slaveplanet]

104. And I suppose Hersh

is part of this Wolfie appointed propaganda division.....If so, then Alawi has made a long run at easing into that role...or should we all not believe Hersh? see post #33


edit from Hersch piece:

The White House has yet to deal with Allawi’s past. His credentials as a neurologist, and his involvement during the past two decades in anti-Saddam activities, as the founder of the British-based Iraqi National Accord, have been widely reported. But his role as a Baath Party operative while Saddam struggled for control in the nineteen-sixties and seventies—Saddam became President in 1979—is much less well known. “Allawi helped Saddam get to power,” an American intelligence officer told me. “He was a very effective operator and a true believer.” Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former C.I.A. case officer who served in the Middle East, added, “Two facts stand out about Allawi. One, he likes to think of himself as a man of ideas; and, two, his strongest virtue is that he’s a thug.”

Early this year, one of Allawi’s former medical-school classmates, Dr. Haifa al-Azawi, published an essay in an Arabic newspaper in London raising questions about his character and his medical bona fides. She depicted Allawi as a “big husky man . . . who carried a gun on his belt and frequently brandished it, terrorizing the medical students.” Allawi’s medical degree, she wrote, “was conferred upon him by the Baath party.” Allawi moved to London in 1971, ostensibly to continue his medical education; there he was in charge of the European operations of the Baath Party organization and the local activities of the Mukhabarat, its intelligence agency, until 1975.

“If you’re asking me if Allawi has blood on his hands from his days in London, the answer is yes, he does,” Vincent Cannistraro, the former C.I.A. officer, said. “He was a paid Mukhabarat agent for the Iraqis, and he was involved in dirty stuff.” A cabinet-level Middle East diplomat, who was rankled by the U.S. indifference to Allawi’s personal history, told me early this month that Allawi was involved with a Mukhabarat “hit team” that sought out and killed Baath Party dissenters throughout Europe.

[thebigidea]

107. skepticism about Iraqi witnesses praising Allawi for being "tough"

... does not in any way translate into skepticism about one of the best journalists currently working.

Allawi is complete and utter vermin, I just said that these stories
would be a great way to instill fear about this creep amongst the people.... which is exactly what Wolfowitz and Company want.

Its the kind of story that's unlikely to get much play in America, but will be disseminated throughout the ME & European press... exactly the sort of thing the Office of Stategic Information was going to do.

Just trying to think like them, not discredit Sy freakin' Hersh.

[JNelson6563]

28. As a long time Rooboy fan

once again I have to declare my appreciation for your nuanced and subtle ways of telling us how you truly feel about things.

In all seriousness though, how come all the terrorist's hostages bodies that are found are wearing the orange jumpsuits like the ones America puts on it's prisoners?

Julie

[rooboy]

29. If they don't put the dead in orange jump suits...

the occupation soldiers wouldn't know which ones were 20 points and which ones were five...

:evilgrin:

[americanstranger]

91. He shot a man in Reno,

just to watch him die...

But seriously - we deposed Saddam and deep-sixed Chalabi to return to square one, looks like.

-as

[trumad]

2. This guy (Allawi) will be dead by the end of the year... Bank on it..

[clydefrand]

4. Doesn't this sound a bit like Saddam?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, next we'll be trying to topple him based upon faulty intelligence.

[thebigidea]

5. Yeah, but at least there aren't any more rape rooms!

Oh, wait...

[truthspeaker]

6. Negroponte must be so proud!

Makes me nostalgic for Honduras in the 1980s, it does.

[maddezmom]

13. no time to look into the allegations...case closed

sounds like the rebuttal to torture...nope just a few bad apples. Maybe Sy can look into this case for the USA, too.

[MisterGamut]

63. Negroponte's reply

US officials in Iraq have not made an outright denial of the allegations. An emailed response to questions from the Herald to the US ambassador, John Negroponte, said: "If we attempted to refute each (rumour), we would have no time for other business. As far as this embassy's press office is concerned, this case is closed."

The non-denial is a type of denial which allows plausible deniability to the denier that the non-denial was ever intended to have been read as a denial at all.

[Canuckistanian]

67. So, Negroponte admits its a "case"?

Rumours don't get elevated to cases.

[bahrbearian]

77. That was a great post

I love this
The non-denial is a type of denial which allows plausible deniability to the denier that the non-denial was ever intended to have been read as a denial at all.

[MisterGamut]

93. Thank you

*Tips hat*

I thought it had a kind of Douglas Adams feel to it.

[flewellyn]

98. This is now my sig.

See?

[MisterGamut]

103. Gawrsh

I'm flattered. The line can also be used almost every time Scott mcClellan opens his mouth. Maybe we can spread it around until it becomes a meme.

"Did you read today's Gaggle? I swear it was another of those non-denials; which as we all know..."

[librechik]

100. Thanks for the post, MisterGamut. Welcome to DU!

:loveya:

[fsbooks]

8. four Americans ... watched in stunned silence

hey, that's our job.

[The Magistrate]

10. An Interesting Article, Mr. Roo

It has the ring of truth about it....

[rooboy]

16. The reporter is a very credible witness,your honor...n/t

[The Magistrate]

18. Thank You, Sir

He has a good reputation there Down Under, eh?

There is often a lot of good coverage in your papers, but who is who in such questions is beyond me....

[LittleApple81]

11. He was an executor for Saddam. He has good training. Why did

you expect anything else?
The USA wanted the killing, torture, and all the other atrocities to be blamed on the "Iraqi government" and not on US army. Mission accomplished again.

[NashVegas]

12. Sounds Like Our Kinda Guy!

..

[UpInArms]

14. same shit - different madman

The witnesses said the Iraqi police observers were "shocked and surprised". But asked what message they might take from such an act, one said: "Any terrorists in Iraq should have the same destiny. This is the new Iraq.

and I certainly believe everything that comes from this thing's piehole:

US officials in Iraq have not made an outright denial of the allegations. An emailed response to questions from the Herald to the US ambassador, John Negroponte, said: "If we attempted to refute each , we would have no time for other business. As far as this embassy's press office is concerned, this case is closed."

[underpants]

19. And I just thought he LOOKED like Tony Soprano

:shrug:

[Jacobin]

21. Saddam Number 2, paging Saddam Number 2

Please report to the presidential palace to be fitted with some new doubles.

[CWebster]

22. Allawi is a good guy supported by the majority of Iraqs

This is the new spin being parroted by both sides of the unity party, D and R.

Listen for it. I heard Franken gushing over him the day before yesterday.

[rooboy]

25. Good. then the f$%#er and his body parts can have a state funeral. n/t

[RummyTheDummy]

92. A good guy?

He sounds a lot like Sadam. Judge. Jury. Executioner. If this is true, he's a thug, pure and simple. I like Al Franken, but he could be wrong about this guy.

[geek tragedy]

30. "his strongest virtue is that he's a thug."

That's what a Seymour Hersh article quoted someone as saying about him, a month or so ago.

[leftchick]

31. Well, at least he didn't gas his own people.....

:eyes:

[geek tragedy]

32. yet! eom

[Media_Lies_Daily]

56. And as it turns out, the original story dealing with the use of gas....

...indicated that the Iranians had used a cyanide-based weapon, something the Iraqis didn't have at that point in time.

The story was changed to implicate Saddam to add more fuel to the NeoCon "Let's get Saddam" storyline.

[leftchick]

59. MLD ...

I am very well aware that the event I mentioned is a typical example of the neo-con twisting of reality. I am a DUer after all... ;)

[bahrbearian]

78. Well said

Media doesn't get humor

[geek tragedy]

79. Or read history books eom

[Judi Lynn]

33. Pathetic personal history....

(snip)
According to the memoirs of Talib Shabib, Iyad Allawi began his political life around 1963, as an assassin. Allawi was an active supporter of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party in its early days. In 1971 he moved to London in order to continue his medical education. Some have reported this as an exile, but some of Allawi's old counterparts have claimed that he continued to serve the Baath Party, and the Iraqi secret police, searching out enemies of the regime. However, he fell out of favor from the Baath party for undisclosed reasons in 1975<1> (http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040628fa_fact).

While Allawi was living in Surrey in 1978, he was awoken in bed one night by an intruder who proceeded to attack the former Baathist assassin with an axe. The intruder left, convinced that Allawi was dead. He survived the attempted murder, and spent the next year in hospital recovering from his injuries. It is presumed that the attack was an assassination ordered by Iraq's then deputy president, Saddam Hussein.

The Iraqi National Accord
In 1993, Allawi organized the Iraqi National Accord (INA), a group consisting mainly of former military personnel who had defected from Saddam Hussein's Iraq to instigate a military coup. Allawi was recruited by the CIA in 1992 as a counterpoint to the more well-known CIA asset Ahmad Chalabi, and because of the INA's links in the Ba'athist establishment. According to former CIA officers, Allawi's INA organised terrorist attacks in Iraq between 1992 and 1995, probably including the bombing of a school bus that killed school children. <2> (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/09/politics/09ALLA.html?ex=1087747955&ei=1&en=c040fed2685e7eb8).
(snip/...)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iyad_Allawi

[Rose Siding]

37. The same paper has a context piece up on him

snip>
But piled on a personal history that has too often lurched to the dark side, today's graphic witness accounts of summary executions by Allawi at a Baghdad police station challenge many assumptions about the man, and about where and how he might try to lead his beleaguered nation.

Surprisingly, few Iraqis professed to be shocked by the allegations. But why would Allawi do it? The answer is not so difficult in Iraq. If he could kill for Saddam when the former president was on the verge of power, wouldn't it come more easily if it would help Allawi cement his own grip on the levers?

In this part of the world, police forces are bred as instruments of fear. But right now, Iraqi police are afraid to take to the streets, not least because of tribal retribution if they kill in the line of duty. Eighteen men from the Al-Amariyah security complex have been killed in a year - and at least three had written warnings that they would be targeted by tribesmen seeking vengeance for the loss of one of their own in a clash with police.

The rationale offered by some is that if the Prime Minister spilt blood before their eyes, then the police would know they could kill with impunity. He would become a man to be feared and all too quickly the force would impose that fear on the community.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/16/1089694565543.html?oneclick=true

[thebigidea]

38. Ah, America: Imposing Fear on Communities Here, There, and Everywhere!

[daleo]

76. Isn't the use of fear for political purposes also known as terrorism?

This factoid will be tucked away for later, in case it becomes useful to invade Iraq all over again, sometime in the middle-range future.

[Rose Siding]

80. Causis belli-in-waiting

Reconstitute, as needed.

[Barrett808]

39. More on Allawi's INA

Iraqi National Accord

Rather than working with the INC, the CIA and State Department have preferred to develop a close relationship with the Iraqi National Accord (INA). This grouping of exiled Iraqi officers, supposedly one of the nineteen constituent bodies of the INC, and therefore formally under the leadership of Mr. Chalabi. In fact, the INA has always had a direct link to the US administration, with funding from the CIA. For example, it was the focus for the multi-million-dollar coup attempt in June 1996 (see pages 55 and 69). Indeed, it was to protect this INA scheme (which also ended in abysmal failure) that the White House withdrew its backing for the INC offensive in 1995.<21>

The INA had organised a series of bombings in Baghdad in 1994 and 1995, as part of a CIA-backed programme of preparation for a coup. The bombings -- in a cinema, a mosque, outside the offices of the Ba'ath Party newspaper, and other sites -- may have killed as many as a hundred civilians. The man who carried out the bombings, Abu Amneh al-Khadami, revealed the role of the INA in a video made in January 1996. Mr Amneh was recruited to the INA's military arm from jail in Iraqi Kurdistan, where he had been imprisoned for the attempted murder of an INC official. Mr Amneh claimed to have been released on the direct intervention of the CIA. Certainly his superior within the INA, Adnan Nuri, a former general in the Iraqi army, had been recruited by the CIA as early as 1992. 'The aim of the bombing campaign, by Ahneh's account, was to impress Nuri's sponsors at the CIA with the capabilities of the organisation they were funding.'<22>

Mr Amneh revealed that he was instructed to use a car bomb to assassinate the leader of the INC, Ahmed Chalabi. He refused. In October 1995, however, a massive blast ripped through the INC headquarters in Salahuddin in Kurdistan, killing twenty-eight people, including the security chief of the INC. The KDP arrested three individuals who confessed under severe interrogation that they were members of the INA, and had planted the bomb on the orders of the INA commander of operations, General Nuri. The results of a CIA investigation into the the bombing, based on bomb fragments found at the site, were never released.<23>

The INA was founded by two former high-flying Iraqi insiders: Salih Omar Ali al-Takriti and Iyad Alawi. Mr Omar had enjoyed a glittering career, culminating in the post of Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations -- a post he resigned in 1982 under the mistaken impression Saddam Hussein was about to fall as a result of failures in the Iraqi war effort against Iran, creating an opportunity for another Sunni Muslim from Saddam's tribe (the Takritis) to take his place. Reconciled with Saddam after a fashion, Mr Omar was enjoying a lucrative position as head of the London office of Iraqi Freight Services, Ltd, a front company for Baghdad, when Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990. He promptly defected once again.

Mr. Alawi, on the other hand, was head of the Iraqi Student Union in Europe, carrying out a valuable role for Iraqi intelligence, before launching a successful business career. By 1978, Mr Alawi had reportedly become an agent of MI6, the British equivalent of the CIA. After a dispute over a missing cheque for $40,000 which Saudi intelligence had given the pair to help fund an opposition radio station, Mr Omar withdrew from the INA, and Mr Alawi took complete control. He 'steadily recruited former Ba'athist Sunnis -- the type best suited to preserving the regime post Saddam', according to the Cockburns.<24>

War Plan Iraq: Ten Reasons against War on Iraq, Milan Rai, Verso, 2002, pp 86-7.

[Rose Siding]

34. Will this effect the seating arrangements at the next WH visit?

This could be problematic- still George and Laura's table?

[CWebster]

36. Kerry's table? nt

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

35. Fucking unbelievable!

This won't get any US news coverage

[ignatius]

40. I wonder if God told Bush this was the man to put in charge. Is

this the same God who told him to make war on the Iraqis..it seems "his" God is giving some bad intel.

[atreides1]

51. Bush's God

Is named Baal.

[DemoTex]

41. "Deja vu," all over again. Saigon, February 1, 1968.

During the Tet Offensive--General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, director of South Vietnam's national police force, executed a Viet Cong prisoner on the streets of Saigon. Photograph by Eddie Adams, "Murder of A Vietcong by Saigon Police Chief" (Vietnam, 1968).

[mhr]

90. And That Good General Now Lives In Southern California Courtesy The US

eom

[DemoTex]

96. Actually, he died of cancer in 1998.

.

[democracy eh]

42. Democracy has come to Iraq!!

All hail King George!!!

:puke:

[CWebster]

43. Kerry's response to Allawi

If Kerry insists that his vote to give Bush carte blanche was then, and that we focus on the future, what will be your reaction be if he supports Allawi and escalates troop presence to assist Allawi?

[hansolsen]

44. DU will shag his sorry ass out of office -- he will be a one term wonder

[CWebster]

45. If Kerry can't or won't resolve the Iraqi nightmare

will he damage the Democratic party's future prospects?

[hansolsen]

58. The mess in Iraq is devastating for Israel, & a virtual terrorist factory

Kerry must develop some real and effective strategies for dealing with Iraq, and that will require dealing with the overall mess in the middle east including our support for oil stealing dictators, and our support for Likud genocide in the West Bank.

If Kerry can't find a way to address these issues based on fundamental fairness and equity to all sides, Islamic fundmentalist attacks on Israel and the U.S. will only continue and escalate. Kerry will have a short honeymoon period, as all presidents do, but then it will become all his.

> Kerry will own Iraq just as surely as Shrub owns it today.

> Kerry will be on the hook for whatever happens in the Arab / Israeli dispute.

> Kerry will be held responsible for any terrorists attacks in America.

In my humble opinion, nothing in Kerry's campaign to date suggests he has any fucking idea what do do about any of this. The hope, of course, is that he does have a plan, and just can't announce it yet because of the potential to turn off influential interest groups. That's my hope anyway.

[CWebster]

61. interesting post

the suggestion, or rather the hope is, then, that Kerry feels he has to lie in order to increase his broad electibility. Sad commentary on the lack of faith for the democratic message having any appeal, isn't it?

[rkc3]

69. Here's a thought - just spitballing here.

Kerry (or Bush if he had a clue) could take a Reagan-like approach to terrorism in the mideast.

We know the terrorists are fed up with the disparity between the rich and the poor.

They lash out at the US and others because of our need for oil.

Kerry (like Reagan did in outspending the Soviets - knowing they couldn't afford to keep up with our escalated military budgets) could pass mandates increasing the amount of renewable energy sources in use in America - from solar/wind/hyrdo power to increased incentives for hybrid engines and research.

We reduce our dependence on foreign oil, clean up the environment, and create jobs in this country (after all what has made us great is our creativity in the face of necessity). The only problems are the hold oil and energy companies have on politicians and Saudi ties to terrorists. Wealthy Saudi princes might not be so keen on losing their fortunes.

[robbedvoter]

68. Yup. Been thinking of Johnson a lot lately.

[Rose Siding]

49. Americans will die to support Allawi's govt

chilling

Look what we've done.

[Rose Siding]

46. Good interview with this reporter about these witnesses-

snip>
MAXINE McKEW: Paul McGeough, thanks for joining us.

Paul, as you've also made clear in your article, Prime Minister Allawi has flatly denied this story.

Why then is the Herald so confident about publishing it?

PAUL McGEOUGH, 'SYDNEY MORNING HERALD' AND 'AGE' FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: Well it's a very contentious issue.

What you have is two very solid eyewitness accounts of what happened at a police security complex in a south-west Baghdad suburb.

They are very detailed.

They were done separately.

Each witness is not aware that the other spoke.

They were contacted through personal channels rather than through the many political, religious or military organisations working in Baghdad that might be trying to spin a tale.

And they've laid it out very carefully and very clearly as to what they saw.

MAXINE McKEW: You haven't identified these witnesses but why have they felt free to talk about such an extraordinary story?

PAUL McGEOUGH: Well, they were approached through personal connections and as a result of that, they accepted assurances.

They were guaranteed anonymity, they were told that no identifying material would be published on them and they told what they saw.

MAXINE McKEW: And just take us through the events as they were accounted to you?

PAUL McGEOUGH: Well, I'll take you through what the two bits of pieces of what the two witnesses said to give you the full chronology as I understand it..........

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2004/s1155990.htm

[maggrwaggr]

50. wow. that's pretty solid.

too bad here there's nothing in the news but Martha Fucking Stewaert

[Rose Siding]

53. Drudge has it

It's coming...

[a_random_joel]

47. So, he's a danger to his own people? Let Freedom Reign!

[Renew Deal]

48. He would make Saddam proud.

Seriously. That's the kind of shit he was doing.

[goforit]

72. Don't forget Saddam was chosen by Bush/Reagan. Allawi continues

this tradition,
Yet he is 1000 times worse than SAddam!!!!

[Bozita]

52. Thom Hartmann reports that ABCNews has picked up on this story

Just mentioned on his show.

[maggrwaggr]

55. well between this guy and Chalabi I'd say Iraq has gone

from bad to worse

this whole Iraq thing is one big fiasco

[The Magistrate]

57. One Interesting Element, Sir

Is that both this new premier and Chalabi have ties to the Iranian special services. The essential quality of the neocon "Mayberry Machiavellis" is their naivite about the big world outside: there is grounds for belief they have been played rather expertly by the old Persian ayatollahs in this venture betweent he Tigris and Euphrates....

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[Aidoneus]

83. well, that's not saying too terribly much..

practically every group aside from the Salafis, Nasserists, and Baathists has some level of ties to the neighbor.. They win no matter who comes out (though strangely enough, some of the more unsavory types like Mssrs. Chalabi/`Alawi have divided allegience between Tehran on the one hand and the US/UK/Zionist forces on the other; I assume that whichever checks are delivered most promptly will win the day).

[The Magistrate]

89. That Is True Enough, My Friend

Though there are a couple of general points worth mentioning. Foreign interlopers come and go, but neighbors are there forever; hence a tie to the latter may prove more lasting. The Persians have several real interests in overthrowing Hussein, ranging from vengeance to the potential fish that might be hoisted from the troubled waters of a roiled and potentially divided Iraq. Imperial intrigue practically was invented in Persia: they are very good at the work....

[lovuian]

54. This Iraq War is American Nightmare.....Its Haunting us

each day!!!

Just like the Vietnam War did!!!

This is who we placed as Prime Minister

A Iraqi Don Corleone!!!!

[Ripley]

60. Has this hit mainstream US media?

This will be awfully hard for them to explain away to either Americans or Iraqi's.

Hey Smirkaholic, exactly how does this guy differ from Saddam and Sons?

[Chicago Democrat]

65. Of course they will never report it...

I betcha...

[Dangerman]

62. And Bush thinks Allawi's better than Saddam...

Oh, here's another link related to this story...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6498.htm

[umtalal]

101. A Video Interview

VIDEO: From ABC (Australia)

Journalist Paul McGeough discusses allegations aired in tomorrow's Sydney Morning Herald that Iraqi Prime Minister executed as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghad police station at the end of June.

http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200407/r25468_62981.a ...

[umtalal]

102. And Another. Frankly I Don't Think This is Enough Coverage

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT
Broadcast: 16/07/2004

Iraqi PM executed six insurgents: witnesses
Reporter: Maxine McKew

MAXINE MCKEW: Let's go straight to the allegations that Iyad Allawi executed as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad police station at the end of June.

The explosive claims in tomorrow's Sydney Morning Herald and Age newspapers allege that the prisoners were handcuffed and blindfolded, lined up against a courtyard wall and shot by the Iraqi Prime Minister.

Dr Allawi is alleged to have told those around him that he wanted to send a clear message to the police on how to deal with insurgents.

Two people allege they witnessed the killings and there are also claims the Iraqi Interior Minister was present as well as four American security men in civilian dress.

Well, the journalist reporting the story is Paul McGeough, awarded a Walkley Award for his coverage of the Iraq war last year.

He's also a former editor of the Herald and is now the paper's chief correspondent.

He's joined me on the line from a location in the Middle East.

MAXINE McKEW: Paul McGeough, thanks for joining us.

Paul, as you've also made clear in your article, Prime Minister Allawi has flatly denied this story.

Why then is the Herald so confident about publishing it?

PAUL McGEOUGH, 'SYDNEY MORNING HERALD' AND 'AGE' FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: Well it's a very contentious issue.

What you have is two very solid eyewitness accounts of what happened at a police security complex in a south-west Baghdad suburb.

They are very detailed.

They were done separately.

Each witness is not aware that the other spoke.

They were contacted through personal channels rather than through the many political, religious or military organisations working in Baghdad that might be trying to spin a tale.

And they've laid it out very carefully and very clearly as to what they saw.

LOCATION: http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2004/s11559 ...

[leesa]

64. I would imagine our government approved of this behavior

What's the difference...we kill them in warm blood?

[bluedog]

66. what next gassing...........while we watch?

seems like this happened before...we watched this with Saddam.....bush has another madman on his hands.
the same man who claimed the WMD 45 minute scam........oh god...bush has f"ucked up again here...........

[Swamp Rat]

70. "Meet the new boss... same as the old boss."

I wonder if Pete Townshend will be pissed off at me now?

[Darranar]

71. What a great guy!

His moves to squash Iraqi rights in order to fight the "terrorists" are similarly admirable....

"Iraqi Freedom" is being realized.

:eyes:

[Zorra]

73. I just scanned headline pages of CNN, MSNBC, Fox, Yahoo, NYT,

Google News, and the NYT AP list.

This story does not appear anywhere that I mentioned.

Martha Stewart is prevalent in these headline pages.

Why is this story not plastered on every front page?

A) Major media is hiding it.
B) Major media does not think it is credible
C) Major media is hiding it.

[Hepburn]

74. Try using "Allawi, shot"...

and Google News will have some stories...but most look like repeats of the original and no American press has picked it up.

[Hepburn]

75. I spoke too soon...

http://www.ktok.com/script/headline_newsmanager.php?id=330219&pagecontent=nationalnews&feed_id=59

[Zorra]

81. I was pointing out that it is not on the headline pages of those

publications, and they are major media sources.

Basically the only way to find the story is to search for it. They are certainly not making it glaringly obvious, and it is a very major news story and of significant national and world importance.

[Hepburn]

85. Yep....

...that is about what I saw and I am still looking. Sheesh! Don't ya think people might be interested?

BTW: Did not mean to disagree with ya, just agreeing on how hidden the stories are. If you just put in Allawi, nothing was coming up. Had to add the word "shot."

What a total crock IMO. I told this to someone and they looked to started. So I emailed the article. Amazing...but NOT unexpected from BushCo. Good old Negroponte: "case closed." What a load of BS!

[Matilda]

88. It's on the front page of the Herald's News Review" section,

which is very prominent here on a Saturday.

It certainly isn't good news for Howard; it will make it more
difficult for him to justify support for the war on the grounds
that it has brought democracy to Iraq, which he's currently
peddling. Paul McGeogh has credibility, the story will run here,
I think.

[Aidoneus]

84. May he end up alone at the scene of the next car bomb

Sounds like just the kind of guy who can "provide stability" and "a guy we can do business with". Negroponte may not have much to teach him after all..

[Disturbed]

86. Bullshit or not...

The US Puppet Govt. would last about two days were it not for US Forces backing it.

Doesn't this guy also own a newspaper co. in Bahgdad?

This interim govt. is not spozed to run candidates that are "interim". Anyone wish to bet that this PM will run for that office come Jan. '05 if he lives that long?

[scarface2004]

87. you put one of mine in the hospital...

i put two of yours in the grave!! allawi sneered as he executed at point blank range with a bullet in the back of the head the twenty young men, some who were suspected of being 'insurgents'!!

[VolcanoJen]

94. Kick!

:dem:

[daleo]

95. This must drive Bush crazy

Many observers have noticed his obsession and apparent glee when discussing death (e.g. mocking the female prisoner on death row with "please don't kill me", showing off Saddam's gun, "feels good" statement just before announcing the invasion of Iraq). The fact that a chump like Allawi can just shoot people, without trials and all that legal stuff must bug Bush, whose hands are still tied from participating in executions personally.

[Hepburn]

97. Has Anyone Seen this Reported in any Major US Media?

I haven't. Why is this being ignored?

[seventhson]

99. Drudge had it - linked - and then scrubbed it even from his archive

IT DIDN'T LAST LONG THERE BECAUSE I SUSPECT SOMEONE WOULD HAVE TO COVER IT

[Disturbed]

105. Shock and awe?

I could be wrong but it seems to me that most Iraqis would not be shocked at this sort of action. Americans may be shocked that a leader would execute supsects on the spot with no trial and therefore this story will never appear on the BushCo Media. Having read how their own police deal with with people it seems SOP to beat suspects and even execute them without trial. What seems to have outraged Iraqis is the sexual humiliation of their fellow Iraqis. Hence, that is why the interogators ordered the grunts to carry out the sexual humiliation tactics on detainees to humuliate and unerve them before interogations began.

[uhaul]

106. Washington Times carries UPI story

<http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040716-105522-1300r.htm>

[demgurl]

108. Anyone do research on Allawi?

Can I share a post I wrote for another board. This was for a board that has a lot of freepers and I tried to put some investigation into it. I am so tired after fighting these folks all day long, I did not feel like rewriting it for this board. It would be much friendlier if it was originally intended for here. I just wanted to hear what ya'll think about some of the connections I made. I kind of felt like I had a light bulb moment (maybe I am wrong?) while researching this guy. Here is my post:

Let's have an open and frank discussion here for a couple of minutes.

For those of you who may not know, Allawi was behind Tony Blair's info about the 45 WMD. Google it if you do not know - he was.

I will put aside any articles I have read about Allawi being a member of INA. (google Allawi and INA) and we do not even have to touch that. I mean, it could lead to you finding out that perhaps Allawi was a terrorist and may have even bombed school busses with children. But that can not be right because we would never put a terrorist in office when we are fighting a war on terror.

Allawi actually had a crusade against Saddam for many years:

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/new...do&refer=europe

Quote from article:

"Allawi, 59, is a secular Shiite and Arab nationalist who battled during three decades in exile to rid Iraq of Hussein -- from outside the country."

So let me connect the dots a little. Here is a man who had everything to gain by getting rid of Saddam. This is a person who had been trying to get rid of him for 30 years figuring, rightly, that he would be next in power. He slips a bit of information (now found to have no grounds and to be false) to Tony and the boys and they start screaming about Saddam.

Bush thinks about this information and has wanted to get Saddam out for a while. This is just the excuse he needed. Tony and Georgie go to war and voilà, Allawi is in power.

Never mind the possible terrorist ties that Allawi may have. But those do cast doubt, even further, about Allawi's character. Let's just focus on this incident. Do you think maybe George and Tony have been played from the start?

If all of this might even have any chance of being true, then this should be investigated. This man can not be trusted and has just played us and our government to the fullest. JMHO.

[jn2375]

109. Albawaba web site is running story too

not sure how to link to it, sorry Albawaba.com

[farmbo]

110. Kick....Newsweek is running this story!!!

:kick:

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040718/nysu008a_1.html

NEWSWEEK: New Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi Reportedly Cut Off Suspect's Hand With Ax, Shot Captive Terrorists, According to Stories Circulating in Baghdad
Sunday July 18, 10:49 am ET
' ... I Deny It Categorically, Number One. Number Two, We Will Spare No Effort to Secure Our People,' Says Allawi


NEW YORK, July 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Since Ayad Allawi became prime minister of Iraq's interim government last month, stories circulating on the streets of Baghdad include reports that he ordered two suspected insurgents shot in front of him, shot seven captive terrorists himself and personally chopped off the hand of a suspect with an ax, report Correspondent Babak Dehghanpisheh and Middle East Regional Editor Christopher Dickey in the July 26 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, July 19).
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040718/NYSU003 )
U.S. officials in Washington tell Newsweek they've heard the amputation story but have no details. White House officials dismiss it as "urban legend." The Australian newspaper The Age reported last week that two anonymous witnesses saw Allawi shoot seven suspected insurgents as his American bodyguards looked on. Asked by Newsweek if he had killed anyone since taking office, Allawi chuckled and said, "This is a big lie, this is not true, I deny it categorically, No. 1. No. 2, we will spare no effort to secure our people."
<snip>

And it appears that Saddam's "Little Me" also has a penchant for personally cutting off the hands of "suspects" with an ax.

Our soldiers died for this?!?