The
Occupations Hidden Victims - Innocent Iraqis
By Medea Benjamin
Occupation Watch
Center
13 August, 2003
You can tell from the wedding photo what
a beautiful couple they wereBushra Said Kaiwan, a lovely Armenian
computer programmer and Mazen Nouradin, a handsome Iraqi veterinarian.
And they were very happy together. They had two delightful daughters,
two and four years old. Mazen had his own private clinic where he made
a decent livingenough to take care of his family and elderly parents.
They lived in a quiet middle class suburb of Baghdad, kept out of politics
and out of trouble.
Then came June 28,
2003. The 32-year-old doctor got into his car to go to work, but the
car wouldnt start. So he walked out to the main street down the
road from his house to hail a taxi. A few minutes later, US soldiers
driving by in their tanks pumped eight bullets into Mazens chest,
legs and arms. He lay dead on the sidewalk.
Mazens wife
Bushra, dressed in black and holding her two young children, weeps as
she sat in her living room recounting the events. Her father-in-law,
Antoine, also breaks down crying as he described his sons bullet-ridden
body.
Why the soldiers
shot Mazen is unclear. His family heard two different stories. One is
that the soldiers were driving by, heard shots, thought they were being
attacked and fired back. Another version is that they thought Mazen
was trying to steal a car and fired to stop him. In any case, the soldiers
claimed that Mazen was holding a pistol. But according to his family,
the doctor didnt even own a pistol; the black object he had in
his hand was his daybook. Bushra went to her room to fetch the daybook,
which she clings to as evidence. It was seared by a bullet.
Mazens only
sibling is his younger brother Maher. Maher is an unemployed engineer
who speaks English and had been working part-time as an interpreter
at a US base. He was home the morning of June 28, heard the shots and
ran out onto the street in his pajamas. Seeing his brother lying in
a pool of blood, he started yelling Thats my brother, thats
my brother. Instead of letting him get to his brothers side,
the soldiers tied Mahers arms behind his back and pushed him to
the ground. If he moves, shoot him, one soldier ordered.
The soldiers dumped
Mazens body into a humvee and drove to the army hospital near
the airport. When his anguished father Antoine went to claim his sons
body, the soldiers held him for questioning, then handed him the bloody
body and told him to leave. Antoine had no transportation and pleaded
with them to take him and his son home. The soldiers refused to go directly
to the house, apparently afraid that an angry neighbor might attack
them. They dropped Antoine off down the block, and he had to ask the
neighbors to help carry his sons dead body home. Just the way
Saddam used to do things, muttered one of the neighbors.
The Americans didnt
offer to help with the coffin or the funeral. There was no explanation,
no apology, no soldier charged with murder.
I still cant
believe hes really dead, said Antoine, tears streaming down
his cheeks. He was so happy. He was happy that Saddam Hussein
was gone. He was happy that his daughters birthday and his wedding
anniversary were both coming up in July. He was already buying presents
and planning the celebrations.
If you read the
international news that day, youd never know about Mazens
tragic death. A web search for his name comes up with 0 entries. There
were several stories about killings in Iraq on June 28, but they were
about two US soldiers, Sergeant Philippe Gladimir and Private Kevin
Ott, who were found dead 20 miles outside Baghdad. In that case, the
army conducted extensive raids and searches to find the killers, and
four suspects were taken into custody. But nothing was done to find
Mazens killers and bring them to justice.
Mazens father,
a broken man, wants nothing from the Americans for himself, since he
feels his own life is over now that he has lost his son. But Mazens
widow and children now have no source of income. With the help of his
brother, they went to the army base and filed a claim with the Americans
asking for compensation. They were told they could ask for $10,000small
compensation for their huge loss and the life-time expenses of his widow
and children. They filed the claim on July 2 but so far they have heard
nothing, except the disturbing news that the military judge who accepted
the claim has since returned to the United States.
Mazens brother
wants more than money, though. He wants justice. He wants the Americans
to publicly admit that his brother was not a criminal trying to steal
a car or kill a soldier, but a decent family man on his way to work,
holding his daybook and planning his anniversary celebration that would
never be.
The soldiers
acted like my brother was Rambo or John Wayne, said Maher bitterly.
They acted like this was a movie where the actors would get up,
dust themselves off and go back home. No, Mazens gone and I will
miss him everyday for the rest of my life. So will his wife, his children
and my parents. The Americans should admit that they made a terrible
mistake and punish the ones who shot him. Otherwise, this will keep
happening to innocent Iraqis.
It is estimated
that some 7,000 Iraqi civilians died during the war. We have no idea
how many innocent Iraqis have died since the major fighting was officially
declared over on May 1. We can assume, however, that with US soldiers
nervous and under siege, they lash out with greater force, hurting more
innocent Iraqis like Mazen. Its a vicious cycle that leads to
increased animosity against the soldiers.
We thought
the American soldiers were our friends, said Mazens father
sadly. No more.
Medea Benjamin
is one of the founders of the Occupation Watch Center and the human
rights group Global Exchange.