Iraq:
Killer Of U.S. Soldiers
Becomes A Hero
By
Ali al-Fadhily & Dahr Jamail
07 January,
2008
Inter
Press Service
BAGHDAD,
Jan 7 (IPS) - The recent killing of two U.S. soldiers by their
Iraqi colleague has raised disturbing questions about U.S. military
relations with the Iraqis they work with.
On Dec. 26,
an Iraqi soldier opened fire on U.S. soldiers accompanying him during
a joint military patrol in the northern Iraqi city Mosul. He killed
the U.S. captain and another sergeant, and wounded three others, including
an Iraqi interpreter.
Conflicting
versions of the killing have arisen. Col. Hazim al-Juboory, uncle of
the attacker Kaissar Saady al-Juboory, told IPS that his nephew at first
watched the U.S. soldiers beat up an Iraqi woman. When he asked them
to stop, they refused, so he opened fire.
"Kaissar
is a professional soldier who revolted against the Americans when they
dragged a woman by her hair in a brutal way," Col. Juboory said.
"He is a tribal man, and an Arab with honour who would not accept
such behaviour. He killed his captain and sergeant knowing that he would
be executed."
Others gave
IPS a similar account. "I was there when the American captain and
his soldiers raided a neighbourhood and started shouting at women to
tell them where some men they wanted were," a resident of Mosul,
speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS on phone. "The women
told them they did not know, and their men did not do anything wrong,
and started crying in fear."
The witness
said the U.S. captain began to shout at his soldiers and the women,
and his men then started to grab the women and pull them by their hair.
"The
soldier we knew later to be Kaissar shouted at the Americans, 'No, No,'
but the captain shouted back at the Iraqi soldier," the witness
told IPS. "Then the Iraqi soldier shouted, 'Let go of the women
you sons of bitches,' and started shooting at them." The soldier,
he said, then ran off.
The Association
of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni organisation, issued a statement saying
the Iraqi soldier had shot the U.S. soldiers after he saw them beat
up a pregnant woman.
"His
blood rose and he asked the occupying soldiers to stop beating the woman,"
they said in the statement. "Their answer through the translator
was: 'We will do what we want. So he opened fire on them."
The story
was first reported on al-Rafidain satellite channel. That started Iraqis
from all over the country talking about "the hero" who sacrificed
his life for Iraqi honour.
The U.S.
and Iraqi military told a different version of the story.
An Iraqi
general told reporters that Kaissar carried out the attack because he
had links to "Sunni Arab insurgent groups."
"Soldier
Kaissar Saady worked for insurgent groups who pushed him to learn army
movements and warn his comrades about them," a captain of the second
Iraqi army division told IPS. "There are so many like him in the
army and now within the so-called Awakening forces (militias funded
by the U.S. military)."
One army
officer speaking on condition of anonymity described Kaissar's act as
heroic. "Those Americans learned their lesson once more."
Sheikh Juma'
al-Dawar, chief of the major al-Baggara tribe in Iraq, told IPS in Baghdad
that "Kaissar is from the al-Juboor tribes in Gayara -- tribes
with morals that Americans do not understand."
The tribal
chief added, "Juboor tribes and all other tribes are proud of Kaissar
and what he did by killing the American soldiers. Now he is a hero,
with a name that will never be forgotten."
Many Iraqis
speak in similar vein. "It is another example of Iraqi people's
unity despite political conspiracies by the Americans and their tails
(collaborators)," Mohammad Nassir, an independent politician in
Baghdad told IPS. "Kaissar is loved by all Iraqis who pray for
his safety and who are ready to donate anything for his welfare."
Col. Juboory
said Kaissar who had at first accepted collaboration with the U.S. forces
"found the truth too bitter to put up with." The colonel said:
"I worked with the Americans because being an army officer is my
job and also because I was convinced they would help Iraqis. But 11
months was enough for me to realise that starving to death is more honourable
than serving the occupiers. They were mean in every way."
Independent
sources have since told IPS that Kaissar was captured by a special joint
Iraqi-U.S. force, and he is now being held and tortured at the al-Ghizlany
military camp in Mosul.
Despite a
recent decline in the number of occupation forces being killed, 2007
was the deadliest year of the occupation for U.S. troops, with 901 killed,
according to the U.S. Department of Defence.
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