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   XPost: alt.conspiracy, alt.conspiracy.new-world-order, alt.america   
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   From: oO@oO.com   
      
   Iraqi civilian deaths shrouded in secrecy   
         By David Gritten   
         BBC News website   
      
      
   Recent figures from the campaign group Iraq Body Count put the minimum   
   number of civilians killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion three years ago   
   at between 33,710 and 37,832.   
      
   Although many of those deaths were caused by insurgent attacks,   
   multi-national forces stationed in Iraq ostensibly to protect the population   
   have been responsible for a significant number post-invasion.   
      
      
   Hundreds of civilians have been killed during major offensives by US-led   
   forces against insurgents in cities such as Falluja, and many others have   
   died after lethal force was used at military checkpoints.   
      
   Military commanders have said those killed were "collateral damage" or the   
   unfortunate victims of "crossfire" between their troops and militants.   
      
   But the announcement that US military investigators have flown to Iraq to   
   study allegations that their troops deliberately shot dead at least 15   
   civilians in Anbar Province in November has cast doubt on some of those   
   claims.   
      
   'Riddled with bullets'   
      
   A US statement at the time said the civilians, including seven women and   
   three children, died in a roadside bomb explosion that also killed a marine   
   in the western town of Haditha.   
      
   But survivors and those who saw the bodies said the account was not true.   
      
      
   "Their bodies were riddled with bullets, there was evidence that there had   
   been gunfire inside their homes, there were blood spatters inside their   
   homes," Bobby Ghosh, a journalist who took up the case for Time magazine,   
   told the BBC.   
      
   "It was quite clear that these people were killed indoors, which couldn't   
   possibly have happened if they'd been involved in a roadside blast."   
      
   An initial military inquiry found the two families had indeed been shot dead   
   in their homes by the marines, but it described the deaths as "collateral   
   damage".   
      
   The report has now prompted the US Naval Criminal Investigation Service   
   (NCIS) to determine the motives behind the killing.   
      
   The NCIS will have to decide whether the civilians were killed by accident   
   or were targeted by the marines as an act of revenge in a potential war   
   crime.   
      
   Several American veterans of the war in Iraq have told the BBC's Newsnight   
   programme that the marines' reaction to the roadside bomb attack in Haditha   
   was not an isolated incident.   
      
   Specialist Michael Blake, who served in Balad, said it was common practice   
   to "shoot up the landscape or anything that moved" after an explosion.   
      
   'Common practice'   
      
   Another veteran, Specialist Jody Casey, who was a scout sniper in Baquba,   
   said he had also seen innocent civilians being killed.   
      
   Bombs "go off and you just zap any farmer that's close to you", he said.   
      
      
        At that time, when we first got down there, you could basically kill   
   anyone you wanted   
         Specialist Jody Casey   
      
   Mr Casey said he did not take part in any atrocities himself, but was   
   advised to always carry a shovel. He could then plant this on any civilian   
   victims to make it look as though they were digging roadside bombs.   
      
   The US and British governments say the fact the allegations are being   
   investigated at all shows that progress has been made in Iraq.   
      
   UK International Development Minister Hilary Benn welcomed the inquiry and   
   said it was important that the perpetrators were being brought to justice.   
      
   "The big difference between now and the 30 years that people endured under   
   Saddam is that when things happened nobody was called to account, there was   
   no due process," he said.   
      
   'Secrecy'   
      
   Although human rights groups have also welcomed the launch of the inquiry,   
   they are quick to point out that the multi-national forces have investigated   
   only a minority of the reports alleging the unlawful or deliberate killing   
   of Iraqi civilians.   
      
      
        Whether the investigations are civilian or led by the judiciary, the   
   most important thing is for it to be independent, impartial and transparent   
         Nicole Choueiry   
      
   Nicole Choueiry, a spokeswoman for Amnesty International, told the BBC News   
   website that those investigations which had taken place had often been   
   inadequate and shrouded in secrecy.   
      
   The victims' families are also often unaware of how to apply for   
   compensation.   
      
   There are no governmental or judicial bodies in Iraq to investigate human   
   rights violations and the activities of international groups such as Amnesty   
   and Human Rights Watch have been limited by the deteriorating security   
   situation.   
      
   Ms Choueiry believes an official body needs to be set up to ensure   
   multi-national troops fulfil their mission while abiding by international   
   humanitarian and human rights law.   
      
   "Whether the investigations are civilian or led by the judiciary, the most   
   important thing is for them to be independent, impartial and transparent,"   
   she said.   
      
   Immunity   
      
   But the effectiveness of such an organisation would be severely restricted   
   by an order originally issued by the Coalition Provisional Authority, and   
   renewed by the Iraqi government in 2004, that grants foreign forces immunity   
   from Iraqi criminal and civil law.   
      
      
        The protection of the fourth Geneva Convention means nothing if the   
   military does not investigate the crime   
         Phil Shiner   
      
   Instead, the troops remain subject solely to the jurisdiction of their own   
   states.   
      
   The US and UK have been accused of limiting the number and power of criminal   
   prosecutions - in January, a US officer was punished with a reprimand and a   
   $6,000 fine for killing a captured Iraqi general - or simply not undertaking   
   them at all.   
      
   No prosecution was launched after a US marine was filmed shooting dead an   
   incapacitated insurgent in a mosque in Falluja in November 2004.   
      
   Phil Shiner, a solicitor representing several Iraqi families taking the   
   British government to court over human rights violations, told the BBC News   
   website the small chance of anything being investigated effectively makes   
   redundant the fourth Geneva Convention, which protects civilians in times of   
   war or under occupation by a foreign power.   
      
   "The protection of the fourth Geneva Convention means nothing if the   
   military does not investigate the crime," he said.   
      
   Mr Shiner has challenged the immunity of British troops in Iraq and their   
   right to run their own investigations by arguing that European human rights   
   law applied during their operations.   
      
   The UK High Court ruled in December that the British government would have   
   to hold an "independent and effective" inquiry into the death of a man from   
   Basra, Baha Mousa, because he died while in British custody.   
      
   Although the High Court also said it would be "premature" to conclude the   
   British government was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights   
   before the outcome of the ministry's own investigation was known, such a   
      
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