US troops 'laughed as Iraqi died'

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Sad news indeed…I am glad that BBC is covering this story so that no one can call it a Mulsim Propaganda.

(I thought that before Brother AK47 post these news, let me do it for him)

US troops ‘laughed as Iraqi died’
US Army Sgt Tracy Perkins
Sgt Tracy Perkins could face up to 29 years in prison
An Iraqi civilian has testified that US soldiers forced him and his cousin to jump into the River Tigris and laughed as his relative was swept to his death.

“He was calling my name, said: ‘Help me! Help me!’” Marwan Fadel Hassoun told a military trial in Texas.

Army Sgt Tracy Perkins, 33, is on trial for an array of charges including involuntary manslaughter.

Three other soldiers have also been charged over the incident in the city of Samarra on 3 January 2004.

Mr Fadel said he and his cousin were transporting plumbing supplies from Baghdad to the city when they were approached by US troops when their truck broke down a few minutes before a 2300 curfew.

He said they were forced to the river at gunpoint.

The last time I saw my son, he was a dead body
Mamoun Hassoun
“We started to beg them not to throw us in the water,” he said through a translator.

"We said in English, ‘Please, please’, but it was in vain.

"The soldiers had their rifles a

imed at us. They were laughing."

He said he tried to save his 19-year-old cousin by grabbing his hand, but to no avail.

The court was shown a picture of a corpse which Mr Fadel’s family say they pulled from the river and buried.

Body to be exhumed

“The last time I saw my son, he was a dead body,” Mamoun Hassoun, the father of Zaidoun Fadel Hassoun, told the court.

The defence denies that the body is Zaidoun’s, saying it believes both men made it to shore alive.

The trial of another soldier accused in the case, 1st Lt Jack Saville, has been postponed so that the body can be exhumed and examined.

Both men are charged with involuntary manslaughter, conspiracy, aggravated assault, obstruction of justice, and lying to investigators. They could receive up to 29 years in prison if convicted.

Sgt Reggie Martinez is charged with manslaughter and Specialist Terry Bowman is charged with assault.

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Re: US troops 'laughed as Iraqi died'

There is trial (this is what happens in a democracy) and let us wait for the outcome (The defense claims that the person found in the river is not even the person Marwan Fadel Hassoun claims it to be and thus the claims are false (DNA will tell us the truth)).

I will be the first to say that no military is perfect, this is not an excuse for any wrong doing that the U.S. military has done or the wrong the has already done (and wrong has been done). Those who have done wrong must be punished by law.

Those who commit wrong doings within the U.S. military I believe weaken the U.S. more than any terrorist can (most of them) and they should be treated as such.

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Re: US troops 'laughed as Iraqi died'

No one is perfect, we all know this. But such events would never have occured if the immoral Iraq invasion did not take place.

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Re: US troops 'laughed as Iraqi died'

^^ why was it immoral? Was it moral enough for Saddam and his sons to go butchering around? Let's stick with Saddam and not bring in other Dictators.

One of the reasoning presented by Master Bush was that the "terrorists want war, Wealll Hot Dippity Daaaayng, we'z a bringin the war to theyem". In a way he is right he'd rather cook the terrorists right then and there rather than the terrorists having to purchase one way tix to US. It save them (terrorists) money since they are local. And it gives us the opportunity to test new Weapons of mass Destruction so we can sell them to, you guessed it:
Israel and Saudi Arabia. Oh my sincere apologies I forgot Egypt.

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Re: US troops 'laughed as Iraqi died'

"But such events would never have occured if the immoral Iraq invasion did not take place."

No, nothing bad ever happened under Saddam...

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Re: US troops 'laughed as Iraqi died'

^^

Saddam was ruling Iraq: Innocent Iraqi people were getting killed.
The USA is ruling Iraq: Innocent Iraqi people are getting killed.

Where is the improvement?

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Re: US troops ‘laughed as Iraqi died’

Does the brutalitiy of Saddam justify the crimes being committed by the US army?

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Re: US troops ‘laughed as Iraqi died’

So you believe in the policy of “bad to Worse”

Sigh!!! My fellow Americans , when will you learn?

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Re: US troops 'laughed as Iraqi died'

OK lets put everything (oil, elections, conspiracy theories etc) aside for a sec and answer a fundamental question /s that I have derived out of Umer's post.

Was Saddam good for Iraq? OR Are Americans good for Iraq?

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Re: US troops 'laughed as Iraqi died'

In context of "bad to worse" ..I think "bad" was much better.