OT: Captured Troops

[Atrocities]

DOHA, Qatar (March 23) - The Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera aired footage from Iraqi television Sunday of interviews with what the station identified as captured American prisoners, and also showed bodies in uniform in an Iraqi morgue that it said were Americans.

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld told CBS that if they are indeed coalition soldiers, ''those pictures are a violation of the Geneva Convention.''

After watching the videotape, U.S. defense officials said a small number of U.S. troops have apparently been captured and others killed by the Iraqi military in southern Iraq.

The officials, who asked not to be identified, said there was no direct confirmation of the capture, apparently involving as many as 10 U.S. troops from an American Army maintenance unit, but that notifications were being made to families based on the tape.

''To me, it (the tape) was convincing,'' said one of the defense officials. Others said the tape could have been made by the Iraqi military and provided to al-Jazeera.

There was no confirmation that the prisoners were U.S. troops, or if they were, what unit they were attached to. Two of the prisoners identified their unit only as the 507th Maintenance; there is a 507th in both the Army and the Air Force.

The U.S. Central Command had no comment.

In the broadcast, four bodies could be seen lying on the floor of the room.

The station said they and the prisoners were captured around Nasiriyah, a major crossing point over the Euphrates northwest of Basra.

The British Ministry of Defense refused to comment about a BBC report that four were killed and 50 wounded during eight hours of fighting in Nasiriyah.

Al-Jazeera later showed footage of what appeared to be a fuel or water carrier parked alongside a highway and a body in uniform with full gear and still wearing a helmet lying behind the carrier.

In the Iraqi television footage, at least five prisoners including one woman were interviewed separately. Two were bandaged. They spoke American-accented English.

One of the men, sitting up, was being interviewed by an unseen person holding a microphone labeled ''Iraqi TV.'' The prisoner spoke in English and at one point said: ''I'm sorry. I don't understand you.''

The narrator provided an Arabic translation, but it was possible to hear some of the comments in English.

The prisoners looked terrified. One captive, who said he was from Kansas, answered all his questions in a shaky voice, his eyes darting back and forth between and interviewer and another person who couldn't be seen on camera.

Asked why he came to Iraq, he simply replied ''I come to fix broke stuff.''

Prodded again by the interviewer, he was asked if he came to shoot Iraqis.

''No I come to shoot only if I am shot at,'' he said. ''They (Iraqis) don't bother me, I don't bother them.''

Another prisoner, who said he was from Texas, said only: ''I follow orders.''

A voice off-camera asked ''how many officers'' were in his unit.

''I don't know sir,'' the man replied.

Another prisoner, who also said he was from Texas, was lying on an elaborate maroon mat. The camera panned from his feet to his head, showing one of his arms as injured and lying across his chest.

Iraqi TV attempted to interview him lying down, at one point trying to cradle his head so it would hold steady for the camera. The eventually helped him sit up, but he seemed to sway slightly.

Not to mention that there is also an aircraft missing and Iraqis are searching for the two pilots.

Add to the fact that an Arab-America Soldier use a granade to kill and wound several of his fellow soldiers as a demonstration against the war, one can safely say we are in it now.

[PsychoTechFreak]

I have seen this tape on TV news a few hours ago. I wish I would not have seen this...
Geneva Convention, far from the mark if this was not a fake.

[Baron Munchausen]

This is not surprising. They know their only hope of victory is through unrest at home, so they will exploit every opportunity to make the 'public' at home unhappy.

The soldier who attacked the command center has not been properly identified. There are rumors that he is 'African-American' as the current euphemism goes, and recently converted to Islam --though it's likely an American flavor of Islam with doctrines that other Muslims world-wide would consider a bit unorthodox.

Whatever color he is now, he'll be pale as a cave fish after 20 years of not seeing the sun. He may spend the rest of his life in a military prison. (I suspect that the firing squad is too politically dangerous even for W. to revive.)

[ March 23, 2003, 18:18: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

[PsychoTechFreak]

Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:
This is not surprising. They know their only hope of victory is through unrest at home, so they will exploit every opportunity to make the 'public' at home unhappy.

Probably this could also repolarize the other pro-Saddam arabs, even they have been terrified by this video (from what europe news have published).

[mac5732]

I didn't see the film, but I did see the photo, Like as already been stated, this was to incense the other Arab countries and inflame them to either put pressure on the US to stop or to incite them into violence against the US and its Allies. It also shows the type of Regime we are dealing with and the type of people involved. To me, (my opinion only) it appears that these men were shot inside the building. (look at the blood on the floor plus their dress.

What I find more disturbing then these photos was the announcement that the Russians have been selling Iraq jammers and that they have Techs currently in Iraq training them on their use against us, and in addition, that these were smuggled into the country in boxs from the UN for humanitarian aid. I wouldn't doubt that we may also find France has been selling them military items as well,, could this be why France and Russia were so against the attack? For Financial Reasons? This is only my opinion, I do not mean to offend anyone

[TerranC]

Originally posted by mac5732:
could this be why France and Russia were so against the attack? For Financial Reasons? This is only my opinion, I do not mean to offend anyone

Well, it did come up that Russia has some loans to collect from Iraq and that France has showed more than a slight interest on the Iraqi oil fields...

[ March 24, 2003, 03:58: Message edited by: TerranC ]

[Aloofi]

From the Onion :

Bush Orders Iraq To Disarm Before Start Of War
WASHINGTON, DC�Maintaining his hardline stance against Saddam Hussein, President Bush ordered Iraq to fully dismantle its military before the U.S. begins its invasion next week. "U.S. intelligence confirms that, even as we speak, Saddam is preparing tanks and guns and other weapons of deadly force for use in our upcoming war against him," Bush said Sunday during his weekly radio address. "This madman has every intention of firing back at our troops when we attack his country." Bush warned the Iraqi dictator to "lay down [his] weapons and enter battle unarmed, or suffer the consequences."

[dogscoff]

I hope the pictures are fakes, or that Iraq actually treats any prisoners of war it has taken according to agreed standards of human rights. Unfortunately Saddam hussein is more than capable of all kinds of atrocities, and he will do whatever he feels is necessary to generate unrest among the US public in the hopes that they call their troops home.

Also, the US should fulfil their own human rights obligations to the people held at camp X-Ray before they start quoting the Geneva Convention at other countries.

[von_toaster]

Dogscoff is right.
May I remind you of the Guantanamo Bay prisoners which, according to US, are not covered by the Geneva convention?

[Aloofi]

Originally posted by von_toaster:
Dogscoff is right.
May I remind you of the Guantanamo Bay prisoners which, according to US, are not covered by the Geneva convention?

Right on. I find very inmoral to claim Geneva status when that status is not giving to your enemies.

I don't wanna think what the CIA is doing to those poor bastards in Guantanamo.
I don't care that much for the Al Qaeda ones, but many of them are etnic Pashtus from the Taliban who have nothing to do with 9/11.