It is all ‘lies again’?
BAGHDAD — Relatives and colleagues of two Iraqi television journalists they said were killed by US gunfire were stricken with anger and grief yesterday as they paid their last respects to the men in Baghdad.
In Washington, US President George W. Bush said Saddam Hussein’s fall had “removed a source of violence, aggression and instability” in the region and called on his allies to show more resolve against terrorism. Within an hour of his White House speech, marking the anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, a series of blasts echoed across Baghdad from a suspected mortar or rocket attack on the headquarters of the US-led administration. The US military said there were no reports of damage or casualties.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell, during a surprise visit to Iraq earlier in the day, also hailed the war, saying it had rid the country of a “horrible dictatorial regime”.
Both Bush and Powell urged US allies to stay the course in Iraq after Spain vowed to pull out troops and South Korea refused to take on a combat role. “Any sign of weakness or retreat simply validates terrorist violence and invites more violence for all nations,” Bush told representatives from 83 nations at the White House. He acknowledged global divisions over the decision to invade Iraq but said the war had removed a dangerous tyrant.
“There have been disagreements in this matter among old and valued friends,” he said. “Those differences belong to the past. All of us can now agree that the fall of the Iraqi dictator has removed a source of violence, aggression and instability in the Middle East.”
Grown men wept openly and women wailed as dozens of people surrounded the coffins, draped in Iraqi flags, of Al Arabiya cameraman Ali Abdul Aziz, 35, and journalist Ali Al Khatib, 32.
The pair were shot on Thursday after US troops opened fire at their car near the Burj Al Hayat Hotel in central Baghdad, where they had gone to report on a rocket attack.
Abdul Aziz was dead on arrival at the Ibn Nafiss Hospital while Khatib lost his battle for survival early yesterday. Both were hit in the head, their death certificates and autopsy reports said.
But the autopsy conducted at the Baghdad Medico-Legal Centre, after a long and harrowing wait that kept relatives and family members on edge for more than eight hours, brought their anger to a head.
The report concluded that the pair had been hit by “gunfire” but did not specify the type of weapons used, triggering fury among their relatives and colleagues, who were hoping to see clear US responsibility for the deaths.
“We had asked for proof to show that this was a crime (undertaken by the Americans). This report does not answer our needs,” Al Arabiya Baghdad bureau chief Wihad Yaaqub said angrily.
He pledged that the Dubai-based satellite station “will knock on all doors in order to reveal the motives behind this crime”.
“Lies. All lies. For 35 years we were told lies (under the ousted Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein). It is lies again, only the colour has changed. Everyone betrays the other,” said Abdul Aziz’s brother Haidar.
At the crack of dawn, the brother and nephew of the cameraman went to retrieve Abdul Aziz’s body from the hospital morgue.
For more than six hours, they agonised as officials promised to deliver the death certificate they needed to bury him in the pilgrimage city of Najaf, 160km south of Baghdad.
Khatib’s father, Abdul Hussein Khatib, a slight man with greying hair, was also anxious to get his son to the holy city of Karbala, near Najaf, for burial before night fell.
“My son got married only six months ago. His wife is three months pregnant. Poor woman, she is distraught,” he said. With two hours to go until dusk, the coffins were finally placed in an open-top white pick-up truck belonging to the Interior Ministry which set off in a convoy to the Al Arabiya offices.
As it made its way across Baghdad with sirens wailing, passers-by, including an old-man walking painfully with a cane, stopped to salute in sign of solidarity.
timesofoman.com
A note.
In Washington, US President George W. Bush said Saddam Hussein’s fall had “removed a source of violence, aggression and instability” in the region
While watching the tube today and seeing Bush baldly state that the fall of Saddam had removed a source of instability, I had difficulty believing my ears. Who besides RW ideologues and the completely brain dead, believes this stuff?
JMO
lurqer |
