Troops cleared of killing Iraqi teenager

[Judi Lynn]

Troops cleared of killing Iraqi teenager
From: Agence France-Presse From correspondents in London
June 07, 2006
A MILITARY court cleared three British soldiers of killing a 15-year-old Iraqi boy who drowned in a canal in southern Iraq after the US-led invasion in March 2003.

The court sitting in Colchester, southeast England, found Sergeant Carle Selman, 39, and Guardsmen Joseph McCleary, 24, and Martin McGing, 22, all not guilty of manslaughter charges after five hours of deliberations.

Prosecutors had alleged that Ahmed Jabar Karheem, who could not swim, struggled in "obvious distress" and disappeared in a canal in Basra after being forced there at gunpoint.

The teenager was one of four suspected Iraqi looters who were bundled into the water to "teach them a lesson", a week after the official end of the Iraq war in May, 2003, it was alleged.
(snip/...)

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19392256-401,00.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Published on Thursday, July 21, 2005 by the Independent (UK)
'Why Did They Force My Son Into the Water?'
by Kim Sengupta

On 8 May 2003 Ahmed Jabbar Kareem hugged his mother, Zahra, goodbye as he did every morning before leaving for work. That was the last time she saw him alive.

When the 17-year-old failed to return home, in one of the poorest parts of Baghdad, the family went on a search. They returned to find waiting for them a young man, Ayad Salim Hannoun, with a horrific tale.

He claimed that Ahmed had been ordered into a river by British troops, and had drowned. The account he gave to the family, and then Iraqi police and British military authorities, will be key evidence in a war crimes trial of troops charged with inhumane treatment.
(snip)

Ahmed, according to Ayad, was in an area near al-Sa'ad Square when a British patrol came under fire. Afterwards he was among four youths, including Ayad, who were arrested, and put into an armoured personnel carrier. The young men were frightened and promised to tell each other's families if any of them came to harm.


They were taken, along with civilians injured by gunfire, to the Republican Hospital where they were found to be unhurt. Then, Ayad maintained, they were taken to a bridge over the river Zubair, a tributary of the Tigris, and ordered, by the soldiers, it is alleged, to jump in and swim. Ayad and two of the others were strong swimmers and managed to cross the waterway. But Ahmed could not swim and drowned. Ayad said in his written statement that he saw the boy frantically struggling and waving before going under.
(snip)

Ahmed's father, Jabbar Kareem Ali, went to the local police station at al- Hussain with Ayad where their statements were taken down. Mrs Kareem recalled: "The next few days were so bad, so terrible. I used to go beside the river and wait. I knew by then that my son had gone, but I thought maybe the body would be found."
(snip/...)

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0721-02.htm

[theoldman]

1. The parents of these soldiers must be real proud.

[CoffeeCat]

2. All's fair in love and war...

...I guess.

You know, it doesn't even matter that these soldiers were found "not guilty."

They led an Iraqi teenager into deep water. When they saw him struggling they did nothing and watched him drown.

The damage is done. These soldiers have to live with this heinous act. America will have to live with this heinous act. When these soldiers return home with PTSD--due to their guilt and trauma---their families and their communities will suffer, as well they.

The fact that they remain un-convicted is unimpressive. What's tantamount is that this happened at all.

We're supposed to be liberating these people--but every time I turn around--we're killing them, and then being exonerated for it.

This is nothing but a sick sham.

[Benhurst]

3. Gosh, remember the good old days when the British

were fighting fascists, not acting like them?

[BuyingThyme]

4. Coalition of the Killing.

[gratuitous]

5. Whew! Cleared by a military court

Bet nobody could imagine that happening!

But the soldiers sure taught that 15-year-old a lesson about looting that he won't soon forget. They should be down on their knees nightly praying that Ahmed's surviving friends and relatives have far shorter memories. Just so you know, London, the next time a bomb goes off in a heavily populated area, this incident might have something to do with it.

For our lurking friends who delight in ferreting out such things: Predicting an event does not call it into being.