COVERUP: The March 15 Massacre at Abu Sifa

Cheryl Seal
COVERUP: The March 15 Massacre at Abu Sifa
Fri May 26, 2006 09:19

Civilian Massacres: A Hidden Epidemic?
For Example, Why Isn't Anyone Talking about the March 15 Massacre in Abu Sifa?

For a graphic, disturbing report (with many photos) on this horrific incident, see "Children of Abraham: Death in the Desert"
http://www.chris-floyd.com/march/

The media, given "permission" by the Pentagon, is now reporting on the November massacre of Iraqi civilians by US marines and an incident in which one Iraqi man was murdered by a US soldier. But from all accounts "on the ground in Iraq," the massacre of civilians may be far worse than what is being admitted, with at least two major incidents in March alone.. Yet we hear nothing about these, esp. a particularly horrific March 15 incident in Abu Sifa north of Baghdad. Iraqi police and local officials were willing to sign their names to statements about the massacre, in fact. Yet the incident continues to be systematically covered up. How many other massacres have been disquised as “firefights,” “raids on insurgents,” and “accidental friendly fire?”

ZNet Reports: "On March 15, near Balad, the Iraqi police reported the following: “American forces used helicopters to drop troops on the house of Faiz Harat Khalaf situated in the Abu Sifa village of the Ishaqi district. The American forces gathered the family members in one room and executed 11 people, including five children, four women and two men, then they bombed the house, burned three vehicles and killed their animals.”

A local police commander said hospital autopsies “revealed that all the victims had bullet shots in the head and all bodies were handcuffed.” It is crucial to note that the Iraqi police force is recruited, trained and assigned tasks under vigilant U.S. supervision.

A similar massacre was committed in Haditha, in November of last year, as an act of revenge after a bomb attack on a U.S. marine force. A nine-year-old survivor of that crime, who lived in a house near the site of the killings, told Time magazine that after the explosion her father began reading the Qur'an. “First, they went into my father's room, where he was reading the Qur'an, and we heard shots. I couldn't see their faces very well, only their guns sticking into the doorway. I watched them shoot my grandfather first in the chest and then in the head. Then they killed my granny.” All in all, 15 Iraqis were butchered in this incident.

Still, the Guardian reporter, or editor, chose not to call either “event” a massacre. He also avoided any terms of revulsion usually used to describe similar “incidents,” particularly those involving white victims."
This last Sunday, March 26, another American massacre of Iraqis was reported in the Guardian [3]. The Iraqi Security Minister, no less, described it as follows:
“At evening prayers, American soldiers accompanied by Iraqi troops raided the Mustafa mosque and killed 37 people. They [the victims] were unarmed. [US soldiers] went in, tied up the people and shot them all. They did not leave any wounded.”

Calling the mosque massacre a “raid,” the Guardian quoted U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson saying: “In our observation of the place and the activities that were going on, it’s difficult for us to consider this a place of prayer,” adding, “It was not identified by us as a mosque... I think this is a matter of perception.”

See: "When is the killing of Arabs considered a massacre?"
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=10075