US Media Kills Story that Iraqi PM Executed 6 Prisoners

[mom cat]

Published on Monday, July 19, 2004 by the Daily Times (Pakistan)
US Media Kills Story that Iraqi PM Executed 6 Prisoners
by Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: The US media has surprisingly failed to pick up the shocking disclosure by Sydney Morning Herald, Australia’s leading newspaper, that the Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi personally executed six suspected insurgents in a Baghdad police station.

The story by award-winning Australian journalist Paul McGeough said that the prisoners were handcuffed and blindfolded, lined up against a courtyard wall and shot by the Iraqi PM. Dr Allawi is alleged to have told those around him that he wanted to send a clear message to the police on how to deal with insurgents. Two people allege they witnessed the killings and there are also claims the Iraqi interior minister and four American men were present.

An Australian television channel interviewed the reporter who is in Iraq telling him that the Allawi family had denied the story. He replied, “Well it’s a very contentious issue. What you have is two very solid eyewitness accounts. Each witness is not aware that the other spoke.”

The Australian journalist said, “Well, I’ll take you through what the two witnesses said to give you the full chronology as I understand it. There was a surprise visit at about 10:30am to the police center. The PM talked to policemen and then toured the complex. They came to a courtyard where six, sorry seven prisoners were lined up against a wall. They were blindfolded, they were described to me as an Iraqi colloquialism for the fundamentalist foreign fighters who came to Baghdad. They have that classic look that you see with many of the Osama Bin Laden associates of the scraggly beard and the very short hair and they were a sort of ... took place in front of them as they were up against this wall was an exchange between the interior minister and Dr Allawi, saying that he felt like killing them on the spot.


http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0719-02.htm

[shoelace414]

1. they'll put it on page 257

[MidwestTransplant]

2. Has anybody seen this?

What about Olberman? Et tu Keith?

[noonwitch]

13. It was on the BBC last night

BBC World New Tonight is on BBC America at 6:00 EDT. It's sometimes on local PBS Stations, too.

[Cha]

3. A caller on c-span this morning from New York..

was telling Paul that the US media censors our news and Paul asked him for an example and the New Yoker said that the Australian News had reported "Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi personally executed six suspected insurgents in a Baghdad police station."

He said.. "just google Allawi and execution"..

It did my heart good to hear that caller because .."The Revolution will not be Televised..it's on the internet"

[Cha]

4. At least the Australians have the news...,my thought is that

this will only help Mark Latham win and get john howard out.

[shockingelk]

5. Devil's advocate ...

The story isn't getting much play anywhere but Australia, which isn't surprising as the whole thing is based on one reporter's work as of now. And there are at least a few major US outlets that have reported on the report ...

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=BEA57AFE-37C2-4A65-92C1180F90A2CC94
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0720/p01s03-woiq.html
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/breaking_news/9176800.htm

... and recall, many things are big news at DU before US media picks up on it ... like "Iraq isn't producing WMD". If there's something to Paul McGeough's report, we will hear of it everywhere, I'm confident. You can't keep a story like that down.

[daleo]

6. There were no American deaths, so the media can ignore this

They will just claim there is no interest since no Americans are involved, and besides the allegation didn't have three dozen corroborating witnesses and a TV camera present. But they will run any trivial rumor about the sex life of a celebrity or politician (especially if it is a Democratic politician).

If they do run it, they will refer to it as "a sidestepping of some legal technicalities" or "hard-nosed justice" rather than murder.

[Jerseygirltoo]

7. I read somewhere that Rush talked about it

on his radio show-of course he applauded Allawi for getting tough

[Kagemusha]

8. Before I heard it from the reporter it was rumor on the street

and very much wishful thinking.

The US media would know this from reports.

[daleo]

15. Reports are from a well known and credible Australian reporter

Who sourced two eyewitnesses independently. Someone else may be demonstrating wishful thinking here. In any case, the report deserves to be investigated thoroughly, as replacing Saddam with another brutal criminal (executing people without the benefit of a trial is still considered a crime) further invalidates the Bush justification for war. A breezy dismissal (which appears to be the route favored by the U.S. media, to the extent they are picking it up at all) is irresponsible.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Despicable.

It'd be great to find out who these people are:

Two people allege they witnessed the killings and there are also claims the Iraqi interior minister and four American men were present.

Really wish this would be made public, as it should. Concealing it, doing _Bush's bidding on this is dead wrong.

[sniffa]

10. it's on the front page of today's boston metro

so that's a start.

[mom cat]

11. The Boston Metro is amazing. Sometimes I think about a DU Daily

that could get the word out. The Metro has stories you won't find in the Glob. Glad they had this one! Actually, this could be a good place to send LBN to get it out to masses of people. Everyone picks one up before getting on the "T".

[sniffa]

12. weLL, they're aLways Looking for writers

and they'LL pretty much print anything. they don't have reguLar news reporters (as far as i can teLL) - just pLuck AP stories to fiLL up their pages, so maybe they just need some heads-ups once in a whiLe.

in my 2.5 years reading the metro, i've come to the concLusion that they are the most fair and baLanced periodicaL i've ever read.

[mom cat]

16. Thanks for the sugestion. I am really going to think about it.

:hug:

:dem:

[Wind Dancer]

14. We need to email this story

to Keith, Sy Hersh and Helen Thomas. I am so disgusted with our corporate owned media refusing to report the news and it's only getting worse.

[mom cat]

17. Do it!

[pale reflection]

18. Hardly a secret

I heard about it a week ago, though like the newsies, I haven't found anything like a credible source to back up the story 100%. The number of prisoners has changed in some versions, while sometimes they are foreign fighters and sometimes they are local.

I studied urban legends in college, and this has all the halmarks of one.

[Wind Dancer]

19. I disagree!

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2004/s1155990.htm

snip

Well, the journalist reporting the story is Paul McGeough, awarded a Walkley Award for his coverage of the Iraq war last year.

He's also a former editor of the Herald and is now the paper's chief correspondent.

He's joined me on the line from a location in the Middle East.

MAXINE McKEW: Paul McGeough, thanks for joining us.

Paul, as you've also made clear in your article, Prime Minister Allawi has flatly denied this story.

Why then is the Herald so confident about publishing it?

PAUL McGEOUGH, 'SYDNEY MORNING HERALD' AND 'AGE' FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: Well it's a very contentious issue.

What you have is two very solid eyewitness accounts of what happened at a police security complex in a south-west Baghdad suburb.

They are very detailed.

They were done separately.

Each witness is not aware that the other spoke.

They were contacted through personal channels rather than through the many political, religious or military organisations working in Baghdad that might be trying to spin a tale.

And they've laid it out very carefully and very clearly as to what they saw.

MAXINE McKEW: You haven't identified these witnesses but why have they felt free to talk about such an extraordinary story?

PAUL McGEOUGH: Well, they were approached through personal connections and as a result of that, they accepted assurances.

They were guaranteed anonymity, they were told that no identifying material would be published on them and they told what they saw.

MAXINE McKEW: And just take us through the events as they were accounted to you?

PAUL McGEOUGH: Well, I'll take you through what the two bits of pieces of what the two witnesses said to give you the full chronology as I understand it.

There was a surprise visit at about 10:30 in the morning to the police centre.

The PM is said to have talked to a large group of policemen, then to have toured the complex.

They came to a courtyard where six, sorry seven prisoners were lined up against a wall.

They were handcuffed, they were blindfolded, they were described to me as an Iraqi colloquialism for the fundamentalist foreign fighters who have come to Baghdad.

They have that classic look that you see with many of the Osama bin Laden associates of the scraggly beard and the very short hair and they were a sort of ... took place in front of them as they were up against this wall was an exchange between the Interior Minister and Dr Allawi, the Interior Minister saying that he felt like killing them on the spot.
snip


Paul McGeough is a respected journalist.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

20. You are so consistent!

I admire that

[pale reflection]

21. I try to be...

Though I'm noticing that quite a few people here are like fleas, hopping rabidly from one neocon conspiracy theory to another. I've always been more of a moderate, old school eastern NC Democrat. I am troubled by what I see here.

To listen to many posters on this site, you would think that President Bush wasn't so much born as he was spawned from some unholy alliance with the Devil. I do not like the man, and I disagree with many of his policies. But I do not personally hate him. I would never call him evil they way that many people here do. To hear them tell it, you would think Bush has the destruction of the United States as the sole underlying goal for his presidency. And yet if someone disagrees from that extremist view, they're scorned for it.

This is the "Democratic Underground," is it?

I think calling it the "Liberal Underground" would be more accurate, as this place seems to have little to do with the Democratic party I grew up in. I'll leave you to your devices, and see if I can find something more moderate in spirit, and closer to where I come from.

Good Day.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

22. Bye bye now!

Don't forget to write