Allawi Shooting Story: Help Out My Father-In-Law

[Plaid Adder]

OK, he's not technically speaking my father-in-law because same-sex marriage still isn't legal where I live, but he is my partner's father and I am fond of him and hate to see him distressed.

After the story broke in the Sydney Morning Herald about Allawi having casually shot six prisoners in cold blood as he was passing by one morning, my mother-in-law called me up to make sure I knew about it. I assured her that I'd heard about it. Later, I got another phone message from her correcting a detail she had gotten wrong in her initial phone call to me. I thought, gosh, this thing must really be upsetting her.

Today I got an email from my partner's younger sister on the same subject. Apaprently my father-in-law has now embarked on a "one-man mission" to try to determine whether these shootings actually happened. The story has been reported in the American press as a 'rumor,' you see, but nobody in the American press is willing to venture an opinion on whether the rumor is true. According to Jane's email, the Iraqi government has denied the 'rumor' but our government hasn't. The American press, meanwhile, appears content to leave the story at 'rumor' status and not investigate further. My FIL has contacted the Boston Globe, which is the paper he reads, asking them why nobody has investigated this story, and so far gotten no response.

I guess part of the reason this makes me sad is that it shows me how hardened I've become to the reality of this occupation. It doesn't surprise or shock me at all to hear that the guy we put in charge is the kind of guy to whom 'due process' is just a really funny joke, and who would shoot people just because he felt like it. And I have also gotten used to the idea that we are just never going to know how bad it really is over there, because our press doesn't want to find out. But my poor parents-in-law are apparently not sufficiently hardened to be able to take this story in stride, and indeed why should they be. Even if it really is just a rumor, the fact that the American press doesn't care enough to chase it down and either confirm or discredit it really is appalling; and if it's true, well, that's worse.

So, if any of you have come across stories in outlets other than the Sydney Morning Herald that have investigated the Allawi shooting rumor, please post the URLs here so I can forward them to my in-laws, so my father-in-law can eventually accomplish his one-man mission.

Thanks in advance,

The Plaid Adder

[never cry wolf]

1. Seems to be a mixed bag

Unnamed witnesses, US and Iraqi officials deny it. Not sure how to prove a he said/she said story.

Found some articles here, along with some NPR radio archives discussing the subject.

http://news.google.com/news?q=Allawi%20shooting%20prisoners&num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&sa=N&tab=wn