June 2, 2006 /

The Right's Massacre Explanation.

Well the Ishaqi massacre has been answered and resolved by PowerLine: The second in the current trifecta of civilian murder claims against American troops is an incident that occurred in the town of Ishaqi on March 15. Apparently there is no doubt that civilians were killed; their number and the circumstances of their death are […]

Well the Ishaqi massacre has been answered and resolved by PowerLine:

The second in the current trifecta of civilian murder claims against American troops is an incident that occurred in the town of Ishaqi on March 15. Apparently there is no doubt that civilians were killed; their number and the circumstances of their death are disputed.

I believe Ishaqi is the incident where Sunni insurgents gave the BBC photos of a number of bodies to support the claim that there had been an atrocity. The insurgents’ hypocrisy is a little hard to take, since murdering innocent civilians is pretty much their stock in trade. In any event, ABC News says that the U.S. military denies the allegations relating to Ishaqi, and a spokesman will soon be making a public statement:

So now the insurgents are giving over the videos and images? I have read countless articles about this incident and this is the first I have heard of this claim. In other words, to promote the war while ignoring possible atrocities being committed by our troops, PowerLine decides it is best to lay blame off on someone else.

The ABC report that PowerLine is referring to is this:

Horrific images of Iraqi adults and children have fueled new allegations that U.S. troops killed civilians in the Iraqi town of Ishaqi. But ABC News has learned that military officials have completed their investigation and concluded that U.S. forces followed the rules of engagement.

A senior Pentagon official told ABC News the investigation concluded that the allegations of intentional killings of civilians by American forces are unfounded.

Military commanders in Iraq launched an investigation soon after the mid-March raid in the village of Ishaqi, about 50 miles north of Baghdad.

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell will make a statement about the Ishaqi allegations today in Baghdad, ABC News has learned.

In Ishaqi, American forces were going after a high-value terrorist target they succeeded in apprehending. The U.S. military reported in March that four people died when the troops destroyed a house from the air and ground.

But previously unaired video shot by an AP Television News cameraman at the time shows at least five children dead, several with obvious bullet wounds to the head. One adult male is also seen dead.

“Children were stuck in the room, alone and surrounded,” an unidentified man said on the video.

A total of 11 people died, according to Iraqis on the scene. The Iraqis said the people were killed by U.S. troops before the house was destroyed.

Now I see nothing in there that says the insurgents handed the images over to the BBC. As matter of fact it says that an AP Cameraman shot footage of the children with bullet holes in their heads (Raw Story has some of the images available). What would be interesting is to read the entire report and see the explanation of the bullet wounds and the family being killed prior to the bombing.

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