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| Iraq |
| Follow up story on Zaydun |
| 2004-02-02 |
| From Zayed of Healingirag blog "Thanks to everyone who pointed out this story to me. Wendell Steavenson, a former reporter for Time magazine, has been in Samarra interviewing Zaydun’s family, his cousin Marwan, an Iraqi ICDC lieutenant, as well as the American Colonel in command of the US force in Samarra." Most of you may recall the Marwan and Zaydun, two cousins, who drove a small white flatbed truck carrying ceramic floor tiles and toilets into Samarra. Inside the town they were stopped by an American patrol as curfew violators. What happened next is disputed. But two things are clear: The truck they were driving was destroyed, and the two cousins went off a bridge into the Tigris and one of them drowned. Slate’s follow up story is at the title link. |
| Posted by:Gasse Katze |
| #6 Having read the article, I think the American soldiers are lying about what they did. The American military leadership in that area lacks the integrity to do what they ought to do to punish the culprits. |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-2-2 11:14:07 PM |
| #5 "Why would the soldiers have bothered to push them into the river, when they very easily could have simply shot them? If they did want to drown them, why would the soldiers have removed the cuffs from their hands?" Well one possible answer could be that the soldier weren't actually meaning to kill them, just have some sadistic fun watching them struggle in the river -- which would also explain why they didn't throw them over the 50-foot drop, but over the 5-foot one. |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2004-2-2 10:00:21 PM |
| #4 If you read the full description of the event on Zayed's blog, there are some inconsistencies in not only the facts of the case, but also the manner of reporting. Why, for example, would soldiers have exposed their position by using flash lights, as Zaydun contends? Why would the soldiers have bothered to push them into the river, when they very easily could have simply shot them? If they did want to drown them, why would the soldiers have removed the cuffs from their hands? I agree that leaving them at the bridge does seem weird, however. It is this fact that the soldiers admit to that makes me question things at all... |
| Posted by: mjh 2004-2-2 4:42:43 PM |
| #3 What's the motive? What's the gain? |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-2-2 4:15:35 PM |
| #2 Whatever its smell all of the story's points seem to check out though, so far. The alleged dead man was indeed discovered dead. The truck is inexplicably crushed. The idea that they were taken to the bridge just for purposes of being left there just seems bizarre to me. Give the soldiers the benefit of doubt, as you would give anyone -- but what other reason is there to say that this story smells like "bullshit"? The soldiers' story smells much more like bullshit to me, and far more bizarre. |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2004-2-2 4:01:32 PM |
| #1 It still smells like bullshit. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-2-2 3:14:07 PM |