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"The American soldier has become an expert in killing," said Qubaisy.
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BAGHDAD – The killing of two dozen Iraqi
civilians in cold-blood by US occupation forces near the western Iraqi
city of Haditha last November is part of pattern of US behavior in the
country, Iraqis have commented on what would be the worst case of
abuse by American soldiers in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.
"The American soldier has become an expert in
killing," Abdel Salam Al- Qubaisy, spokesman for the Sunni
Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), told Reuters Sunday, May 28.
He said the Haditha incident was only part of a
pattern of US behavior in Iraq.
"This must be considered a war crime and the
commanders tried," he added.
At a barber shop nearby, Ahmed Abdel Rahman could
not recall a single one of his talkative customers mentioning Haditha.
One of them, Salah Mohammed, said such violence was
common.
"This sort of thing isn't unusual," he
said, blaming the prevailing insecurity on the US occupation.
Haditha residents have described how two families,
including young children and women, were shot dead in their homes
after a Marine was killed by a roadside bomb on November 19.
The military initially said the bomb also killed
the civilians. Only the emergence of a film of the bodies led to an
inquiry by Time magazine that in turn prompted a US probe into the
incident.
Unreported
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Murtha accused the US military of seeking to cover up the Haditha killings.
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Iraqi media and politicians have paid scant
attention to details leaking out in Washington as they have got
accustomed to such incidents day in and day out.
"The US forces have committed more crimes
against the Iraqi people than appears in the media," lawyer Abd
Mohammed Falah told Reuters.
Mohammed Jawdaat, 47, like many Iraqis, can recount
an incident in which he says he saw US forces open fire on civilians.
"Six months ago a car pulled out of a street
towards an American convoy and a soldier just opened fire,"
Jawdaat said.
"The driver was shot in the head and the
person behind was killed too. They were innocents. There were no
warning shots and the Americans didn't even stop. The police took the
wounded."
Imad Mohammed, a teenager selling newspapers at a
Baghdad intersection, said he had not seen Haditha on any front page.
"The Americans see a Muslim go into a mosque
and just assume he is a terrorist.
"They either arrest him or blow it up."
Cover-up
Congressman John Murtha accused Sunday the US
military of trying to "cover up" the civilian killings in
Iraq at the hands of US forces.
Asked if he believed there had been a cover-up,
Murtha, a prominent critic of the US administration over the Iraq war,
told ABC: "No question about it."
"We don't know how far it goes. I mean, it
goes right up the chain of command, right up to General Pace. When did
he know about it?" Murtha questioned, referring to the chairman
of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine General Peter Pace.
Pace is the US' top military officer and a senior
advisor to Rumsfeld.
"Who ordered the cover-up? I'm sure he (Pace)
didn't, but what ... who said, we're not going to publicize this
thing?" Murtha said.
Murtha said the civilian killings have done more
damage to America's aims in Iraq than the Abu Ghraib prison abuse
scandal.
"We're set back every time something like this
happens," he said. "This is worse than Abu Ghraib."
