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."
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