American POWs in Iraq

CNN: Iraq: U.S. POWs to be shown on TV

Video of American prisoners of war is to be shown on Iraqi television, Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said Sunday.

“In a few hours time you will see the American captives on Iraqi television, those who tried to invade Suk al-Shoukh, and you will see the burnt armor and vehicles,” said Ramadan, initially rumored to have been killed during Thursday’s “decapitation attack” on Baghdad.

And they were shown on Iraqi television.

BBC: Iraqi TV shows US prisoners

Iraqi television has broadcast a video of five American soldiers it says were captured around the southern city of Nasiriya.

It also showed pictures of at least four bodies, said to be dead American soldiers. Two of the bodies were shown to be lying on a road next to what appeared to be a water-carrying vehicle and a tow truck

Two of the captured, including a 30-year-old woman, appeared to have been wounded. One of the men was lying on the floor on a rug.

The five, who are believed to be the first coalition prisoners taken by Iraq, were questioned on air and gave their names, military identification numbers and home towns.

Identified

They identified themselves as “Edgar from, Texas”, “James Reilly, 31, from New Jersey”, “Joseph Hasan from El-Paso, Texas”, “Shauna from Texas” and “Private Miller from Kansas”. Some said they were from the 507th maintenance company.

The Americans were also asked to give their views of the war.

Asked why he had come to Iraq, Private Miller said he “was told to come here”.

He said he had come to fix “broke stuff”.

Asked why he was fighting Iraqis, he said: “they don’t bother me, I don’t bother them.”

He said he did not “want to kill anybody”.

When asked how many officers were in his unit, he replied: “I don’t know sir”..

Asked why he had come to Iraq, Joseph Hasan said: “I follow orders”.

He was then asked if Iraqis had greeted him with “music or with guns”. He replied a number of times that he did not understand.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the Iraqi television footage was a violation of the Geneva Convention.

The 10-minute video, which was relayed by the Arab satellite station al-Jazeera, was shown on Sunday 1523 GMT.

Reuters: Iraq Shows Dead and Captured U.S. Soldiers

Iraqi television showed film on Sunday of at least four bodies, said to be U.S. soldiers, and five prisoners who said they were American.

Two of the prisoners, including a woman, appeared to be wounded. One was lying on the floor on a rug.

They were the first U.S. prisoners known to have been taken by Iraq. The prisoners were questioned on air and gave their names, military identification numbers and home towns.

The bodies and prisoners were shown on Iraqi television, relayed by Al-Jazeera, which said the dead and wounded came from a battle near the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya, where U.S. Marines are fighting for control.

The first prisoner shown gave his name as Miller and said he was from Kansas.

Asked why he had come to Iraq he replied: “Because I was told to come here. I was just under orders. I was told to shoot — only if I’m shot at. I don’t want to kill anybody.”

Earlier, Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said that enemy soldiers captured at the southern town of Souq al-Shuyukh near Nassiriya would soon be shown on state television.

General Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told ABC television some Americans — fewer than 10 — were missing in southern Iraq.

Souq al-Shuyukh is southeast of the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya, where U.S. Marines have reported resistance on their northward sweep from Kuwait.

Rumsfeld: Iraqi Footage Violations Geneva Convention

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Sunday Iraqi television footage apparently showing American prisoners of war was a violation of the Geneva Convention.

On CBS “Face the Nation,” Rumsfeld was shown footage relayed by the Arabic satellite station Al-Jazeera that Iraq television claimed were captive U.S. soldiers.

“That’s a violation of the Geneva Convention, those pictures you showed,” Rumsfeld said of the international law on treatment of prisoners of war. He said the convention prohibits the photographing or interrogation by media of those captured in battle.

Geneva Conventions on treatment of POWs

And BBC is in hot water for airing footage of Bush being primped before his Wednesday address to the country.

We Begin Combing in Five Minutes!

The White House is vowing a strong retaliatory response after the BBC aired live video of President Bush getting his hair coiffed in the Oval Office as he squirmed in his chair and practiced on the teleprompter minutes before Wednesday night’s speech announcing the launch of military operations against Saddam Hussein.

The British network broadcast 1 minute and 37 seconds of presidential primping to hundreds of millions of viewers in 200 countries around the world (and locally on WETA, Channel 26) before Bush’s formal address at 10:15 p.m. Yesterday the BBC’s White House producer, Mark Orchard, profusely and repeatedly apologized to irked staffers for airing video of an “unauthorized” portion of the pool feed while Washington anchor Mishal Husain chatted up a colleague about the significance of the moment.

The Smoking Gun has more.

I was a naive fool to be a human shield for Saddam

I wanted to join the human shields in Baghdad because it was direct action which had a chance of bringing the anti-war movement to the forefront of world attention. It was inspiring: the human shield volunteers were making a sacrifice for their political views - much more of a personal investment than going to a demonstration in Washington or London. It was simple - you get on the bus and you represent yourself.

So that is exactly what I did on the morning of Saturday, January 25. I am a 23-year-old Jewish-American photographer living in Islington, north London. I had travelled in the Middle East before: as a student, I went to the Palestinian West Bank during the intifada. I also went to Afghanistan as a photographer for Newsweek.

The human shields appealed to my anti-war stance, but by the time I had left Baghdad five weeks later my views had changed drastically. I wouldn’t say that I was exactly pro-war - no, I am ambivalent - but I have a strong desire to see Saddam removed.

We on the bus felt that we were sympathetic to the views of the Iraqi civilians, even though we didn’t actually know any. The group was less interested in standing up for their rights than protesting against the US and UK governments.

I was shocked when I first met a pro-war Iraqi in Baghdad - a taxi driver taking me back to my hotel late at night. I explained that I was American and said, as we shields always did, “Bush bad, war bad, Iraq good”. He looked at me with an expression of incredulity.

As he realised I was serious, he slowed down and started to speak in broken English about the evils of Saddam’s regime. Until then I had only heard the President spoken of with respect, but now this guy was telling me how all of Iraq’s oil money went into Saddam’s pocket and that if you opposed him politically he would kill your whole family.

March 23rd, 2003 at 12:11 pm | Tags: Uncategorized