In Occupied Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. troops stormed the house of a former army officer Saturday in northern Iraq, killing the man and his wife, wounding their 8-year-old daughter and unleashing anger among residents at tactics they deemed excessive, police said. READ MORE

Anthony Shadid and Qais Mizher from the Washington Post report that U.S. forces killed an Iraqi couple, and wounded their eight year old daughter sleeping between them, in a night-time raid. Like the earlier murder of Hardan Al-Jubori - who was executed and had his finger amputated by U.S. troops on December 10th - the crime is being contested by Iraqi witnesses and authorities who allege US soldiers acted on their own, without the presence of Iraqi forces as required by the new Status of Forces Agreement.

Why did the US occupying army attempt to arrest Dhiya Hussein under the cover of darkness? Did they have a warrant for his arrest? If not, did they obtain the proper approval from an Iraqi judge for detaining him, as necessitated by the new security agreement? Were American forces accompanied by Iraqi security forces? These questions are currently being contested by local Iraqis and Gen. Jamal Tahir Bakir, head of the provincial police.

In the case of Hardan Al-Jubori, Ra’ed Jarrar writes on his blog:

The U.S. army declined to explain why Mr. Al-Jubori's finger was cut off, but CNN suggested that may have carried out this criminal act for "further identification" and "inclusion of his finger print and DNA in a US database,"as if giving such reasons would justify executing civilians in their homes then cutting their fingers off. What a great new system of justice: kill then identify.

I hope the U.S. army will not open a new Haditha-style fake investigation then find all U.S. troops innocent of any wrong doing. I urge you to contact the U.S. army and ask whether this execution and finger amputation is an official army policy:

CPICPRESSDESK@Iraq.centcom.mil

here is the email i sent:

Dear sir or madam at the Combined Press Information Center:

I am Raed Jarrar, and Iraqi blogger. I'm writing you to ask 3 questions regarding the execution and finger amputation of Mr. Hardan Al-Jubori on December 10th:

1- CNN reports that the reasons behind cutting Mr. Al-Jubori's finger after killing him might be "further identification" and "inclusion of his finger print and DNA in a US database". Are these speculations by CNN true?

2- CNN reports that Mr. Al-Jubori was an "Al-Qaeda suspect". Do you have a policy to execute al-qaeda suspects without a fair trial?

3- can you give a rough estimate of how many people in Iraq fall under this category of "Al-Qaeda suspects"?

thank you

Raed Jarrar
Washington, DC


Here are some stills from the video provided to CNN by al-Jubori family:

Al-Jubori's Family in front of their home

Hardan Al-Jubori's Mother

pool of blood in the bedroom

Mr. Al-Jubori's hand

Mr. Al-Jubori's dead body

-mr