Merchants of death in
Iraq By Dahr Jamail and Ali
Fadhil
FALLUJAH - It could be called
perhaps just another raid. Early in the morning on
Sunday, June 18, US military helicopters landed
near the home of Sinan Abdul-Ilah al-Mashadani in
the al-Jughaifi district of Fallujah.
Within two minutes the doors of his home
were blasted open and "a strange looking group of
people" stormed inside, according to Said Walid
Ahmed, a 40-year-old teacher who lives in the
neighborhood.
"This force is not totally
unknown to us here in Fallujah," Ahmed, who
witnessed the incident from a nearby house told
Inter Press Service (IPS). "They are a special
force of Americans that assassinates more people
than it arrests."
Ahmed described the
force from the helicopters as "big men with
long
hair and beards, some wearing earrings, and others
with little black caps on the top of their heads
at the back".
Sinan Abdul-Ilah
al-Mashadani, who was a student at al-Mustansiriya
University and the sole supporter of his mother
and younger brother and sister, was killed in the
raid, apparently by a special operations team
supported by the US military, according to
witnesses.
"Their [special forces troops']
dogs were biting everybody, including children and
women in the neighborhood," Um Amar, a 63-year-old
woman who lives three houses away from Sinan told
IPS. "They killed the poor boy in cold blood and
arrested his little brother." She burst into tears
and began to pray.
Another neighbor,
Jassim al-Jumaily, said Sinan's father Najim
Abdul-Ilah al-Mashhadani was killed during
Operation Phantom Fury in November 2004 when his
house was bombed by US warplanes.
The US
military assault on Fallujah then destroyed most
of the city and killed between 4,000 and 6,000
people, according to Monitoring Net of Human
Rights in Iraq (MHRI), an Iraqi non-governmental
organization based in Fallujah.
Sinan took
responsibility for his family after the death of
his father, Jumaily said. "He had to work and
study at the same time. We did not notice any
abnormality in his behavior at all. When the
helicopters came, we never thought Sinan would be
the target, because we realize they only come
after big personalities from al-Qaeda or leaders
in the Iraqi resistance."
Jumaily said the
long-haired bearded men from the special force
"blasted the doors of Sinan's house open as if
they were attacking an army headquarters".
People in the neighborhood said they heard
some of what was going on. "The screaming of
Sinan's mother and sisters was frightening,"
Jumaily said. "All we could do was pray for their
safety, trying to comfort each other that the
worst possibility was that they would arrest
Sinan."
After the men had been inside the
house for three hours, Jumaily and other witnesses
said they heard Sinan's mother wailing, and saw
the men leave with Amin, her 13-year-old son who
was being beaten by the men and bitten by their
dogs as he was taken away.
Many of the
neighbors then went to Sinan's home, and found his
body, covered with sheets and mattresses. There
was a pool of blood on the floor, some was
splattered on the walls.
"Three days after
his detention, Amin was released," said Muhamad
al-Deraji, director of MHRI. "The left hand of
this orphaned child was bitten three times, and is
now scarred and deformed."
The US forces
also raided other homes in the area, Deraji said.
"One of the dogs attacked a woman who tried to
protect her baby. The dog bit the mother's hand."
Deraji said the forces looted money and
jewelry from several of the houses they raided.
IPS sent an email to Major Douglas Powell
at the Combined Press Information Center for the
Multi-National Force in Iraq to request comment on
the incident. There was no reply.
Later,
IPS phoned the US military spokesperson in Baghdad
to request information on the incident. The
spokesman, who declined to give his name, said,
"We have no information confirming this event ever
took place."
