Earlier this week I reported on a US State Department diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks detailing the execution by American forces of an Iraqi family, including five children, in March of 2006. McClatchy has now written on the story and provided a photograph I thought was worth a follow up post.
The caption from McClatchy explains this is a cell phone photo shot by an Iraqi after the incident. According to Iraqi police it depicts children executed by U.S. troops.
The individual who described the incident to Secretary of State at the time Condoleeza Rice, Philip Alston, was contacted by McClatchy:
Reached by email Wednesday, Alston said that as of 2010 — the most recent data he had — U.S. officials hadn’t responded to his request for information and that Iraq’s government also hadn’t been forthcoming. He said the lack of response from the United States “was the case with most of the letters to the U.S. in the 2006-2007 period,” when fighting in Iraq peaked.
Alston said he could provide no further information on the incident. “The tragedy,” he said, “is that this elaborate system of communications is in place but the (U.N.) Human Rights Council does nothing to follow up when states ignore issues raised with them.”
If we think these kinds of horrors never occur in Afghanistan, we’d be kidding ourselves. Furthermore, that this is coming out almost five years after the incident occurred should reveal just how negligent the news media is. Americans simply don’t have a good understanding – or any understanding – of the wars America is engaged in.