Iraq: U.S. Soldiers Laughed at Drowning
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| Wed, 08-25-2004 - 3:24am |
Iraq: U.S. Soldiers Laughed at Drowning Teen
By HAMZA HENDAWI
Associated Press Writer
July 6, 2004, 9:17 PM EDT
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-iraq-death-on-the-tigris,0,6393011,print.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines
SAMARRA, Iraq -- The 19-year-old Iraqi's swimming
skills were no match for the Tigris. "Marwan, save
me!" Zaidoun Fadel Hassoun screamed to his cousin,
himself struggling to stay afloat. The teenager
drowned; his cousin made it to shore. "I could hear
them laughing," Marwan Fadel Hassoun said, recalling
how U.S. soldiers pushed the young men into the river.
"They were behaving like they were watching a comedy
on stage."
The U.S. military said last week that three soldiers,
now back in their base at Fort Carson, Colo., have
been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the Jan.
3 drowning of an Iraqi detainee. A fourth soldier
faces charges of pushing a second man, who survived,
into the same river.
The military identified the victims only as Mr. Fadel
and Mr. Fadhil. The four soldiers face between 5 1/2
years and 26 1/2 years in prison if convicted on all
charges.
Thousands of Iraqi civilians have died since the Iraq
war began in March 2003. Some of them perished in the
U.S.-led air and ground campaign. In the 15 months
since the fall of Baghdad, many more have died in car
bombings, or when caught in the crossfire as American
troops battled insurgents or were simply in the wrong
place at the wrong time.
With every such death, Iraqis point to what they see
as the heavy-handedness of the U.S. military. The
resentment is deeper when the victims are relatives,
friends or neighbors.
Zaidoun Hassoun was to have finished high school this
year. Three weeks before his death, he got engaged to
a cousin, and he hoped to start a family in Samarra, a
trade and agriculture center whose name means
"pleasant to those who see it."
For Marwan Hassoun, a bearded and burly 23-year-old
who attends a teachers' college, the death robbed him
of a companion and a childhood friend. Zaidoun's voice
pleading for help still echoes in his ears.
"Every time I see an American soldier, a Humvee or a
tank I become agitated. Many emotions rush into my
mind: confusion, fear and rage. I am constantly
thinking of how I could have helped Zaidoun. I feel so
much guilt, but prayers and reading the Quran keep me
going," he said.
Sometime between Jan. 3 and the discovery of Zaidoun's
body on the river bank 13 days later, Zaidoun's mother
wrote an open letter addressed to President Bush,
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
"Any measure you take will not return my son to life.
But I, with an overwhelming sense of bereavement,
expect you to end the agony of mothers in my country,"
Widad Mahmoud Nadeem, 40, wrote in the two-page
letter.
"We are harvesting misery and unhappiness because of
the actions of American soldiers who pay no heed to
human life, dignity and the values and traditions of
our society," she wrote.
Trouble for Zaidoun and Marwan began about 10:45 p.m.,
15 minutes before curfew came into force in Samarra
and only 200 yards from their home at the end of a
100-mile journey.
The trip, which should have been routine in a pickup
truck loaded with Italian-made bathroom fixtures from
Baghdad, was made longer because of a recurring engine
problem that Marwan had to fix along the way.
They were stopped and searched at an Iraqi checkpoint
on Samarra's outskirts and allowed to enter town.
Minutes later, a U.S. patrol -- Marwan believes it was
made up of four Bradley fighting vehicles -- crossed
the median and blocked their path.
They quickly searched the cargo and checked their
identity documents, he said at the family's store that
sells Chinese-made appliances, stationery and books.
He remembered one soldier happily greeting them with
Arabic phrases.
The soldiers told them they were free to go, but just
after they got back into the truck, the soldiers
ordered them to step out. This time, they handcuffed
them and took them into one of the Bradleys.
"What's happening?" a terrified Zaidoun whispered to
his cousin. The Bradley drove for a few minutes before
the two were ordered out at a bridge across the Tigris
that also serves as a dam, several miles north of
Samarra.
The soldiers -- Marwan remembers four or five of them
-- removed their handcuffs and led them to a concrete
ledge. Ordered to jump into the water, Marwan begged
for mercy.
"Why? why?" he pleaded. "Shut up, shut up!" yelled the
soldier who spoke some Arabic.
Zaidoun was pushed first. He held on to a soldier, who
managed to free himself. Other soldiers joined in and
pushed Zaidoun away. When Marwan turned to look at his
cousin, he was pushed from behind.
"We are not great swimmers, but we knew enough not to
drown," he said. Marwan swam to Zaidoun and grabbed
his hand, but they slipped apart. "I lost him. He went
under and then resurfaced near an open dam gate. Water
was rushing and not even a good swimmer could resist
that current."
"He was shouting 'Marwan, save me,' and I yelled back
'Try to swim, try to swim,' but he went under again
and that was it. I could hear them (the soldiers)
laughing. They were behaving like they were watching a
comedy on stage," he said.
Standing at the scene Tuesday, he pointed to a cluster
of bamboo at the water's edge.
"These are the plants that I held onto to save my
life," he said. "I climbed back up to the shore, but
they pointed a gun at me, so I went back down and
waited."
His tormentors drove off, but he continued to huddle
in fear. Only when he reached an Iraqi checkpoint,
more than two hours after his ordeal began, did he
feel safe.

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