07:31Iraq: ‘American forces are exempt from everything’ - Father seeks justice for alleged killing of his son by US troops
Ruptly interviewed on Thursday in Baghdad Alaa abu Hussain, the father of Hussam, a young man who was allegedly killed by US forces in 2006, on his graduation day.
Hussain said that after graduating, his son and his friends “went to the river bank and sat opposite the presidential palace in Adhamiya […] eating hamburgers and drinking Pepsi with his friends, and suddenly a shot came from the presidential palace which was controlled by the American Intelligence, unfortunately.”
According to Hussain, the shots that killed his son came from the Adhamiya Palace, one of Saddam Hussein’s villas in eastern Baghdad that was occupied by troops at that time.
After the funeral Hussam, his father reportedly “crossed the Adhamiya river bank and went to them and knocked on their door,” demanding answers from the American troops.
“Why did you hit him, what is the reason? He was eating hamburgers and drinking Pepsi. A person answered me through the radio, someone working for the Americans, he told me 'if you come back again, you will see yourself thrown on the bank'. Then I went home, I spoke to a brigadier general in the army, he told me not to go again, they shoot anyone they see on the river bank,” claimed Hussain.
He explained how he filed a lawsuit against the US Embassy 15 years ago over the killing of his son, but is still waiting to receive a response, and denounced that the US forces were never held accountable for the death of Hussam.
“I filed a lawsuit through the Supreme Judicial Council, and this book of the Judicial Council exists, but the Judicial Council says that it does not have authority over the American forces, because the American forces are exempt from everything, and we do not have authority over them, and they said to me 'delegate your command to God'. And I have the letter of the Judicial Council. I have been 15 years waiting,” he stated.
To back up his claims, Hussain showed a document from the Supreme Judicial Council addressed to the Ministry of Defense, which claims that according to witnesses “there was a shooting by an Iraqi detachment that was deployed in the Presidential Palace”. The document requests that the Ministry of Defence provides “the names of the detachment members who were deployed in the Presidential Palace at the date of the incident stated above, while clearly displaying that the Presidential Palace belonged to the US Special Forces, and the aforementioned detachment is affiliated to the US Special Forces.”
“My message to Joe Biden is that he committed crimes against the Iraqi people, weakened the Iraqi state, divided the national decision, and attacked the national identity,” concluded Hussain.
Back in October 2022, current US President Joe Biden was one of 77 senators who gave President George W. Bush the authority to use force in Iraq.
Documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union after a lawsuit against the federal government ad published in January 2005 suggest that there were human rights abuses at the Adhamiya Palace, which worked as a prison overseen by the US Army’s 1st Cavalry Division
US military officials acknowledged that some troops committed abuses, always independent of senior commanders, and claimed that more than 300 criminal investigations were opened over allegations of prisoner mistreatment, and subjected 100 soldiers to court-martial proceedings and administrative punishments.
On March 19, 2003, Washington, along with coalition forces, launched a military offensive on Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein under the pretext of disarming Iraq’s presumed weapons of mass destruction, plunging Iraq into bloodshed and chaos, resulting in the violent deaths of around 200,000 civilians, according to the Iraq Body Count project, although there are other estimations that increase or decrease this figure.
The bombing was preceded by a series of developments that paved the way for the US deployment of its forces in the Arab country. On January 28, 2003 George Bush addressed the nation making it clear that that the US military campaign to topple Saddam Hussein was only a matter of time.
The US officially withdrew its troops from Iraq by December 2011, but thousands remained as part of security operations or serving as private military contractors. The aftermath of the intervention in the country triggered widespread violence and was linked to the rise of the Islamic State (IS).
07:31Ruptly interviewed on Thursday in Baghdad Alaa abu Hussain, the father of Hussam, a young man who was allegedly killed by US forces in 2006, on his graduation day.
Hussain said that after graduating, his son and his friends “went to the river bank and sat opposite the presidential palace in Adhamiya […] eating hamburgers and drinking Pepsi with his friends, and suddenly a shot came from the presidential palace which was controlled by the American Intelligence, unfortunately.”
According to Hussain, the shots that killed his son came from the Adhamiya Palace, one of Saddam Hussein’s villas in eastern Baghdad that was occupied by troops at that time.
After the funeral Hussam, his father reportedly “crossed the Adhamiya river bank and went to them and knocked on their door,” demanding answers from the American troops.
“Why did you hit him, what is the reason? He was eating hamburgers and drinking Pepsi. A person answered me through the radio, someone working for the Americans, he told me 'if you come back again, you will see yourself thrown on the bank'. Then I went home, I spoke to a brigadier general in the army, he told me not to go again, they shoot anyone they see on the river bank,” claimed Hussain.
He explained how he filed a lawsuit against the US Embassy 15 years ago over the killing of his son, but is still waiting to receive a response, and denounced that the US forces were never held accountable for the death of Hussam.
“I filed a lawsuit through the Supreme Judicial Council, and this book of the Judicial Council exists, but the Judicial Council says that it does not have authority over the American forces, because the American forces are exempt from everything, and we do not have authority over them, and they said to me 'delegate your command to God'. And I have the letter of the Judicial Council. I have been 15 years waiting,” he stated.
To back up his claims, Hussain showed a document from the Supreme Judicial Council addressed to the Ministry of Defense, which claims that according to witnesses “there was a shooting by an Iraqi detachment that was deployed in the Presidential Palace”. The document requests that the Ministry of Defence provides “the names of the detachment members who were deployed in the Presidential Palace at the date of the incident stated above, while clearly displaying that the Presidential Palace belonged to the US Special Forces, and the aforementioned detachment is affiliated to the US Special Forces.”
“My message to Joe Biden is that he committed crimes against the Iraqi people, weakened the Iraqi state, divided the national decision, and attacked the national identity,” concluded Hussain.
Back in October 2022, current US President Joe Biden was one of 77 senators who gave President George W. Bush the authority to use force in Iraq.
Documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union after a lawsuit against the federal government ad published in January 2005 suggest that there were human rights abuses at the Adhamiya Palace, which worked as a prison overseen by the US Army’s 1st Cavalry Division
US military officials acknowledged that some troops committed abuses, always independent of senior commanders, and claimed that more than 300 criminal investigations were opened over allegations of prisoner mistreatment, and subjected 100 soldiers to court-martial proceedings and administrative punishments.
On March 19, 2003, Washington, along with coalition forces, launched a military offensive on Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein under the pretext of disarming Iraq’s presumed weapons of mass destruction, plunging Iraq into bloodshed and chaos, resulting in the violent deaths of around 200,000 civilians, according to the Iraq Body Count project, although there are other estimations that increase or decrease this figure.
The bombing was preceded by a series of developments that paved the way for the US deployment of its forces in the Arab country. On January 28, 2003 George Bush addressed the nation making it clear that that the US military campaign to topple Saddam Hussein was only a matter of time.
The US officially withdrew its troops from Iraq by December 2011, but thousands remained as part of security operations or serving as private military contractors. The aftermath of the intervention in the country triggered widespread violence and was linked to the rise of the Islamic State (IS).