09:12Iraq: 'US should compensate the entire country’ - Injured survivor of airstrike on IS continues long-running battle for reparations
The severely injured survivor of a US missile strike on Islamic State (IS) fighters described his ongoing battle for the compensation he claims he was promised, and reflected on the scars his country still bears, while speaking from his home of Mosul ahead of the 20th anniversary of the initial US military intervention.
"The US should compensate the entire country, but what compensation we are talking about after they have completely destroyed the country, plundered its resources," claimed Abdullah Khalil.
Khalil suffered serious injuries - including an amputation at the knee, as well as deep welts and burn scars on his back - in the morning of March 17, 2017, as battles raged between Iraqi troops, IS fighters and coalition warplanes around his city.
"We were bombed and the house fell on us. Some people said it was three missiles. Others said it was a massive missile," explained Khalil.
"I was with my wife and children, five sons and two daughters, alongside our neighbours," he continued. "What I'm sure of is the toll of the fatalities, 140, in these houses, and only me and my family survived."
The group had been reportedly sheltering in the basement of a building, and while his wife and children were among the lucky ones, Khalil, while alive, was not quite so fortunate.
"They transferred me to the hospital near us, but the bleeding didn't stop and I couldn't sleep out of severe pain, and the medication was not available," he said.
"ISIS militants demanded …that we leave the area but we refused as we were hoping for the army," he added. "This situation lasted for five days, then I couldn't tolerate the severe pain in my leg, so they took me to a hospital in Erbil, and there the doctors told me that inflammation had reached the bone and the amputation had become inevitable."
While coalition forces reported that over 1,000 civilians were killed in the campaign against IS, in this case the US took 'indirect responsibility'.
Washington admitted to the airstrike but claimed the building collapsed due to IS weaponry packed over several floors. US forces have since stated that they are not required to accept liability or compensate any victims of such operations.
However, Khalil says he was contacted by the US army, claiming they admitted the 'serious error' and promising that he would be visited - a visit which never took place.
While he claims 'US troops have shown their desire to financially compensate for this error', he says that he had to go through the Iraqi government and was offered 14,900,000 dinars - around 9,500 euros, based on the size of the home he had lost.
"I'm still waiting and I live now in one room in a mosque after I had been a truck driver around Arab countries, I was a breadwinner for my family and my brothers. Now I'm unemployed and my kids can't get married because there's no money," he said.
Khalil also discussed what he sees as the wider injuries inflicted on his country following the 2003 war, as well as what he claims were more empty promises made ahead of the conflict.
"In the ninth month of 2003, the US troops occupied Iraq on the pretext of eliminating Iraq's woes and achieving democracy. They are all false promises, their only achievement is triggering sectarian infighting and dividing the country," he said.
That growing factionalism was widely seen as creating the conditions - not least a power vacuum - for the rise of IS, while the US-led 2003 war was referenced in a 2006 UK defence paper as being a key 'recruiting sergeant' for extremists.
"The shelling was carried out by American-led coalition forces on the pretext of targeting ISIS, But innocent people fell into the bombing," Khalil said.
"This is a war that makes no distinction between innocent people and others. The Americans did not offer anything. Anyway, they didn't give the country anything, so why would they give me?" he concluded.
09:12The severely injured survivor of a US missile strike on Islamic State (IS) fighters described his ongoing battle for the compensation he claims he was promised, and reflected on the scars his country still bears, while speaking from his home of Mosul ahead of the 20th anniversary of the initial US military intervention.
"The US should compensate the entire country, but what compensation we are talking about after they have completely destroyed the country, plundered its resources," claimed Abdullah Khalil.
Khalil suffered serious injuries - including an amputation at the knee, as well as deep welts and burn scars on his back - in the morning of March 17, 2017, as battles raged between Iraqi troops, IS fighters and coalition warplanes around his city.
"We were bombed and the house fell on us. Some people said it was three missiles. Others said it was a massive missile," explained Khalil.
"I was with my wife and children, five sons and two daughters, alongside our neighbours," he continued. "What I'm sure of is the toll of the fatalities, 140, in these houses, and only me and my family survived."
The group had been reportedly sheltering in the basement of a building, and while his wife and children were among the lucky ones, Khalil, while alive, was not quite so fortunate.
"They transferred me to the hospital near us, but the bleeding didn't stop and I couldn't sleep out of severe pain, and the medication was not available," he said.
"ISIS militants demanded …that we leave the area but we refused as we were hoping for the army," he added. "This situation lasted for five days, then I couldn't tolerate the severe pain in my leg, so they took me to a hospital in Erbil, and there the doctors told me that inflammation had reached the bone and the amputation had become inevitable."
While coalition forces reported that over 1,000 civilians were killed in the campaign against IS, in this case the US took 'indirect responsibility'.
Washington admitted to the airstrike but claimed the building collapsed due to IS weaponry packed over several floors. US forces have since stated that they are not required to accept liability or compensate any victims of such operations.
However, Khalil says he was contacted by the US army, claiming they admitted the 'serious error' and promising that he would be visited - a visit which never took place.
While he claims 'US troops have shown their desire to financially compensate for this error', he says that he had to go through the Iraqi government and was offered 14,900,000 dinars - around 9,500 euros, based on the size of the home he had lost.
"I'm still waiting and I live now in one room in a mosque after I had been a truck driver around Arab countries, I was a breadwinner for my family and my brothers. Now I'm unemployed and my kids can't get married because there's no money," he said.
Khalil also discussed what he sees as the wider injuries inflicted on his country following the 2003 war, as well as what he claims were more empty promises made ahead of the conflict.
"In the ninth month of 2003, the US troops occupied Iraq on the pretext of eliminating Iraq's woes and achieving democracy. They are all false promises, their only achievement is triggering sectarian infighting and dividing the country," he said.
That growing factionalism was widely seen as creating the conditions - not least a power vacuum - for the rise of IS, while the US-led 2003 war was referenced in a 2006 UK defence paper as being a key 'recruiting sergeant' for extremists.
"The shelling was carried out by American-led coalition forces on the pretext of targeting ISIS, But innocent people fell into the bombing," Khalil said.
"This is a war that makes no distinction between innocent people and others. The Americans did not offer anything. Anyway, they didn't give the country anything, so why would they give me?" he concluded.