US Counters BBC's Ishaqi Video And Report

After a previous investigation, military officials determined that soldiers adhered to the rules of engagement in Ishaqi refuting BBC video linked here.

Horrific images of Iraqi adults and children have fueled new allegations that U.S. troops killed civilians in the Iraqi town of Ishaqi. But ABC News has learned that military officials have completed their investigation and concluded that U.S. forces followed the rules of engagement.

A senior Pentagon official told ABC News the investigation concluded that the allegations of intentional killings of civilians by American forces are unfounded.

Military commanders in Iraq launched an investigation soon after the mid-March raid in the village of Ishaqi, about 50 miles north of Baghdad.

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell will make a statement about the Ishaqi allegations today in Baghdad, ABC News has learned.

In Ishaqi, American forces were going after a high-value terrorist target they succeeded in apprehending. The U.S. military reported in March that four people died when the troops destroyed a house from the air and ground.

But previously unaired video shot by an AP Television News cameraman at the time shows at least five children dead, several with obvious bullet wounds to the head. One adult male is also seen dead.

"Children were stuck in the room, alone and surrounded," an unidentified man said on the video.

A total of 11 people died, according to Iraqis on the scene. The Iraqis said the people were killed by U.S. troops before the house was destroyed.

Comments

[Fausta]

One question, how many videos of the Ishaqi house are there?
The ABC News article above says that "video shot by an AP Television News cameraman"; the BBC article (link in your prior post) clearly states that "The video tape obtained by the BBC shows a number of dead adults and children at the site with what our world affairs editor John Simpson says were clearly gunshot wounds.
The pictures came from a hardline Sunni group opposed to coalition forces."

Again, AP seems to gets the facts wrong.

[Chuck the Lucky]

Or The BBC is calling AP "a hardline Sunni group opposed to coalition forces". While accurate this would be the best case of 'pots calling kettles' that I have ever seen.

[Northerner]

Are the rules of engagement in question available to the public? I mean, just saying they adhered to the rules of engagement without specifying what those are is kind of a weak answer. For all we know, they might be "Kill 'em all". (no, I don't think they are, just making a point).

[annie]

Anybody who believes anything the BBC puts out without questioning it, needs their brains tested!

The BBC, contrary to their 'reputation', is one of the most biased left wing, politically correct, institutions around.

They may have been fair and unbiased at one time, but this is not so now. Anything to do with the US or Israel is usually reported with an anti bias.

For example, the suicide bombers who go blow up innocent civilians in Isreal are never called what they are, namely, 'terrorists', they are seen as some kind of freedom fighters, going by the way the BBC tells it.

The thing is, the British people have to pay these characters for churning out this kind of propaganda. This is done in the form of a television license, which is merely another tax imposed on us, (otherwise, we are fined or imprisoned).

The day the BBC is abolished will be a great day for the UK.