Iraqis Reject U.S. Report On Killings

Pentagon Cleared Troops In Ishaqi Raid, Iraqis Don't Agree

(CBS/AP)  The Iraqi government has rejected the findings of an American military investigation that cleared troops of any wrongdoing in the killing of 15 Iraqi civilians last March.

The Pentagon cleared U.S. servicemen of misconduct Friday, after its investigation into a raid in Ishaqi, a village north of Baghdad.

But, as CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports, Iraqi leaders and relatives of those who died in the attack do not believe the Americans' report.

"They executed the children," said Issa Hrat Khalaf. "They executed the women and my brother. Then they wrapped them in blankets, put them in one room and ordered an air strike."

Dramatic video footage from the scene leaves no doubt that civilians, including children, were killed during a raid by American special operations forces. But Pentagon officials say the investigation found the civilians were not killed deliberately, but accidentally during a shoot out with insurgents hiding in a house.

The investigation of the raid in Ishaqi concluded that the U.S. troops followed normal procedures in raising the level of force as they came under attack upon approaching a building where they believed an al Qaeda terrorist was hiding, said Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a U.S military spokesman.

A ground force conducted the March 15 nighttime raid in the village of Ishaqi, about 50 miles north of Baghdad. After being fired upon from the targeted building, the soldiers pulled back and called in airstrikes by an Air Force AC-130 gunship, which attacked and collapsed the building, two defense officials in Washington said.

One defense official said the investigation into the circumstances of the Ishaqi attack found that four people in the building were killed by U.S. forces, including two women and a child. The main target of the attack, said by U.S. intelligence to be an al Qaeda figure, ran from the building but was later captured, the official said.

But local Iraqis said there were 11 dead, contending they were killed by U.S. troops before the house was leveled, and video footage showed a row of dead children.

The bloody aftermath of the attack was captured at the time in the footage shot by an AP Television News cameraman. The video became the focus of attention Friday when the BBC aired it in the wake of recent allegations of U.S. troops killing unarmed civilians.

The footage shows at least one adult male and four of the children with deep wounds to the head that could have been caused by bullets or shrapnel. One child has an obvious entry wound to the side and the inside of the walls left standing were pocked with bullet holes. A voice on the tape said there were clear bullet wounds in two people.

The video includes an unidentified man saying “children were stuck in the room, alone and surrounded.”

“After they handcuffed them, they shot them dead. Later, they struck the house with their planes. They wanted to hide the evidence. Even a 6-month-old infant was killed. Even the cows were killed, too,” he said.

In a separate case, as many as 24 civilians were killed in Haditha in November. The incident has sparked two investigations — one into the deadly encounter itself and another into whether it was the subject of a cover-up.

CBS News correspondent David Martin reports that 12 marines went out on patrol. One was killed and two were wounded by a roadside bomb, leaving nine who either took part in or knew about the killings.

They were led by Sgt. Frank Wuterich, who according to one of the wounded marines, was liked and respected by his men, reports Martin.

However, Wuterich allegedly filed a false report claiming the civilians had been killed by the same roadside bomb which struck the patrol. Officers above him are under investigation for going along with that report despite photographs showing the civilians had been killed by gunfire.