Paul McGeough of the Sydney Morning Herald has written a devastating article accusing the ex-Baathist Mukhabarat agent and CIA asset US-appointed interim “Prime Minister” of Iraq, Iyad Allawi, of executing as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad police station. Allawi allegedly shot each in the head at close range, telling stunned onlookers that the policemen must have courage in their work and that he would shield them from any repercussions if they killed insurgents in the course of their duty.
McGeough, painstakingly documenting the charges, writes:
The Herald has established that as many as 30 people, including the victims, may have been in the courtyard. One of the witnesses said there were five or six civilian-clad American security men in a convoy of five or six late model four-wheel-drive vehicles that was shepherding Dr Allawi’s entourage on the day. The US military and Dr Allawi’s office refused to respond to questions about the composition of his security team. It is understood that the core of his protection unit is drawn from the US Special Forces units.
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The two witnesses were independently and separately found by the Herald. Neither approached the newspaper. They were interviewed on different days in a private home in Baghdad, without being told the other had spoken. A condition of the co-operation of each man was that no personal information would be published.Both interviews lasted more than 90 minutes and were conducted through an interpreter, with another journalist present for one of the meetings. The witnesses were not paid for the interviews.
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Asked if Dr Allawi had visited the Al-Amariyah complex – one of the most important counter-insurgency centres in Baghdad – Mr Khadum said he could not reveal the Prime Minister’s movements. But he added: “Dr Allawi has made many visits to police stations … he is heading the offensive.”US officials in Iraq have not made an outright denial of the allegations. An emailed response to questions from the Herald to the US ambassador, John Negroponte, said: “If we attempted to refute each [rumour], we would have no time for other business. As far as this embassy’s press office is concerned, this case is closed.”