Luke Harding
in Baghdad
The international news agency Reuters has made a formal complaint to the Pentagon following the "wrongful" arrest and apparent "brutalisation" of three of its staff this month by US troops in Iraq.
The complaint followed an incident in the town of Falluja when American soldiers fired at two Iraqi cameramen and a driver from the agency while they were filming the scene of a helicopter crash.
The US military initially claimed that the journalists were "enemy personnel" who had opened fire on US troops and refused to release them for 72 hours.
Although Reuters has not commented publicly, it is understood that the journalists were "brutalised and intimidated" by US soldiers, who put bags over their heads, told them they would be sent to Guantanamo Bay, and whispered: "Let's have sex." At one point during the interrogation, according to the family of one of the staff members, a US soldier shoved a shoe into the mouth one of the Iraqis.
The US troops, from the 82nd Airborne Division, based in Falluja, also made the blindfolded journalists stand for hours with their arms raised and their palms pressed against the cell wall.
"They were brutalised, terrified and humiliated for three days," one source said. "It makes you wonder what happens to ordinary Iraqis."
The US military has so far refused to apologise and has bluntly told Reuters to "drop" its complaint. Major Gen Charles Swannack, the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, claimed that two US soldiers had provided sworn evidence that they had come under fire.
On January 2nd Reuters' cameraman Salem Ureibi, Falluja stringer Ahmed Mohammed Hussein al-Badrani and driver Sattar Jabar al-Badrani turned up at the crash site where a US helicopter had just been shot down, killing one soldier.
The journalists were all wearing bulletproof jackets clearly marked "press". They drove off after US soldiers opened fire on their Mercedes, but were arrested shortly afterwards. The soldiers also detained a fourth Iraqi, working for the American network NBC. - (Guardian Service)
A US soldier was killed by a bomb in Baghdad yesterday and American forces shot dead seven armed looters. The US military said the soldier was killed when the bomb exploded beside a convoy. Two other soldiers were wounded. - (Reuters)