- BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi
television showed video on Sunday of at least four bodies, said to be U.S.
soldiers, and five prisoners who said they were Americans taken in a battle
near the southern city of Nassiriya.
-
- The video showed two rooms each containing what appeared
to be two separate groups of four bodies in military uniform. Two of the
prisoners, including a woman, appeared to be wounded. One was lying on
the floor on a rug.
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- They were the first U.S. prisoners known to have been
taken by Iraq since U.S.-led forces invaded four days ago to overthrow
President Saddam Hussein. The prisoners gave their names and home towns
and one provided his military identification number.
-
- In Washington, U.S. defense officials said a small number
of U.S. troops had apparently been captured and others killed by the Iraqi
military, and that they were notifying families based on information from
the videotape.
-
- The bodies and prisoners were shown on Iraqi television,
relayed by the Arabic network Al-Jazeera, which said the dead and wounded
had been taken during a battle at the town of Souq al-Shuyukh, southeast
of the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya where U.S. forces have encountered
stiff resistance.
-
- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the video apparently
showing American prisoners of war was a violation of the Geneva Convention.
The International Committee of the Red Cross agreed the footage violated
the convention. (Reuters note: "Pictures of Iraqi soldiers surrendering
to U.S.-led forces in that last few days have been features prominently
on U.S. television and in newspapers." -ed)
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- The dead bodies were strewn on the floor in pools of
blood. In the first room, at least two had wounds to the head and another
had a groin wound. In the second room, a smiling Iraqi uncovered the bodies,
several of which had blackened faces.
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- The first prisoner shown gave his name as Miller and
said he was from Kansas.
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- Asked why he had come to Iraq he replied: "Because
I was told to come here. I was just under orders. I was told to shoot --
only if I'm shot at. I don't want to kill anybody."
-
- Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan had announced
earlier that enemy soldiers captured at Souq al-Shuyukh would soon be shown
on state television.
-
- HEAVY FIGHTING
-
- General Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs
of Staff, told ABC television some Americans -- fewer than 10 -- were missing
in southern Iraq, but a defense official said later the exact numbers of
prisoners were unclear.
-
- Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said
the missing U.S. personnel were probably members of a maintenance unit
that was operating in southern Iraq, but did not say how many were missing,
citing numbers from eight to 12.
-
- Two of the prisoners shown by Iraqi TV said they were
from the 507th Maintenance Company.
-
- The 507th Corps Support Group provides supplies, equipment,
repairs and maintenance and would usually provide support as far forward
as possible to the 82nd Airborne Division, the 3rd Infantry Division and
the 101st Airborne Division.
-
- U.S. officers said Marines battling Iraqi guerrillas
for Nassiriya, on the Euphrates river about 375 km (225 miles) southeast
of Baghdad, had taken "significant" casualties in a fight to
open a route north to the Iraqi capital.
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- The second prisoner shown, who gave his name as Joseph
Hudson, said he came from El Paso, Texas.
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- Asked why he had come to Iraq, he said: "I follow
orders."
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- He was asked repeatedly whether he was greeted by guns
or flowers by Iraqis, but appeared not to understand the question.
-
- A third man who appeared to have a broken arm, was lying
on a red patterned rug, but was pulled into a sitting position to answer
questions. He gave his name as Edgar from Texas and said only that he had
entered Iraq from Kuwait.
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- A fourth prisoner gave his name as Sergeant James Riley
from New Jersey and said he was 31 years old. He appeared to be in shock,
turning his head from side to side.
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- The fifth, an African American woman who gave her name
as Shawna, said she was 30 and had a bandaged ankle.
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- Appearing on CBS television, Rumsfeld was shown the footage
of the soldiers.
-
- "That's a violation of the Geneva Convention, those
pictures you showed," he said of the international law on treatment
of prisoners of war, which he said prohibits the photographing or interrogation
by media of those captured in battle.
-
- Pictures of Iraqi soldiers surrendering to U.S.-led forces
in that last few days have been features prominently on U.S. television
and in newspapers.
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