ASN News reported referring to Islam Online that US Muslims called for a Pentagon probe of a photograph circulating on the Internet that showing an American soldier apparently mocking an Iraqi child.
On the photo, an American soldier is standing next to two Iraqi children who are giving the thumbs-up sign.
One child holds a hand-lettered sign in English that reads: «Lcpl Boudreaux killed my Dad, th(en) he knocked up my sister!». ('Knocked up' is American slang for making someone pregnant out of wedlock).
«If the United States Army is seeking to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, this is the wrong way to accomplish that goal», Muslim Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Executive Director Nihad Awad said Friday, April 2.
«Defense Department officials must take action to let military personnel know that such offensive behavior harms America's image and will not be tolerated», Awad said.
Nihad Awad also said that if these photos are real, then they are showing more plainly how the US is fighting against international terrorism and liberating the Iraqi people.
Mr. Awad also called on the military to prove to the soldiers that they arrived in Iraq not to kill peaceful civilians, but to fight terrorists.
Awad said CAIR has also received an anonymous letter from a soldier who recently returned from Iraq that claims a commanding officer engaged in inappropriate conduct with prepubescent Iraqi girls.
The letter states that the officer, who was named by the writer, referred to the girls as 'pre-rag heads' and coerced local Iraqi leaders to provide them in exchange for protection by American soldiers.
Awad said the officer's military unit was also named in the letter.
«The thought of all this makes me sick to my stomach. I am afraid to bring this to anyone in the Army, because I am doubtful that they would believe a soldier over the Battalion Commander», read the letter.
The CAIR executive director said that these reports point to «a disturbing pattern of behavior that needs to be addressed by our military».
He called on the US command to investigate and to confirm this particular incident. If the incident is confirmed, then dozens of crimes of the US troops in Iraq can be reported.
June 16, 2003 International Human Rights agency reported that 57 cases of rape of Iraqi women by the coalition soldiers have been registered.
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