The Nation interviews showed that U.S. troops in Iraq would simply accuse civilians of taking part in the resistance in order to cover up unjustified killings. They could even plant Kalashnikov AK47 rifles beside the corpses to make it look like the dead Iraqis were combatants. The irony of it all is the fact that most of these innocent civilians are killed by U.S. troops by mistake.
According to the Independent, Joe Hatcher, 26, a scout with the 4th Calvary Regiment said: “It would always be an AK because they have so many of these lying around.” He also added that 9mm handguns and shovels were also used to imply that civilians died while they were trying to dig holes for bombs.
Ordinary incidents like a hit-and-run happen occasionally as Sgt Kelly Dougherty of the Colorado National Guard admitted that a 10-year-old kid and his three donkeys were ran over and killed by a military convoy. "Judging by the skid marks, they hardly even slowed down. But, I mean... your order is that you never stop”, said Dougherty.
The most outrageous abuses were reported to be the raids on private homes. Usually these house calls take place late at night when the soldiers can catch the civilians off guard. The veterans explain that they have instructions to tear the civilians’ house apart to make sure that they hold no weapons and no anti-U.S. propaganda material. The most disturbing thing ever is that they wish them good night and apologize after they leave innocent civilians with wrecked houses.
Dougherty explains how she suffered from having a mentally disturbed squad leader in 2003 who believed that every Iraqi is a terrorist and therefore should be shot in his own country before attacking him in the U.S. This twisted perception led to many civilian killings back in 2003.
Another dilemma is attacking wrong houses, something that Sergeant Jesus Bocanegra says is common in Iraq. After such raids, the U.S. army offers nothing but material compensations for the death of a family member.
"We were approaching this one house..., and they had a family dog. And it was barking ferociously, cause it's doing its job. And my squad leader, just out of nowhere, just shoots it... So I see this dog - I'm a huge animal lover... this dog has, like, these eyes on it and he's running around spraying blood all over the place. And like, you know, what the hell is going on? The family is sitting right there, with three little children and a mom and a dad, horrified. And I'm at a loss for words”, said 35- year-old, Lieutenant Jonathan Morgenstein, of Arlington, Virginia, Marine Corps civil affairs unit.
Specialist Philip Chrystal, a 23-year-old shared another brutal story with The Nation and said “I'll tell you the point where I really turned... [there was] this little, you know, pudgy little two-year-old child with the cute little pudgy legs and she has a bullet through her leg... An IED [improvised explosive device] went off, the gun-happy soldiers just started shooting anywhere and the baby got hit. And this baby looked at me... like asking me why. You know, 'Why do I have a bullet in my leg?'... I was just like, 'This is, this is it. This is ridiculous'”.