Specialists flown in for al-Zarqawi autopsy
The American military flew in two forensic specialists today to examine the body of slain al-Qaida chieftain Abu Musab al-Zarqawi “to see how he actually died” in an effort to reconstruct the last minutes of his life, a US general said.
The experts were carrying out an autopsy on al-Zarqawi’s body after it was made public that he survived an air strike on Wednesday that killed five other people, including a man identified by the US military as his spiritual adviser, Sheik Abdul-Rahman.
“I think if we don’t do a full autopsy then that might be irresponsible on our part,” Major General William Caldwell, a spokesman for the US military, said in Baghdad.
He said a decision was taken shortly after al-Zarqawi was killed to remove any doubts about how the Jordan-born leader of al-Qaida in Iraq died.
“I think we sort of owe that just for this reason: how did he actually die? And when you bring in a certified medical expert who’s trained and specialises in that skill of doing a thorough analysis of a deceased person, they tell you exactly how they died, I think is, in case, very, very important,” Caldwell said.
He said the US government also thought it was important enough “that we grabbed two people in the last 48 hours and told them pack up and move to Iraq.”
US officials have altered their account al-Zarqawi’s death, saying he was alive and partly conscious after bombs destroyed his hide-out. An Iraqi man also raised fresh questions about the events surrounding al-Zarqawi’s death.
The man, who lived near the scene of the bombing, told AP Television News on Friday that he saw US soldiers beating an injured man resembling al-Zarqawi until blood flowed from the victim’s nose.
When asked about the allegations, Caldwell said he would check. In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Jeffrey Gordon said he was unaware of the claim.
“We frequently receive allegations which prove to be unsubstantiated,” Gordon said.
The Iraqi, identified only as Mohammed, said residents put a bearded man in an ambulance before US forces arrived. He gestured toward the ground next to an irrigation canal near the site of the blast as he spoke.
“He was still alive. We put him in the ambulance, but when the Americans arrived they took him out of the ambulance, they beat him on his stomach and wrapped his head with his dishdasha, then they stomped on his stomach and his chest until he died and blood came out of his nose,” Mohammed said, without saying how he knew the man was dead.
A dishdasha is a traditional Arab robe.
A similar account in The Washington Post identified him as Ahmed Mohammed.
No other witnesses have come forward to corroborat the account of a man resembling al-Zarqawi being beaten. US officials have only said al-Zarqawi mumbled and tried to roll off a stretcher before dying.
In announcing his death on Thursday, the US military said al-Zarqawi was killed outright when two 500lb bombs were dropped on his safe house.
But on Friday, the military said al-Zarqawi survived the bombing, which tore a huge rater in the date palm forest where the house was nestled just outside Baqouba, 60km (35 miles) north-east of Baghdad.
“It’s not going to be 100% accurate all the time, but the first reports are going to be a little confused. There are going to be some conflicting stories,” Caldwell said, and promised that the military should have an accurate chronology ready by Monday.
