Despite 'End' Of Combat, U.S. Assists In Iraqi Raid

by Kelly McEvers for NPR

The village of Jubail, just outside the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, consists of mostly dirt streets and mud-brick houses. On a recent day the narrow streets were lined with shrouded women clutching each other by the arm, and men wearing formal robes over everyday dishdashas.

They're heading toward a funeral.

Earlier this week, American and Iraqi forces raided this village, killing seven people, including a young boy. The incident has stoked sectarian tensions and raised questions about just how Iraqi and American forces conduct their operations — especially since President Obama announced that combat operations in Iraq are over.

A boy pours guests small cups of Arabic coffee inside the funeral tent. Then Mahmoud Hassan, 43, walks reporters toward a house and shows them where he was sleeping when the raid began.

"I was covered with a blanket, and they shot [at] me. They thought that I was dead," Hassan says. "Then immediately they got inside this room ... and started shooting. And I was there, watching them."

Hassan points to a smear of blood on the wall and an even thicker pool of blood on the floor. This is where he says his 70-year-old brother and three nephews were killed.

"There was one small kid, he was in the fifth [grade]," Hassan continues. "They shot his father in front of him. Then they shot him dead also."

Hassan says both Iraqi and American soldiers did the shooting.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" shouts the otherwise reserved Hassan, when asked if he's sure that Americans took part. "The Americans were all over this house."