"I got a call last week from a soldier . . . He's an American officer and he was in a unit halfway between Baghdad and the Syrian border . . . He was a platoon commander. First lieutenant, ROTC guy. . . He had been bivouacing outside of town with his platoon. It was near, it was an agricultural area, and there was a granary around. And the guys that owned the granary, the Iraqis . . . that owned the granary, had hired . . . thirty or so guards. . . (The liutenant's) troops were bivouaced, they were stationed there . . . They were a couple weeks together, they knew each other.
So orders came down from the generals in Baghdad, "we want to clear the village," like in Samarra. And as (the liutenant) told the story, another platoon from his company came and executed all the guards, as his people were screaming, stop. And he said they just shot them one by one. (The liutenant) went nuts, and his soldiers went nuts. And (the liutenant is) hysterical. He's totally hysterical. And he went to the captain . . And the company captain said, "No, you don't understand. That's a kill. We got thirty-six insurgents."</i>
