... and so was I. First Tigerhawk.
Speculation alert
The same question came up early in the Iraq war. Surgeons wondered why soldiers with body army and no serious penetrating injuries were dying from roadside bombs. The answer turned out to be that the overpressure from the explosion caused a shockwave through the victim's blood vessels. Sometimes the pressure was so great that the waves rolled right up into the brain and caused a hemorrhage. If you bleed in your brain, your chances of dying quickly go up dramatically.
We heard reports from the witness Mohammed (not the Prophet, obviously) that Zarqawi had been dragged from an ambulance and beaten by the US troops on the scene in order to kill him. I staked a position that the claim was bogus on its face. I remain astonished that journalists would believe it (ht: Jason), or at least take it at face value, then present the accusations to the US military demanding answers. Today the autopsy results were released. (early report - will update later *done)
BAGHDAD, Iraq Jun 12, 2006 (AP)— Abu Musab al-Zarqawi lived for 52 minutes after a U.S. warplane bombed his hideout northeast of Baghdad, and he died of massive internal injuries consistent with those caused by a bomb blast, the U.S. military said Monday.
Having just listened to the briefing as I was driving to the office, it was made plain that the blast caused disruption of the lung parenchyma with pulmonary hemorrage. In essence, the victim drowns in their own blood. There was, according to the pathologist who performed the autopsy, no evidence that he was beaten after troops had arrived on the scene. None at all.
A side note for this story: the chosen Associated Press headline. "Al-Zarqawi Lived for 52 Mins. After Strike" Those are our journalists there, burying the lead. The important part of the story is not how long he lived after the bombs hit, whether it was 5 minutes, 50 minutes or 5 hours. That fact may be interesting, but it's dwarfed in importance. The reason for the briefing was to answer questions raised by Mohammed (the witness, not the Prophet) which the press bought hook line and sinker. The fact that those accusations are false is the story, unless the press does not wish to call attention to the trust they put in a random Iraqi on the scene over the US Military.
6/12/06 1035: Here's another example, from yesterday, of the media's fascination with allegations, courtesy of the LA times. They do add another witness, though again take the accusations at face value.
U.S. officials denied several news reports that Zarqawi was abused by U.S. troops before he died.
An Iraqi police lieutenant who said he was among the first people at the scene told The Times on Saturday that after Iraqi police had carried Zarqawi to the ambulance on the stretcher, U.S. troops took him off the stretcher and placed him on the ground. One of the Americans tried to question Zarqawi and repeatedly stepped on his chest, causing blood to flow from his mouth and nose, said the lieutenant, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A man identified only as Mohammed, who said he lived near the Zarqawi hide-out, told Associated Press Television News that he had witnessed Americans beating Zarqawi. "They stomped on his stomach and his chest until he died and blood came out of his nose," he said.
A U.S. military spokesman said by e-mail Saturday that there was no evidence to support allegations that coalition forces had beaten the insurgent leader.
"Although Zarqawi was mortally wounded, a coalition medic treated him while he lapsed in and out of consciousness," the spokesman said.
Interestingly, stomping on the chest cannot cause the kind of lung parenchymal damage that a blast can cause. It can cause rib and sternal fractures, none of which were apparently found. This Iraqi police lieutenant who put Zarqawi on the stretcher but who wishes to remain anonymous? You don't think he was trying to take Zarqawi away before the Americans got there, do you?
6/12/06 1630: I state above that today's report should settle it. Unless, as Tigerhawk also notes, you wish to allege that a military doctor is lying and falsifying medical records. As a physician I would caution you that there is little likelihood of that. Just ask my patients who want me to falsely record their problem as a work injury.
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