The U.S. military is calling the atrocity story (see yesterday's entry) "misinformation" from the Iraqi police.

But at least one reporter, Michael Georgy of Reuters, went to the scene and found eyewitnesses charging that U.S. troops murdered a family of 11:

"We heard a barrage of shooting for 20 minutes and then we heard bombs," said Thiya Hussein, who said his cousin was killed. "After the Americans left we went to the house and found 11 people lying in blood together in one room. Five of them were children. They were bound in plastic handcuffs and shot."

"The baby, Husam, who was six-months-old, was shot dead. A 75-year-old woman was shot in the head," he told Reuters.

Another neighbor, Abbas Abid, said: "The house was damaged and the family was shot and lying in one room.

"Three cars were burned and four cows were shot also."