Al-Zarqawigate

You had to know that this was coming.

The U.S. military abused poor al-Zarqawi!

They didn't treat him humanely!

There's a cover-up!

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)-- U.S. officials have altered their account of the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, saying he was alive and partly conscious after bombs destroyed his hideout, and an Iraqi man raised fresh questions about the events surrounding the end of Iraq's most-wanted militant.

The man, who lived near the scene of the bombing, told AP Television News on Friday that he saw U.S. soldiers beating an injured man resembling al-Zarqawi until blood flowed from the victim's nose.

When asked about the man's allegations, military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said he would check. In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Jeffrey Gordon said Saturday he was unaware of the claim.

...The Iraqi, identified only as Mohammed, said residents put a bearded man in an ambulance before U.S. forces arrived. He said the man was found lying next to an irrigation canal.

"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 similar account in The Washington Post identified him as Ahmed Mohammed.

Even Iraqis leak anti-U.S. propaganda to the Associated Press and The Post!

And in typical fashion, they publish the information without corroborating evidence, following the techniques of the Michael Isikoff school of journalism.

No other witnesses have come forward to corroborate the account of a man resembling al-Zarqawi being beaten. U.S. officials have only said al-Zarqawi mumbled and tried to roll off a stretcher before dying.

On Thursday, the U.S. military said al-Zarqawi was killed outright when two 500-pound bombs were dropped on his hideout.

But on Friday, the military said al-Zarqawi survived the bombing, which tore a huge crater in the date palm forest where the house was nestled just outside Baqouba, northwest of Baghdad.

Iraqi police reached the scene first and found the 39-year-old al- Zarqawi alive.

"He mumbled something, but it was indistinguishable and it was very short," Caldwell, a spokesman for U.S.-led forces in Iraq, said Friday.

Iraqi police pulled al-Zarqawi from the flattened home and placed him on a makeshift stretcher. U.S. troops arrived, saw that al-Zarqawi was conscious and tried to provide medical treatment, the spokesman said.

"He obviously had some kind of visual recognition of who they were because he attempted to roll off the stretcher, as I am told, and get away, realizing it was the U.S. military," Caldwell told Pentagon reporters via videoconference from Baghdad.

Al-Zarqawi "attempted to, sort of, turn away off the stretcher," he said. "Everybody re-secured him back onto the stretcher, but he died almost immediately thereafter from the wounds he'd received from this airstrike."

Caldwell has not mentioned any other physical interaction between U.S. troops and al-Zarqawi.

So much blood covered al-Zarqawi's body that U.S. forces cleaned him up before taking photographs.

"Despite the fact that this person actually had no regard for human life, we were not going to treat him in the same manner," Caldwell said.

...From a helicopter hovering above, a wide swath of destruction could be seen. The debris around the site included a women's slip and other pieces of clothing. Charred dresses, torn blankets, thin sponge mattresses and pillows were in the crater itself.

The debris of concrete blocks and twisted metal reinforcement bars included a pillow with a floral pattern, sandals and a foam mattress with the covering torn off. A cooling unit and part of a washing machine also were in the area.

A pillow with a floral pattern...

Hmmm. Interesting.

Lt. Col. Thomas Fisher of the 1st Battalion, 68th Armored Cavalry said his men showed up at the site about five minutes after the blast and cordoned it off. He said they had a patrol in the area already.

"We didn't know it was Zarqawi, we just knew it was a time-sensitive target," he said at the scene early Saturday. "We suspected who it was."

Caldwell also said experts told him it is not unheard of for people to survive a blast of that magnitude. He said he did not know if al- Zarqawi was inside or outside the house when the bombs struck.

"Well, what we had found, as with anything, first reports are not always fully accurate as we continue the debriefings. But we were not aware yesterday that, in fact, Zarqawi was alive when U.S. forces arrived on the site," Caldwell said.

His recounting of the aftermath of the airstrike could not be independently verified. The Iraqi government confirmed only that Iraqi forces were first on the scene, followed by the Americans.

I'm sure John Murtha will soon call for an investigation into the al-Zarqawi death.

CNN has more.

Read about the autopsy and the "questionable" information coming from the U.S. military.

[U.S. Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, spokesman for Multi-National Forces-Iraq,] told reporters for the first time Friday that al-Zarqawi, initially reported to have died instantly, survived the attack Wednesday in which an Air Force F-16 dropped two 500-pound bombs on a safehouse near Baquba where he was holding a meeting with associates.

There was a gap of 1:38 between the bombs, Caldwell said Saturday. (Timeline of the operation)

Al-Zarqawi was placed on a stretcher by arriving Iraqi police and was still alive when coalition forces arrived, some by helicopter, he said. Two coalition troops interacted with al-Zarqawi; one began administering first aid, while the second attempted to talk to him, Caldwell said Saturday. But al-Zarqawi died "very shortly thereafter, within minutes." (Watch how al-Zarqawi's final moments unfolded -- 2:27)

He said Friday al-Zarqawi mumbled something unintelligible and tried to turn away, possibly off the stretcher, before being resecured to it and dying. (Watch what new questions are being asked about al-Zarqawi's death -- 1:44)

Will "Ahmed Mohammed" be hailed by the Left as a whistleblower?

I suppose.

The evil U.S. military can do no right in Iraq, according to the Left.