The military admitted late Sunday that three bank employees – a 57-year-old man and two women coworkers – killed by U.S. soldiers in the Baghdad airport complex were just as their loved ones and Iraqi police had maintained: "Law abiding citizens of Iraq." But the soldiers who fired at them were, a military statement said, "not at fault."

The announcement about the conclusion of an Army investigation corrected what had seemed implausible all along. For weeks after the June 25 shooting, the Army claimed a weapon was found with the Iraqis' car despite the fact that they had just passed through the rigorous weapons searches leading to the airport terminal. Even as NEWSWEEK reported on the high-profile case July 7, the military was standing by its story, which would have meant that a long-time employee of an airport bank branch suddenly decided to divert from his daily commute to fire small arms at soldiers in multiple armored vehicles. The original Army statement portrayed the incident as a minor combat victory, claiming soldiers had killed three "criminals" attempting to attack them.