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July 11th,
2007 - Pentagon: U.S. Troops Shot 429 Iraqi Civilians at Checkpoints |
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Pentagon: U.S. Troops Shot
429 Iraqi Civilians at Checkpoints By Nancy A. Youssef McClatchy Newspapers July 11, 2007 6:13 PM ET Washington - U.S. soldiers
have killed or wounded 429 Iraqi civilians at checkpoints or near patrols and
convoys during the past year, according to military statistics compiled in
Iraq and obtained by McClatchy Newspapers. The statistics are the first
official accounting of civilian shootings since the war began, and while they
seem small compared with the thousands who've died in Iraq's violence, they
show the difficulty that the U.S. has in fulfilling its vow to protect
civilians. The numbers cover what the
military calls escalation-of-force incidents, in which American troops fire
at civilians who've come too close or have approached checkpoints too
quickly. In the months since U.S. commanders have dispatched more troops to
the field - ostensibly to secure Iraqi communities - the number of Iraqis
killed and injured in such incidents has spiked, the statistics show. Pentagon officials have
declined repeatedly to reveal the numbers of civilian deaths and injuries
caused by American troops. The escalation-of-force statistics, however, were
part of a recent briefing given to Army Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of
coalition forces in Iraq. A person familiar with the briefing provided the
statistics to McClatchy. They cover 3,200 incidents
since July 2006 in which U.S. troops fired warning shots at Iraqi civilians.
Such incidents led to injury or death 36 times a month on average - more than
once a day. No similar numbers were
available for previous periods. U.S. officials say the number of such
incidents is declining. Still, the pattern of
increased civilian injuries and deaths during periods of heightened American
military activities was obvious in the 12 months of escalation-of-force
statistics made available to McClatchy. Last August, for example, 26
Iraqi civilians were killed or injured in such incidents. The number rose to
41 the following month, as the U.S. began moving troops into some of
Baghdad's most troubled neighborhoods as part of Operation Forward Together,
last year's Baghdad security plan. In February, the first month
of the current troop buildup, 46 Iraqi civilians were killed or injured, the
highest monthly toll for the past year. Last July, the U.S. killed or injured
22 civilians, the lowest month of the year. The statistics don't include
instances of American soldiers killing civilians during raids, arrests or in
the midst of battle with armed groups, and it remains unclear how the U.S.
military tracks such information. Often rotating units use their own systems,
and there have been several incidents of soldiers not reporting the deaths of
civilians, most notably the November 2005 shooting of 24 civilians in the
northern Iraqi town of Haditha. Civilian casualties have
been controversial in Iraq since the beginning of the war, when several
bloody checkpoint incidents drew attention to the dangers to Iraqi civilians
from military roadblocks. Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki complained last year
about damages inflicted by American actions, and some U.S. officials have
said they think that such deaths helped fuel support for the insurgency. In a June 2006 interview
with McClatchy, Army Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli , who was then the No. 2
commander in Iraq, said: "We have people who were on the fence or
supported us who in the last two years or three years have in fact decided to
strike out against us. And you have to ask: Why is that? And I would argue in
many instances we are our own worst enemy." Chiarelli, who became the
senior military aide to Defense Secretary Robert Gates earlier this year,
ordered investigations last year into all escalation-of-force incidents that
led to serious injuries, death or property damage higher than $10,000. Before
that, investigations had varied within military units rotating into Iraq.
It's unclear whether those investigations continue. Sarah Holewinski, the
executive director of the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, a
Washington group that advocates for civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, said
the military needed to investigate each incident, not simply keep a tally. "They say they are
reducing the number of causalities. But they have not backed up their
claim," Holewinski said. "What steps did the military take before
the escalation-of-force incident? What are they doing to reduce the number?
What happens afterward to the family?" U.S. soldiers traditionally
have used hand signals or signs to tell civilians to stop. If that doesn't
work, they fire warning shots. If the vehicles still are moving too close,
they're authorized to kill. Iraqi civilians have complained
that makeshift checkpoints, coupled with unpredictable patrols and convoys,
make it difficult to know when troops are in their communities and how they
should interact with them. And they say their immediate reaction to any
gunshot - warning shot or not - is to flee, not stop. A Government Accountability
Office report in May found that the military has disbursed nearly $31 million
in condolence payments to families in Iraq and Afghanistan for deaths,
injuries or property damage. The maximum payment is $2,500 per person or
injury, indicating that the payouts covered at least 12,400 incidents. External link: http://tinyurl.com/ypash9 |