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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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May 22nd,
2008 - U.S. Helicopter Strike Kills 8 Iraqi Civilians |
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U.S.
Helicopter Strike Kills 8 Iraqi Civilians By Sabah al-Bazee Reuters May 22, 2008 Baiji, Iraq - A U.S. helicopter
airstrike on Wednesday night killed eight civilians, including two children,
north of Baghdad, police officials said on Thursday. Colonel Mudhher al-Qaisi,
police chief in the town of Baiji, said the attack was on a group of
shepherds in a vehicle in a farming area. Relatives said some of those killed
were fleeing on foot after the U.S. military arrived in the area. "This is a criminal
act. It will make the relations between Iraqi citizens and the U.S. forces
tense. This will negatively affect security improvements," Qaisi told
Reuters. A U.S. military spokeswoman,
Lieutenant-Colonel Maura Gillen, said the helicopter fired on the vehicle
after observing "suspicious activity." She said the driver had
ignored warnings to stop. The incident is the latest
in a string of U.S. airstrikes in which civilians have been killed. It comes
at a bad time for the U.S. military, which has been working hard to soothe
tensions with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government over the shooting of
a copy of the Koran, the Muslim holy book, by a U.S. soldier earlier this
month. United Nations officials
have expressed concern at the number of civilians killed in airstrikes in
Iraq and said more care must be taken in military operations to protect them. The U.S. military said the
incident was under investigation. "Coalition forces
regret the loss of innocent civilian lives," said Navy Captain Gordon
Delcambre in a press statement. "Terrorists continue to show their
disregard for human life by endangering children with their illegal and
violent activities." The U.S. military says
insurgents often deliberately hide among civilians and previous air strikes
on suspected militant hideouts have resulted in civilian deaths. Corpses in Sheets Reuters pictures showed relatives
of the dead standing beside corpses covered by white sheets outside a mosque
in Baiji, an oil refining town 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad. "There were two boys,
one was eight and the other was 11," said police Major Ahmed Hussein,
giving the ages of two of the victims. A doctor at Baiji hospital
who asked not to be named said it had received eight bodies following the
incident early on Wednesday evening. One body was that of a 60-year-old man. In October 2007, the United
Nations mission in Iraq urged U.S. forces to pursue a "vigorous"
probe into an airstrike that killed 15 women and children and said its
findings must be made public so that lessons could be learned. They were killed during an
operation targeting senior leaders of al Qaeda in the Lake Thar Thar area 80
km (50 miles) northwest of the Iraqi capital. The U.S. military has not
made public its investigations into such incidents. Ghafil Rashed said his
brother and son were killed in the Baiji helicopter strike. "The Americans raided
our houses ... People start fleeing with their children, then the aircraft
started bombing people in a street along the farm," he said, standing
near the bodies of his brother and son in Baiji mosque. Iraqi police have also
raised questions about another U.S. military operation in which 11 people
were killed on Wednesday. U.S. officials said troops
shot dead 11 militants in eastern Baghdad on Wednesday, but police and
several residents said at least some of the dead were civilians killed by
U.S. snipers. Additional reporting by
Aseel Kami. © 2008 Reuters External link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/22/AR2008052200368.html |