Witnesses say US forces killed unarmed civilians
/Allegations of widespread abuse by US forces in
Fallujah, including the killing of unarmed civilians and the targeting
of a hospital in an attack, have been made by people who have escaped
from the city. They said, in interviews with The Independent, that as
well as deaths from bombs and artillery shells, a large number of
people including children were killed by American snipers. US forces
refused repeated calls for medical aid for injured civilians, they
said. Some of the killings took place in the build-up to the assault on
the rebel stronghold, and at least in one case - that of the death of a
family of seven, including a three-month baby - the American
authorities have admitted responsibility and offered compensation. The
refugees from Fallujah describe a situation of extreme violence in
which remaining civilians in the city, who have been told by the
Americans to leave, appeared to have been seen as complicit in the
insurgency. Men of military age were particularly vulnerable. But there
are accounts of children as young as four, and women and old men being
killed. [more]
Once again, disturbing images are surfacing from the war in Iraq, this time of a young Marine shooting a wounded Iraqi prisoner in Fallujah. The soldier in question has been removed from duty and may face a court martial. U.S. military and Iraqi officials have decried the incident. This sort of act is nothing new in war. Unarmed, or seemingly unarmed, people have been killed before and will be killed again by soldiers making split second decisions under almost inconceivable stress. This event, however, and the reactions to it, illustrate exactly why the United States may be forced to follow Vermont Senator George D. Aiken's advice on ending the war in Vietnam -- just declare victory in Iraq and withdraw. [more]
- "I do not believe the American claim that they killed more than 1,200 insurgents in Fallujah. Return fire was sporadic and I saw few bodies. I suspect most insurgents fled" [more]
- UK rejects report of 100,000 Iraq civilian deaths [more
Once again, disturbing images are surfacing from the war in Iraq, this time of a young Marine shooting a wounded Iraqi prisoner in Fallujah. The soldier in question has been removed from duty and may face a court martial. U.S. military and Iraqi officials have decried the incident. This sort of act is nothing new in war. Unarmed, or seemingly unarmed, people have been killed before and will be killed again by soldiers making split second decisions under almost inconceivable stress. This event, however, and the reactions to it, illustrate exactly why the United States may be forced to follow Vermont Senator George D. Aiken's advice on ending the war in Vietnam -- just declare victory in Iraq and withdraw. [more]
