Iraq's prime minister condemns U.S. forces
By Seattle Times news services
Friday, June 2, 2006 - Page updated at 07:32 AM
... Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, head of a Shiite Muslim-led governing coalition that, at times, has expressed resentment of the U.S. troop presence here, on Thursday formally condemned not just the Haditha killings but what he called "the practice" of occupying forces' disregard for civilians in Iraq.
"These forces do not respect the citizens, some of whom are crushed by tanks, others shot. ... They run them over and leave them, or they kill anyone suspicious," said al-Maliki, who leads Iraq's first permanent government since the fall of Saddam Hussein, after a Cabinet meeting.
Al-Maliki condemned what he called a "terrible crime in which women and children were eliminated."
He said he would establish a special committee to investigate the Haditha incident and would demand an apology from the United States for the killings, something the U.S. military has consistently refused to do when confronted with instances in which civilians are killed ...
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003034318_haditha02.htmlIraqi Leaders Assail U.S. on Civilian Deaths
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
Published: June 1, 2006
... "We in the ministers' cabinet condemn this crime and demand the coalition forces show the reasons behind this massacre," said the Iraqi deputy prime minister. Salam al-Zaubai, one of the most powerful Sunni Arabs in the new government ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/01/world/middleeast/01cnd-iraq.html?_r=1&ex=1149393600&en=d78ab2c471058406&ei=5087%0A&oref=sloginSumaidaie: Marines shot my cousin
We must 'remove the bad apples,' new Iraqi ambassador says
... SUMAIDAIE: Well, that was not a battle at all. Marines were doing house-to-house searches, and they went into the house of my cousin. He opened the door for them ...
SUMAIDAIE: Well, they said that they shot him in self-defense. I find that hard to believe because, A, he is not at all a violent -- I mean, I know the boy. He was
a second-year engineering course in the university. Nothing to do with violence. All his life has been studies and intellectual work.
Totally unbelievable. And, in fact, they had no weapon in the house. They had one weapon which belonged to the school where his father was a headmaster. And it had no ammunition in it. And he led them into the room to show it to them ...
SUMAIDAIE: I believe he was killed intentionally. I believe that he was killed unnecessarily. And unfortunately, the investigations that took place after that sort of took a different course and concluded that there was no unlawful killing ...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/05/30/cnna.sumaidaie/index.html
Yeah, let's not "make too much" of this, cuz no normal person would get upset if a bunch of foreigners arrived and started killing his/her friends and neighbors ...