TROOPS KILL 'BY MISTAKE'

[Judi Lynn]

(Breaking news)
Last Updated: 08:59 UK, Saturday December 20, 2003

TROOPS KILL 'BY MISTAKE'


Three Iraqi policemen have been mistakenly killed by US troops, according to reports.

The troops thought the men were guerillas when they opened fire near Salman Pak, south of Kirkuk, an Iraqi policeman told AFP news agency.

(snip/)

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1116310,00.html

[rumguy]

1. yikes

that's to bad...

[Blue_Tires]

2. making new friends each day

"if it moves, shoot it"
/sarcasm

[izzie]

13. Kill it if it moves seems to be a way of life with these people

I do think it is the new order over in Iraq and with most of the Right Wing you read about. Kill. Kill is all you hear.

[truthisfreedom]

3. brown people beware

Americans present. sounds just like home.

[Bandit]

23. I would bet that half our troops over there are "brown people"

It sounds like you are insinuating that Americans are not brown people also.

[Newsjock]

4. More progress!

In Washington, press secretary Scott McClellan said the killings were another sign of the coalition's progress in bringing peace to Iraq.

</sarcrasm>

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. Read this from GD if you haven't yet

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=941003

[ConcernedCanuk]

6. LINK to story - "They're just going to keep killing us until we leave"

. .

IRAQ "They're just going to keep killing us until we leave"

By Kevin Horrigan
12/14/2003




""The only good thing is, when we're attacked, we usually kill the guys who do it," he said. "They may eventually run out of guys to attack us."

There are no jubilant Iraqis welcoming their liberators. "The only people who are happy to see you are the people who are getting stuff from us," he said. "The mayor is happy, but we're propping him up. The sheiks are happy, but they're getting schools. You hand people money, they're happy, but you don't know what'll happen when you turn your back.

"The average Iraqi, though, sees things getting worse. They're sick of us and we're sick of them, because we don't know who the good guys are."

The rules of engagement have changed. "Officially," he said, "it's 'Don't fire unless you're fired upon. We're here to win hearts and minds. We're all a bunch of buddies.' Down at the lower levels, in the trenches, the word is, 'If you're scared, kill it. If you feel threatened, kill it.'

/snip/

Sad, real frickin sad !!

[Rainbowreflect]

7. My friend's husband just got back from Iraq Thursday night.

I'm hoping to have a chance to talk to him before he has to go back. I want to hear from him the real scoop of what's going on over there and how the troops there are feeling.

[Bandit]

24. Most telling line ~ "They're sick of us and we're sick of them,"

Aren't we special?

[reprobate]

27. 'If you're scared, kill it. If you feel threatened, kill it.'

Sure does remind one of another conflict thirty years ago, don't it?

This is the mark of a truly professional and disciplined armed force. We should be so proud of our misleadership.

The American Memory Hole grows deeper by the day.

[leftchick]

10. Thanks for pointing this out nothingshocksme.....

I was offline most of the day yesterday and surely would have missed this otherwise. That is one astounding account by that soldier. I would love to see it picked up by a larger newspaper and spread around fast. Murica needs to wake up for our soldiers and the Iraqis' sakes........

[prisonerseven]

18. No large paper will run an anonymous first hand account

Just because it bolsters our case is no more reason to take it at face value any sooner than we would accept an anonymous first hand account that indicated everything in Iraq is just peachy keen. Credibility isn't something that only the opposition needs to provide.

[Military Brat]

20. It has to be anonymous or there will be retribution

Another classic military catch-22. The soldiers need to send a letter as a group, and sign the letter, but insist on anonymity if it is published. The newspaper's editor can keep the letter on file as proof of its authenticity, and release the names one by one as the soldiers give permission, if they elect to do so.

[tlcandie]

28. Dog tags, name, info whatever isn't something that people share

in times of prosecution by higher ups for speaking truth. Things will become more anonymous and underground as dissent becomes more and more oppressed. :(

[prisonerseven]

30. With no name it's not credible

It opens the door for creative writing that can just as well work against us as for us. If you accept this latest anti-war missive then you will be allowing for rosy and glowing accounts of the war.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

31. Hmm..so since we don't know who provided Novak with Plames' info

that story isn't credible either? I reject that notion. It is obvious a soldier was spoken to, he gave great detail and it is well known that any of our troops that speak negatively of their mission can be punished...sorry, your argument isn't credible.

Heck, are you saying Watergate wasn't credible since we don't have deep-throat's name?

[Judi Lynn]

22. Maybe you should inform the VOICE OF AMERICA

of your view.

US Troops Mistakenly Kill 3 Iraqi Policemen; Aznar Visits Spanish Troops
Challiss McDonough
Baghdad
20 Dec 2003, 15:47 UTC


AP
Jose Maria Aznar addressing Spanish troops in Diwaniyah, Iraq
U.S. troops have mistakenly killed three Iraqi police officers in northern Iraq, and the Spanish prime minister has staged a top-secret, lightning visit to Spanish troops in the south.

Iraqi police say U.S. soldiers in northern Iraq mistakenly opened fire on patrolling policemen, apparently believing they were bandits. Three police officers were killed and two others were wounded.

The incident happened late Friday at a checkpoint on a road leading south from the city of Kirkuk.
(snip/...)

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=55771304-CF55-47A5-981AF10B3D7CF493&title=US%20Troops%20Mistakenly%20Kill%203%20Iraqi%20Policemen%3B%20Aznar%20Visits%20Spanish%20Troops&catOID=45C9C78D-88AD-11D4-A57200A0CC5EE46C&categoryname=Mideast

[0007]

8. Touchy jumpy troops just acting on orders,

How to win friends and influence people.

[teryang]

9. Not the first time

...that we've killed Iraqi police by mistake.

[screembloodymurder]

11. Police

No wonder they have such a high drop out rate.

[xchrom]

12. add them to the thousands

of innocent iraqis killed by america.
people who would otherwise never have been killed by saddam.
there is never an excuse for the brutality this admin is exporting by way of a foreign policy.
sad.

[missile_bender]

14. They were in the way

How long until we're all in the way?

http://www.unembedded.com

[Rose Siding]

15. A Sy Hersh article said that hoods

are being worn by Iraqis "helping" the US, to protect themselves from retribution. That isn't mentioned in this piece or the msn home pg, but then it wouldn't be even if it were to be the case.

[Rose Siding]

16. This msn link also tells of a lynching and

the death of a 5 yr old boy-

snip>

Meanwhile in Najaf, gunmen attempted to assassinate Damiyah Abbas, a provincial party official believed to have participated in the repression of a 1991 Shiite uprising against the government of Saddam, who violently repressed Iraq's Shiite majority.

Police initially said she had died in the attack, as she was leaving her home, then said she was hospitalized in critical condition. Her 5-year-old son was killed instantly, they said.

Another Baath party official accused in the repression was lynched by an angry crowd and killed on Wednesday in Najaf, 100 miles southwest of Baghdad.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3766385/

[prisonerseven]

19. Lynchings have nothing to do with US troops

I'm not sure why you mention it in a thread about US troops.

[Rose Siding]

21. I mention it because it was in the same article

on the thread topic and it is relevant as an indicator of the level of violence and a measure of the spiraling failure of the US to provide security in Iraq.

[AnnabelLee]

17. I know that the US troops are frightened

& that they don't know who to trust, or who is the enemy, & are shooting at pretty much everything because of this. But, the Iraqis who may have been willing to give the soldiers a chance are now learning that cooperating with the occupation leaves them with the same chance of being killed as not cooperating with the occupation.

[IndianaGreen]

25. The entire Iraq war was a mistake!

Everything that followed it has been an unmitigated disaster. We are now using our troops to enforce US drug laws in the Persian Gulf. What's next for our glorious imperial troops?

[louis-t]

29. While it is possible that the drugs seized

were being sold to finance terrorism and busting heroin producers is a good thing, I will state again that the killing of Iraqi policemen by US soldiers and desertion by US trained Iraqi soldiers will continue. War profiteering and shoddy work by Halliburton and its subsidiaries will also continue. The reason?: PNAC and their sympathizers DON'T CARE ABOUT IRAQIS. They see Iraqis as dirty, lowlife pondscum who are used to being treated poorly and don't deserve any more than they are getting. 'So we'll pay them next to nothing and they'll be happy to get it and then say we've 'opened' 1,000 schools even if they still don't have working plumbing or electricity. We can overcharge for everything and if someone gripes, we'll call them unpatriotic and take out full page ads claiming our innocence and blaming someone else and blaming the dangerous territory. No one will be allowed to look at the books anyway and it's not like we'll have any competition because our poor excuse for a coalition can't do what Halliburton does. What, you think Mauritania has a company that big? We could level the whole country with one of our earth-moving machines. We'll keep insulting and antagonizing Russia, Germany and France so that we'll have an excuse not to include them. We keep the money, we control the oil while claiming we're 'protecting' it, we'll release one 'Bush good deed' a week just like we released one 'Clinton scandal' a week, then it's on to Iran, Syria, and if Qaddafi gives us any lip.......

[DivinBreuvage]

26. Only the latest in a long string of incidents to prove my point...

that the perfect spokesperson for this whole sad quagmire mess is Steve Urkel, cringing and whining "DID I DO THAT?"