U.S. military kills civilians in Iraq, apologizes

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: McClatchy

BAGHDAD — For the second day in a row, U.S. soldiers on Tuesday killed Iraqi civilians when they fired on a vehicle that they thought was a threat, the U.S. military said.

The U.S. military also reported that two soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Salah ad Din province. Two other soldiers were wounded. The military provided no further details on the incident and didn't release the names of the dead.

The shooting deaths of the civilians took place in the al Shaab neighborhood of northern Baghdad. Two people died and four were injured when an American soldier fired at a minibus that was transporting workers to a bank operated by the Iraqi Finance Ministry, the military said in a statement. But Iraqi police and employees at al Rasheed Bank said that four people were killed, including three women, and that two were injured.

The minibus was driving near a U.S. military outpost when it ended up on a road where only car traffic is permitted, the military said. American soldiers signaled the minibus to stop, and when it didn't, one of them fired a warning shot.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/22207.html

[alcibiades_mystery]

1. Oops...my bad!

:eyes:

[Javaman]

4. The salad days are dollars for deaths is long over.

"whoops! was that you, geez, I'm sorry...money? what? you want to be compensated for me killing your only child? Ooo wow, dang, I'm going to have to ask my sarg about that. In the mean time I think I have a soccer ball in the humvee...what? your child played soccer and had a scholarship to the university for soccer before we destroyed those dreams by bombing back to the stone age? Ouch, that sucks for him, huh? Look I got to go, here's the ball!"

[saigon68]

5. His brother will now go to Juba's sniper school

Its going to be a long war

[Javaman]

6. Sadly, yes it will be. :( nt

[gratuitous]

2. I'm not sure where "apologizes" figures in

There's a generic statement of "regret" about civilian deaths from Major Brad Leighton, but no apology for this specific incident. Later in the story, there's a description by one of the survivors of a soldier running up to the shot-up vehicle and saying "sorry" when he sees that he and his pals just shot a bunch of civilians.

Maybe this whole war on terror thing would have been avoided if one of the planners of 9/11 had just said, "Sorry about that." We seem to think that's sufficient to cover our own sins, and George Dubya is real fond of half quoting the Bible about treating others the way you'd like to be treated. But when I think of American wehrmacht apologies, I just flash back to "Animal House" and the scene where Bluto destroys the earnest young man's guitar on the frat house stairs.

[Supersedeas]

3. nothing to see here -- we are fighting them over there so we don't shoot you here