US Soldiers continue to murder civilians

[Parmenides]

It's conveniant that everytime US soldiers murder unarmed civilians they claim that they were fired upon. Since Bush is declaring the war over, throwing rocks must constitute a capital offense.

U.S. Soldiers Fire at Iraqi Protesters
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


Filed at 5:49 a.m. ET

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) -- U.S. soldiers opened fire on Iraqi protesters in a town west of Baghdad after being shot at and least seven demonstrators were hit, a U.S. officer said Tuesday. Residents said at least 15 people were killed.

The shooting took place Monday night in the town of Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad. Col. Arnold Bray of the 82nd Airborne Division gave the U.S. account of the clash, but could not confirm the Iraqi deaths.

Local Iraqis said the demonstration was conducted by students between the ages of 5 and 20, but Bray said some of them were armed.

``Ask them which kind of schoolboys carry AK-47s,'' Bray said.

The U.S. troops were headquartered in a schoolhouse, and some in the crowd fired on the schoolhouse, Bray said. The Al-Jazeera television station, quoting local residents, said the U.S. troops opened fire after someone threw a rock at the school.

The demonstrators reportedly were protesting U.S. troops' presence in Fallujah.

[nicky g]

More up-to-date report:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,945719,00.html

US troops 'kill 15 Iraqi protesters'

Sarah Left and agencies
Tuesday April 29, 2003

US troops opened fire on a group of Iraqi demonstrators near Baghdad yesterday, killing around 15 people and wounding 50 others, according to reports from the area.
Qatar's al-Jazeera television station reported that troops had fired on the demonstrators in the town of Falluja, around 30 miles west of Baghdad, after someone in the crowd threw a stone at US soldiers. The protesters had been demonstrating against the continued US presence in Iraq, al-Jazeera said.

US central command in Qatar said that it had no information about the incident.

A correspondent for the Reuters news agency in Falluja said residents put the death toll at between 13 and 17 people. Witnesses said that the demonstrators, who had been protesting at a school, had not been armed. They said that the protest had been peaceful.

A local Sunni Muslim cleric, Kamal Shaker Mahmoud, told Reuters that the demonstrators had gone to a school occupied by US troops to ask them to leave.

"They were asking the Americans to leave the school so they could use it," he said. "They opened fire on the protesters because they went out to demonstrate. We are asking the Americans to completely leave Iraq, but first we want them to leave residential areas."

An al-Jazeera reporter in Baghdad said that the injured were being treated at five hospitals around Falluja. The Reuters correspondent witnessed six burials.

[nicky g]

Shooting demonstrators for stone-throwing (one stone!) is of course classic Israeli army behaviour in the occupied territories. Also similar to British Army behaviour in Norhtern Ireland during the troubles. As we know the Israelis trained some US forces in occupation and urban warfare tactics prior to the war. That's just great. How long does the coalition think it'll be welcome when things like this happen? No doubt we can look forward to an extended stay, due to the need to defeat "terrorism" which will have been provoked by incidents like this. Why don't they just put Ariel Sharon in charge of the world? Then we could all live peacefully ever after. His strategies have worked so well in bringing peace to Israel and Palestine, OF COURSE we should implement them in Iraq.

[ACPlayer]

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE140972003

Related photos at: http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2003/04/25/367175.html