Seraphim
08-14-2003, 01:21 PM
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=4&u=/ap/20030814/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_1565
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20030814/capt.1060877609.iraq_xms106.jpg
U.S. Army Col. Teddy Spain, commander 18th MP brigade, third left, dance with Iraqi police officers, who have completed the Army's three-week police Transition Integration Program during their graduation ceremony, at the Public Safety Academy in Baghdad, Iraq (news - web sites), Thursday Aug.14, 2003.. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military issued a public apology to the people of a Shiite Muslim neighborhood in Baghdad on Thursday for an incident in which a man was killed and four others wounded after an American Black Hawk helicopter blew down an Islamic banner with its rotor wash.
In the southern city of Basra, a roadside bomb killed one British soldier and wounded three others, British military spokesman Capt. Hisham Halawi said. The killing was the first British combat death in nearly two months.
The victims were all army medics traveling in an ambulance on the outskirts of the city, where residents rioted over the weekend to protest fuel shortages and electricity cuts.
Eight Britons have been killed in combat since May 1, when U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) declared major fighting over. In the same period, 60 American soldiers have died in guerrilla attacks.
In Baghdad, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition forces in Iraq (news - web sites), promised the military would "take into consideration the Iraqi culture and sensitivities."
"Our intent is not to alienate the Shiite people," he said.
"Apparently, the helicopter blew down the flag or somehow the flag was taken down, and we are taking steps to ensure that doesn't happen again," he said, answering a barrage of questions about why the Black Hawk was hovering above the communications tower in Baghdad's Sadr City in a first place.
"There is no policy on our part to fly helicopters to communication towers to take down flags," Sanchez told reporters, insisting that the banner was mistakenly blown down by the force of the helicopter blades and was not removed from the tower deliberately.
Sanchez said an American unit came under fire from the angry crowd of about 3,000 Shiites on Wednesday after the helicopter and banner incident. The unit returned fire after one man in the crowd fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the soldiers. The shooter was killed but four bystanders were wounded.
The neighborhood seemed quiet Thursday after the American apology. A new banner on the wall of a building near Wednesday's incident read: "The Americans should not be allowed to enter the city again because of the blood shed in their aggression yesterday."
Residents seemed calmed by the American apology.
"I think that this minor incident and misunderstanding is over now. Most of the people are accepting the apology. We will not forget that it was the U.S. soldiers who liberated us from Saddam (Hussein)," said Abid Ali, 45, an auto repair shop owner.
Most Iraqi Shiites had welcomed the ouster of the former dictator who brutally put down a Shiite uprising after the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites). Saddam's minority Sunni Muslim Baath Party oppressed the Shiite majority brutally throughout his regime.
No U.S. soldiers or helicopters were seen patrolling the neighborhood Thursday.
One of Sanchez's subordinates had already written to the people of the Sadr City neighborhood.
"What occurred was a mistake and was not directed against the people of Sadr City," said a statement signed by Lt. Col. Christopher K. Hoffman of the 2nd Squadron, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. The document, in English, was distributed in the sprawling slum Thursday. "I am personally investigating this incident and will punish those that are responsible," the Hoffman statement said.
It promised the number of U.S. helicopters flying over Sadr City and the number of patrols in the eastern Baghdad neighborhood, formerly known as Saddam City, would be reduced.
Sanchez sought in his weekly news conference to emphasize that American forces were changing tactics while not changing U.S. goals of wiping out the guerrilla resistance.
"The conduct of our operations is to take into consideration the Iraqi culture and sensitivities, and we want to be precise in our application of combat power. We are going to continue to be aggressive, we have to be aggressive. We're fighting a low intensity conflict here," Sanchez said.
Asked about calls for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Sadr City, Sanchez said: "What I will tell you is, we've got a mission that we've got to accomplish here in the country.
Sanchez also said that U.S. forces will improve markings on hastily set-up checkpoints throughout the country, after a recent incident in which troops killed two women and wounded two men after their car failed to stop.
He announced the seizure of three major ammunition caches in the previous 24 hours, including anti-aircraft guns taken by the 4th Infantry Division operating in the Tikrit area 120 miles north of Baghdad. He said forces found more than 800 rocket-propelled grenades, 920 120mm mortar shells and other weapons that "could've been source for improvised explosive devices."
He also complained of increased oil smuggling, with oil worth about US$200,000 illegally shipped from the country daily across the southern border. He said some of the 15 breaches of oil pipelines since late May had been conducted by smugglers trying to tap into the flow.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, told commanders throughout Iraq that reporters, photographers and television crews would be prohibited from accompanying the military on some operations. That appeared to be a major shift in the military's relations with the news media.
Within hours of the directive being reported by The Associated Press, U.S. military headquarters in Baghdad rescinded the order.
When asked why, military spokesman Maj. William Thurmond responded, "I don't know."
News of the directive was first provided by Maj. Josslyn Aberle, spokeswoman for the 4th Infantry Division at Tikrit, 120 miles north of Baghdad. She said it had been issued by the Coalition Joint Task Force in the capital.
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20030814/capt.1060877609.iraq_xms106.jpg
U.S. Army Col. Teddy Spain, commander 18th MP brigade, third left, dance with Iraqi police officers, who have completed the Army's three-week police Transition Integration Program during their graduation ceremony, at the Public Safety Academy in Baghdad, Iraq (news - web sites), Thursday Aug.14, 2003.. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military issued a public apology to the people of a Shiite Muslim neighborhood in Baghdad on Thursday for an incident in which a man was killed and four others wounded after an American Black Hawk helicopter blew down an Islamic banner with its rotor wash.
In the southern city of Basra, a roadside bomb killed one British soldier and wounded three others, British military spokesman Capt. Hisham Halawi said. The killing was the first British combat death in nearly two months.
The victims were all army medics traveling in an ambulance on the outskirts of the city, where residents rioted over the weekend to protest fuel shortages and electricity cuts.
Eight Britons have been killed in combat since May 1, when U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) declared major fighting over. In the same period, 60 American soldiers have died in guerrilla attacks.
In Baghdad, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition forces in Iraq (news - web sites), promised the military would "take into consideration the Iraqi culture and sensitivities."
"Our intent is not to alienate the Shiite people," he said.
"Apparently, the helicopter blew down the flag or somehow the flag was taken down, and we are taking steps to ensure that doesn't happen again," he said, answering a barrage of questions about why the Black Hawk was hovering above the communications tower in Baghdad's Sadr City in a first place.
"There is no policy on our part to fly helicopters to communication towers to take down flags," Sanchez told reporters, insisting that the banner was mistakenly blown down by the force of the helicopter blades and was not removed from the tower deliberately.
Sanchez said an American unit came under fire from the angry crowd of about 3,000 Shiites on Wednesday after the helicopter and banner incident. The unit returned fire after one man in the crowd fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the soldiers. The shooter was killed but four bystanders were wounded.
The neighborhood seemed quiet Thursday after the American apology. A new banner on the wall of a building near Wednesday's incident read: "The Americans should not be allowed to enter the city again because of the blood shed in their aggression yesterday."
Residents seemed calmed by the American apology.
"I think that this minor incident and misunderstanding is over now. Most of the people are accepting the apology. We will not forget that it was the U.S. soldiers who liberated us from Saddam (Hussein)," said Abid Ali, 45, an auto repair shop owner.
Most Iraqi Shiites had welcomed the ouster of the former dictator who brutally put down a Shiite uprising after the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites). Saddam's minority Sunni Muslim Baath Party oppressed the Shiite majority brutally throughout his regime.
No U.S. soldiers or helicopters were seen patrolling the neighborhood Thursday.
One of Sanchez's subordinates had already written to the people of the Sadr City neighborhood.
"What occurred was a mistake and was not directed against the people of Sadr City," said a statement signed by Lt. Col. Christopher K. Hoffman of the 2nd Squadron, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. The document, in English, was distributed in the sprawling slum Thursday. "I am personally investigating this incident and will punish those that are responsible," the Hoffman statement said.
It promised the number of U.S. helicopters flying over Sadr City and the number of patrols in the eastern Baghdad neighborhood, formerly known as Saddam City, would be reduced.
Sanchez sought in his weekly news conference to emphasize that American forces were changing tactics while not changing U.S. goals of wiping out the guerrilla resistance.
"The conduct of our operations is to take into consideration the Iraqi culture and sensitivities, and we want to be precise in our application of combat power. We are going to continue to be aggressive, we have to be aggressive. We're fighting a low intensity conflict here," Sanchez said.
Asked about calls for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Sadr City, Sanchez said: "What I will tell you is, we've got a mission that we've got to accomplish here in the country.
Sanchez also said that U.S. forces will improve markings on hastily set-up checkpoints throughout the country, after a recent incident in which troops killed two women and wounded two men after their car failed to stop.
He announced the seizure of three major ammunition caches in the previous 24 hours, including anti-aircraft guns taken by the 4th Infantry Division operating in the Tikrit area 120 miles north of Baghdad. He said forces found more than 800 rocket-propelled grenades, 920 120mm mortar shells and other weapons that "could've been source for improvised explosive devices."
He also complained of increased oil smuggling, with oil worth about US$200,000 illegally shipped from the country daily across the southern border. He said some of the 15 breaches of oil pipelines since late May had been conducted by smugglers trying to tap into the flow.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, told commanders throughout Iraq that reporters, photographers and television crews would be prohibited from accompanying the military on some operations. That appeared to be a major shift in the military's relations with the news media.
Within hours of the directive being reported by The Associated Press, U.S. military headquarters in Baghdad rescinded the order.
When asked why, military spokesman Maj. William Thurmond responded, "I don't know."
News of the directive was first provided by Maj. Josslyn Aberle, spokeswoman for the 4th Infantry Division at Tikrit, 120 miles north of Baghdad. She said it had been issued by the Coalition Joint Task Force in the capital.