US troops 'kill Iraqi police'

[cut]

******* (http://*******.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3432712)
bbc (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3102920.stm)
san francisco chronicle (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/09/12/international0444EDT0455.DTL)

CNN, msnbc et al havn't reported this one yet.. funny that..

[Seraphim]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030912/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&cid=540&ncid=716



By ALI AHMED, Associated Press Writer

FALLUJAH, Iraq - U.S. soldiers mistakenly opened fire Friday on Iraqi police officers chasing highway bandits near an American checkpoint in a small town west of Fallujah, witnesses said. The U.S. military in Baghdad said it had no information on the incident.


In the confusion after the shooting, which was near the Jordanian Hospital just outside Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, 12 policemen were taken inside the nearby U.S. base. Whether they were killed or injured was not clear.


Family members gathered at the base gate waiting for news. Five other policemen were taken to a hospital with injuries.


Arab satellite television broadcasters were reporting between 10 and 17 policemen killed.


There were other unconfirmed reports of violence in the region Friday after a message carrying the name of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) appeared on at least one building in Fallujah. The message praised the people of the city for their resistance to the American occupation and named it capital of al-Anbar province. The nearby city of Ramadi, west of Fallujah, is the capital of the Sunni dominated al-Anbar province.


Fallujah police were chasing a white BMW without license plates that they identified as one used by highway bandits on the road connecting Baghdad with the Jordanian border. The officers chasing the four men in the BMW were in pickup trucks.


U.S. Army troops manning a checkpoint on a road leading to the resort village of Saddamiyat al-Fallujah, formerly used by senior officials of the Saddam regime, opened fire on the BMW and the trucks when they did not stop.


Witnesses initially said 11 police officers and all four men in the car were killed in the hail of fire.


Thursday afternoon, attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades at a U.S. military convoy about 18 miles west of Fallujah, touching off an intense firefight that left at least one American soldier wounded, the military said.


Tanks and other vehicles from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment came under attack, the military said.


Other "U.S. forces responding to the scene came under fire and returned fire at houses nearby," U.S. Army Capt. Jeff Fitzgibbons said.


There was no information regarding casualties among attackers. Two U.S. military trucks were also destroyed during the fighting along Highway 10, he said.


Associated Press Television News pictures showed a burning tank transport truck, a burning 5-ton truck and at least one burning Humvee.


The Fallujah region has been one of the most dangerous for U.S. soldiers. Support for Saddam runs strongest in the region.


Earlier Thursday, three U.S. soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were injured when guerillas fired rocket-propelled grenades and shot small arms at a military convoy in Mosul, northern Iraq (news - web sites), the military said.


In Baghdad, Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, a key member of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council and a top Shiite Muslim cleric, told a news conference Friday that the car bombing that killed his brother and at least 85 other people in Najaf last month was a "terrorist operation" and would not be the last such attack.


Al-Hakim, who took over leadership of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq after his brother's assassination Aug. 29, said the attack was part of a "diabolical and cunning conspiracy" to target Iraqi infrastructure, assassinate other senior clerics and desecrate holy Muslim shrines.





At the news conference held at a Supreme Council building in central Baghdad, al-Hakim also issued a blunt warning to Arab satellite broadcasters like Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya against "playing a role that tears the nation apart and supports terrorist groups."

Al-Hakim refused to give a direct answer when asked about disarming the Badr Brigade, which his slain brother founded during exile in Iraq as the armed wing of the Supreme Council. It was ordered disarmed and disbanded on American orders after the fall of the Saddam regime, but members have subsequently been patrolling the streets in the area of the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf since the bombing there two weeks ago.

The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, said on Thursday that such militias are illegal.

Al-Hakim said the continued armed presence of the men was under discussion with American authorities.

"The Badr Brigade should have a very active role in achieving security, and we are discussing this issue with the coalition authorities. We do not want militia formations in Iraq, but under the current critical situation, urgent measures should be taken. But, we try to work in a way to avoid clashes with the coalition forces," he said.

"We do not foresee any benefit that could be gained from engaging in an armed conflict with the occupation forces. We believe in the necessity of adopting other means to achieve independence."

Commenting on the possible participation of Turkish troops as peacekeepers in Iraq, al-Hakim said "We believe there is no need for more troops to come to Iraq."





http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/MSN/2003/09/12/iraq030912


FALLULJAH, IRAQ - U.S. soldiers mistakenly opened fire on Iraqi police officers in a pickup truck chasing a group of bandits in a car.

It was unclear how many of the police officers were injured or killed.

The soliders opened fire after the vehicles ran an American checkpoint, witnesses say.

Fallujah police in pickup trucks were chasing four men in a BMW.

The police had identified the car as one used by highway bandits on the road connecting Baghdad with the Jordanian border.

The U.S. military had no information on the incident.



Written by CBC News Online staff

[budanski]

Smokey and the Bandit. Done Iraqi style.


U.S. Army troops manning a checkpoint on a road leading to the resort village of Saddamiyat al-Fallujah, formerly used by senior officials of the Saddam regime, opened fire on the BMW and the trucks when they did not stop.

O.K., there is where it happened. The Iraqi policeman driving the trucks didn't have the brains to ID themselves (by stopping).

Remedial training at midnight tonight.

I'd say they did the right thing. If they just let unmarked cars speed through a check point, a car bomb could have taken out quite a few soldiers. The Iraqis should have stopped at the checkpoint, while the criminal sped through. The criminal would have been the only one shot by the US Soldiers, and the Iraqis would have felt we were supporting them instead of against them.

Try speeding through a border checkpoint into the US from Canada or Mexico. See what happens!

[Fargin]

Winning hearts and minds?

[txajas]

Smokey and the Bandit. Done Iraqi style.


U.S. Army troops manning a checkpoint on a road leading to the resort village of Saddamiyat al-Fallujah, formerly used by senior officials of the Saddam regime, opened fire on the BMW and the trucks when they did not stop.

O.K., there is where it happened. The Iraqi policeman driving the trucks didn't have the brains to ID themselves (by stopping).

Remedial training at midnight tonight.

I'd say they did the right thing. If they just let unmarked cars speed through a check point, a car bomb could have taken out quite a few soldiers. The Iraqis should have stopped at the checkpoint, while the criminal sped through. The criminal would have been the only one shot by the US Soldiers, and the Iraqis would have felt we were supporting them instead of against them.

Try speeding through a border checkpoint into the US from Canada or Mexico. See what happens!

You were not there, you have no idea of what happened.... but by all means do not let that stop you.

[Maciek]

the US will have problems to find ppl for iraq police, if they will shot at them

[He219]

It seems like it was a broader incident involving the Jordanian Red Crescent Hospital in Fajullah within the crossfire.

http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20030912/thumb.sge.ena22.120903162003.photo00.default-384x250.jpg

A Jordanian army soldier is positioned atop the heavily damaged Jordanian Red Cescent Hosiptal in Fallujah Friday after an early morning fire fight where U.S. soldiers mistakenly opened fire on a group of Iraqi policemen and at hospital guards in the building, killing eight Iraqis and wounding seven others including a guard at the Jordanian Hospital, witnesses said Friday Sept. 12, 2003 in Falluja, Iraq . It was the deadliest friendly fire incident since the end of major fighting.(AFP/Karim Sahib)


More Here (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030912/wl_nm/iraq_dc_8).

[Maciek]

It seems like US soldiers open fire on all that have gun in hands

[He219]

It seems like US soldiers open fire on all that have gun in hands
An unmarked pickup truck with a mounted RPK in pursuit of gunmen approaches a check-point shortly after midnight, an event that results in a friendly-fire incident lasting 45 minutes to an hour at an adjacent hospital.


Members of the Jordanian armed forces guarding the hospital apparently also opened fire when the Americans began shooting, catching the Iraqi police in a crossfire. After the incident, heavily armed Jordanian security guards were seen examining a bullet-riddled building just inside the walled hospital compound.

"We were in-between firing from all sides," Mohammed said. "We were in the middle."

[Argyll]

Piss poor communications then,I thought the Police were supposed to have US liason officers with them..............again.........whatever happened to the ROE,too many of these incidents to be classed as an accident!!,obviously no lessons were learnt from the previous ones!!...........by either side!!

[Herrmannek]

Wild W-EaST I would say

[Uncle Sam]

OK...I've been deployed to Bosnia and Haiti, and I'll tell you, that when people are trying to kill you...Like dead...You become a little, "jumpy", I should say. Although They are disciplined, they don't wanna die!! Now kinda put yourself in the shoes of a soldier, at a checkpoint, where "bad" Iraqis of the Saddam regime have been traveling, and how do you think you would've reacted?? Remember that most of the U.S. troops over there haven't been in combat before now, so I'm sure they are doing their best. Until you walk a mile in someone elses shoes.....Thanks...

Godspeed to my brother and the 101st deployed in Iraq

[Herrmannek]

I don't blame anyone for what happened. Just situation there looks like in clasic westerns. And good luck for your brother.

And remeber what worying moms always said to their sons fighter pilots before deployment :)
- Be carefull my son and fly slow & low.

[[AFSOC]]

Piss poor communications then,I thought the Police were supposed to have US liason officers with them..............again.........whatever happened to the ROE,too many of these incidents to be classed as an accident!!,obviously no lessons were learnt from the previous ones!!...........by either side!!


EXACTLY

[Fioraon]

Winning hearts and minds?

Is that ment to be funny? Cause I'm still laughing at YOU.

[cut]

Winning hearts and minds?

Is that ment to be funny? Cause I'm still laughing at YOU.

:roll:

[Maciek]

The US must use APC to close the road at the check-point.
Friendly-fire incident lasting 45 minutes ??
Did the iraqi police returned fire????
If the iraqi police do not have US liason officers with them they need to have some equipment to show that they are the police.
The US is training then and equipt them therefore they are rensponsible fore this. Cant the us give them signal rockets or something like that???

[Fargin]

Fioraon: No it's a tragedy

[Seraphim]

The US must use APC to close the road at the check-point.
Friendly-fire incident lasting 45 minutes ??
Did the iraqi police returned fire????
If the iraqi police do not have US liason officers with them they need to have some equipment to show that they are the police.
The US is training then and equipt them therefore they are rensponsible fore this. Cant the us give them signal rockets or something like that???

The Jordanian guards shot back at the US troops, the Iraqi police ended up in a cross fire.

[Sabre]

It couldn't have been a very obvious checkpoint if several vehicles were able to speed through?

Surely Maciek is right and an APC should have been deployed to act as a physical barrier? Or some other roadblock/traffic calmer should have been used. The classic is a barrier jutting out into the road and another further along coming from the other side. Then the traffic have no choice but to slow and execute an 'S'-bend to get through. In that time, it's easy for troops to observe the vehicle or stop it.

If there had been a 'proper' VCP deployed, or a permanent checkpoint, then I would imagine that the criminal would had to have stopped and the Iraqi police would have been aided by the US troops, rather than being killed.

Also, who sited the CP so that the arc of fire would encompass a hospital? That has to be the major error, someone just wasn't thinking there.

:cantbeli: