IRAQ: FAMILIES OF PEOPLE DETAINED BY U.S. FORCES PROTEST IN BAGHDAD/ ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT MADE ON LOCAL COUNCILLOR/ IRAQI ARMY SALARIES MAY BE RAISED SAYS U.S. COMMANDER.

Record ID: 647844

  • Title: IRAQ: FAMILIES OF PEOPLE DETAINED BY U.S. FORCES PROTEST IN BAGHDAD/ ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT MADE ON LOCAL COUNCILLOR/ IRAQI ARMY SALARIES MAY BE RAISED SAYS U.S. COMMANDER.
  • Date: 13th December 2003
  • Summary: (W5)BAGHDAD, IRAQ (DECEMBER 13, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. GV/PAN: LIEUTENANT GENERAL RICARDO SANCHEZ, GROUND COMMANDER OF COALITION FORCES IN IRAQ, ENTERING THE NEWS CONFERENCE ROOM 0.08 2. CU: CAMERAMAN FILMING AT THE NEWS CONFERENCE 0.14 3. SOUNDBITE (English) SANCHEZ SAYING: "In terms of why soldiers of the new Iraqi army left, I think most of us have seen the reports that it was due to pay and we're in the process of reviewing the pay scales to determine what needs to be done there to ensure that they have a decent standard of living." 0.38 4. GV: JOURNALISTS ATTENDING THE NEWS CONFERENCE 0.43 5. SOUNDBITE (English) SANCHEZ SAYING: "We don't have a problem at all with the battalion that is in training. That has not been an issue for us up to this point and I believe that our targets for building the new Iraqi army are still valid. We are not seeing a challenge including for the ICDC (Iraqi Civil Defence Corps) either." 1.05 6. GV: SANCHEZ LEAVING THE NEWS CONFERENCE ROOM 1.11 (W5)BAGHDAD, IRAQ (DECEMBER 13, 2003) (REUTERS) 7. MV/PAN/CU: ABBASS AL-MUSAWI, HEAD OF THE LOCAL COUNCIL OF AL-GAZALIYA DISTRICT, LYING IN KADIMIYA HOSPITAL SURROUNDED BY FAMILY MEMBERS AND IRAQI FPS (FACILITIES FORCE PROTECTION) STAFF OUTSIDE ABU GHRAIB PRISON (4 SHOTS) 1.29 (W5)BAGHDAD, IRAQ (DECEMBER 13, 2003) (REUTERS) 8. MV: PROTESTERS STANDING OUTSIDE ABU GHRAIB PRISON WEST OF BAGHDAD, U.S. SOLDIERS PREVENTING THEM FROM GETTING CLOSER (2 SHOTS) 1.45 9. MV/CU: AN IRAQI CHILD HOLDING THE IRAQI FLAG, SHOUTING IN ARABIC: "I want my father". 1.56 10. CU/ZOOM OUT/GV: U.S. SOLDIER AT THE TOP OF A SECURITY TOWER OF ABU GHRAIB PRISON ZOOM OUT TO WOMEN STANDING 2.06 11. MV: A WOMAN WHOSE SON IS IN THE PRISON SHOUTING (Arabic) "That's oppression, oppression, I want my son, I want my son" AND BEATING HER CHEST 2.14 12. GV: MORE OF THE PROTESTERS CARRYING BANNER READING (Arabic) "Where are our detained sons?". 2.20 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 28th December 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAA7PVH16XWWJUSLV0LIO6AWUJA
  • Story Text: The U.S. ground commander of coalition forces in
    Iraq said that salaries of the Iraqi army intended to
    replace former Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein's forces may
    be raised.



    U.S. ground commander Lieutenant General Ricardo
    Sanchez announced on Saturday (December 13) in a news
    conference held at compound of U.S.-led forces in Baghdad
    attacked a day earlier by Iraqi insurgents, that he would
    rethink the pay of the Iraqi army intended to replace
    Saddam Hussein's forces, after a wave of recruits left
    because they thought their salaries were too low.

    "We're in the process of reviewing the pay scales to
    determine what needs to be done there to ensure that they
    have a decent standard of living", Sanchez told reporters
    in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

    Sanchez made his comments after a bomb killed a U.S.

    soldier west of Baghdad, in the latest in a series of
    deadly attacks that boosted domestic pressure on the U.S.

    administration over Iraq and led it to accelerate plans to
    hand power over to Iraqis by the end of June.

    The news conference was held hours after hundreds of
    officers of Saddam Hussein's army demonstrated in front of
    the British headquarters in Basra, demanding payment of
    their salaries.

    Sanchez said he hoped to have a solution on the pay
    issue in the weeks to come, adding: "I believe our targets
    for building the new Iraqi army are still valid."
    Earlier on Saturday, Abbass Al-Musawi, the head of
    Al-Gazaliya district council survived an assassination
    attack.

    Families of people detained by U.S. forces staged a
    protest in front of Abu-Ghraib prison, west of Baghdad.

    The protesters said most of the people were detained
    without explicit charges and were labelled as "suspected
    terrorists".

    Carrying banners calling for the release of the
    detainees, the protesters urged the America and its
    staunchest ally Britain to show respect for human rights.

    A press release by the organisers of the protest
    accused the Coalition forces for having detained thousands
    of Iraqis for months without charging them, without
    allowing them legal counsel and without letting them have
    contact with their families.

    The protesters said that men were often detained on
    the basis of false information and malicious rumours.

    "I want my father, I want my father" a nine years old
    Iraqi child shouted in front the prison where his father is
    allegedly being held.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register