IRAQ: U.S. TROOPS HAVE FIRED INTO A CROWD OF IRAQI PROTESTERS OUTSIDE THE U.S. HEADQUARTERS
Record ID:
648056
IRAQ: U.S. TROOPS HAVE FIRED INTO A CROWD OF IRAQI PROTESTERS OUTSIDE THE U.S. HEADQUARTERS
- Title: IRAQ: U.S. TROOPS HAVE FIRED INTO A CROWD OF IRAQI PROTESTERS OUTSIDE THE U.S. HEADQUARTERS
- Date: 19th June 2003
- Summary: (W3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JUNE 18, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF DEMONSTRATION BY SACKED MEMBERS OF THE IRAQI MILITARY, SLV DEMONSTRATORS FACING U.S. TROOPS HOLDING RIFLES; SLV DEMONSTRATORS CHASING AFTER BLUE U.N. CAR, BANGING ON IT (3 SHOTS) 0.17 (U3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JUNE 18, 2003) (REUTERS) 3. MV SACKED MEMBERS OF THE IRAQI MILITARY CHANTING DURING DEMONSTRATION; U.S. SOLDIERS FACING DEMONSTRATORS WITH BANNER; SLV DEMONSTRATORS AND U.S. TROOPS CONFRONTING ONE ANOTHER; U.S. SOLDIERS ARRESTING MAN AND WALKING HIM AWAY DOWN THE ROAD (5 SHOTS) 1.14 (W4) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JUNE 18, 2003) (REUTERS) 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIEUTENANT COLONEL RICHARD DOUGLAS SAYING "What occurred was the soldiers took warning shots to say to the crowd to stop throwing the rocks and you can imagine with so many people around and so much traffic in the area, it was a very confusing situation." 1.31 (U4) FALLUJAH, IRAQ (JUNE 18, 2003) (REUTERS) 8. SLV CAR BELONGING TO THE INJURED IRAQI MAN; SLV U.S. TANK NEAR CAR; MV DAMAGED CAR SHOWING LARGE HOLE IN THE DOOR ON THE DRIVER'S SIDE; SCU CAR DOOR WITH HOLE; SCU INTERIOR OF CAR WITH BLOODSTAINED SEAT (5 SHOTS) 1.57 (EU) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JUNE 18, 2003) (REUTERS) 9. MV INTERIOR OF HOSPITAL 2.02 10. MV/SCU CORPSES OF TWO IRAQIS KILLED IN PROTEST LYING IN MORGUE IN MILITARY BODY BAGS (3 SHOTS) 2.27 11. MV U.S. SOLDIER SURROUNDED BY IRAQIS AT MEETING HELD TO DISCUSS WHAT BOTH THE SOLDIERS AND THE CITIZENS CAN DO TO CALM THE SITUATION (3 SHOTS) 2.55 (EU) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JUNE 18, 2003) (REUTERS) 12. SLV U.S. TROOPS AND LOCALS NEAR SITE OF SHOOTING; AV HELICOPTER OVERHEAD (5 SHOTS) 3.22 13. SLV CARS AND OTHER VEHICLES PASSING BY NEAR PETROL STATION; AV HELICOPTER OVERHEAD (2 SHOTS) 3.41 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 4th July 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAGHDAD AND FALLUJAH, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA7U3QG94BWOIC33F36TON430OX
- Story Text: U.S. troops have fired into a crowd of Iraqi protesters
outside the U.S. headquarters in Baghdad, killing two people.
Meanwhile in the restive western town of Fallujah, an
Iraqi man driving his car has been injured when a U.S. soldier
opened fire on him.
And a U.S. soldier was later killed in a drive-by shooting
at a petrol station in Baghdad.
A U.S. soldier fired into a crowd of Iraqi protesters
outside the headquarters of the U.S.-led administration in
Baghdad on Wednesday (June 18, 2003), killing two people.
The shooting occurred when a U.S. military convoy passed
through a crowd led by up to 2,000 former Iraqi soldiers who
were protesting at their having been sacked by the new U.S.
administration.
It was the first time troops are known to have fired on
any of the noisy protests staged in Baghdad in the 10 weeks
since U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein.
U.S. military officers said the soldier had acted in
self-defence after the convoy came under a hail of stones as
it drove through the crowd into the former presidential
compound now housing Iraq's new rulers. The two Iraqis were
injured and later died.
"There is no god but Allah, America is the enemy of
Allah," the crowd chanted in the fierce midday heat.
"What occurred was the soldiers took warning shots to say
to the crowd to stop throwing the rocks and you can imagine
with so many people around and so much traffic in the area, it
was a very confusing situation," Lieutenant Colonel Richard
Douglas said.
A U.S. military statement later said the troops had
responded only after one demonstrator "pulled out a weapon and
began shooting". It said the two men were taken to a 1st
Armoured Division battalion aid station and confirmed dead.
The sacked Iraqi soldiers were disgruntled over losing
their jobs when U.S. administrator Paul Bremer dissolved
Saddam's armed forces last month.
Bremer's drive to destroy the legacy of Saddam's Baathist
rule has laid off up to 400,000 Iraqis who worked in the
now-disbanded armed forces, security services and information
and defence ministries, with no prospect of reintegration.
Before the shooting the demonstrators had beaten passing
United Nations and television vehicles with their shoes and
assaulted a Reuters television crew and other reporters
outside.
Critics say the sweeping policy of sacking the soldiers
fails to distinguish between the hard men who enforced
Saddam's cruel orders, the many who joined the party out of
expediency and some who genuinely believed in its Arab
nationalist ideology.
They say the policy has created a large pool of armed and
resentful unemployed who may turn to crime or to fighting the
U.S.-led occupation, perhaps as part of a Baathist
underground.
U.S. sources said the demonstration was the fourth by
Iraqi soldiers in the past few weeks and that officials had
set up a meeting with some of the protesters for later on
Wednesday.
An Iraqi man was injured when a U.S soldier opened fire on
him as he drove his car in the streets of Falluja on Wednesday
(June 18).
American forces, who started building up a military base
near the town of Fallujah 60 km west of Baghdad earlier this
week, are trying to prevent attacks by Iraqi dissidents who
oppose the U.S presence in their country.
U.S. troops have beefed up their presence in the Iraqi
town which has been the scene of almost daily attacks on
American soldiers there.
Anger against the U.S. presence in some Iraqi provinces,
including the capital Baghdad is growing and the U.S.
administration and its army will have to work hard to rebuild
confidence amongst Iraqis after a relatively easy military
victory.
In a separate incident, a U.S. soldier was killed and
another wounded by gunfire from a car passing the petrol
station they were guarding in central Baghdad. Both soldiers
were from the 1st Armoured Division. Reports two other U.S.
soldiers had been killed in a grenade attack in Baghdad were
still being checked, a U.S. military spokesman said.
At least 41 soldiers have been killed in a spate of
attacks since May 1, when U.S. President George Bush declared
major combat operations over in Iraq. The U.S. military blames
the attacks on guerrillas loyal to Saddam Hussein.
U.S. forces have launched Operation Desert Scorpion, a
mission to hunt for pro-Saddam guerrillas. By late Monday, 156
people had been arrested in Baghdad, where troops seized
scores of weapons, and 215 more in Kirkuk and Saddam's
hometown of Tikrit, U.S. Central Command said.
U.S. troops have struggled to impose order since the war
that toppled Saddam on April 9 and have come under repeated
attack, mostly in Sunni Muslim towns north and west of
Baghdad.
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