[Peace-discuss] invade then kill and it is OK?

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

Let's understand this. The U.S. launches an illegal premptive attack by 
invading another sovereign nation in violation of the Law of Land warfare and 
UN guidelines then military personnel set up check points and kill any person 
that ignores their demands to stop traveling on their own road? 

and this is sanctioned killing?   then we expect all Iraqi's  to be our 
friends?

Where is the check point run by a foreign military on University Ave? 

?????


US defends checkpoint killings troops 
American military commanders have defended the right of their soldiers to 
open fire in self-defence. 
They were responding to the deaths of seven Iraqi women and children, who 
were shot in their vehicle by soldiers at a checkpoint. 

Two other Iraqis were wounded when the vehicle they were all travelling in 
was fired on after it reportedly failed to stop at the road block near the 
city of Najaf, south of Baghdad. 


US commanders said they would investigate the incident, but the first 
reaction was to back the troops. 


The soldiers involved "absolutely did the right thing", General Peter Pace, 
vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said. 

"Our soldiers on the ground have an absolute right to defend themselves." 

There are two different versions of what happened. According to coalition 
Central Command, the soldiers first fired warning shots, then aimed at the 
engine, and finally targeted the vehicle itself. 

But the Washington Post quotes a senior officer as telling a subordinate: 
"You killed a family because you didn't fire a warning shot soon enough." 

Key military developments: 

Intelligence reports suggest that Iraq's elite Republican Guard has moved to 
reinforce its two most forward divisions south of the capital Baghdad 

Baghdad remains the focus of US-led bombing, but a BBC correspondent in the 
city says the onslaught has been less intense than on previous days 

British forces say their positions in southern Iraq have come under attack 
from short-range missiles, the first time Iraqi missiles have been aimed at 
targets inside Iraq rather than Kuwait. 


Challenged about the discrepancy between accounts of the checkpoint shooting, 
an American military spokesman put it down to what he called "the fog of 
war". He described it as a tragic incident which he wished had not happened. 


IRAQ CAMPAIGN 


The BBC's Peter Hunt says the jittery nature of troops on the ground has been 
heightened by the deaths of four American soldiers on Saturday in a suicide 
car bomb attack. 

This has been reinforced by a report of US marines killing an Iraqi who drove 
at speed at their checkpoint outside the southern town of Shatra, north of 
Nasiriya, on Tuesday. 

Taken together, our correspondent says, these incidents might hamper efforts 
by the US-led troops to build a relationship of trust with Iraqi civilians 
they encounter, as they could create an impression of a force which shoots 
first and asks questions later. 

Advance on Baghdad 

The ground war moved closer to Baghdad on Monday, with fierce 
street-by-street fighting between US troops and Iraqi units including members 
of the Republican Guard units at Hindiya, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) 
south of the capital. 


HUMAN COST OF WAR 
Iraq: At least 589 civilian deaths, military deaths unknown 
US: 43 dead (including 11 in accidents, 2 under investigation), 17 missing 
UK: 26 dead (including 15 in accidents, 5 to 'friendly fire') 
*Figures from each government 
There was also heavy fighting on Monday between US and Iraqi forces at 
several other locations along the banks of the River Euphrates. The 
Americans' elite 101st Airborne Division attacked Iraqi troops in Najaf. 

The US attacks are believed to be aimed at testing the strength of the units 
dug in on the approaches to Baghdad. 

Republican Guard positions south of Baghdad have been under heavy air and 
artillery attack by coalition forces for some days. 

US commanders claim that significant damage has been done, not just to the 
units themselves, but to their logistics and support apparatus which makes 
them into a unified fighting force. 


Further east, a convoy of 6,000 American marines has now consolidated its 
position, having moved 30 km closer to Baghdad. 

Round-the-clock coalition air attacks on targets in Baghdad continue. 

At least two targets directly associated with the ruling family were struck 
in Baghdad overnight, our correspondents say. 

The Iraqi authorities say 19 people died and more than 100 were injured in 
the overnight raids. 

One was a compound used by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his younger son, 
Qusay, and the other was the Iraqi National Olympic Committee, base of Saddam 
Hussein's other son, Uday. 


HAVE YOUR SAY 
The strategy, if one can call it that, was flawed from the beginning 
Neil, USA 

Meanwhile, US marines have begun a humanitarian initiative for people in the 
southern city of Nasiriya, which has seen fierce fighting. 

Hundreds of people queued for supplies of water, food and medicine. 

British forces encircling the Iraqi second city, Basra, are maintaining the 
pressure on militias loyal to Saddam Hussein. 


Monday saw the British take control of the town of al-Zubayr on the outskirts 
of Basra, while on Tuesday, UK soldiers took 16 people into custody near the 
southern town of Safwan after a raid on five houses which they considered to 
be part of the ruling Baath Party infrastructure in the district. 

Other developments: 


US Secretary of State Colin Powell heads for Ankara and Brussels in the first 
foreign trip by a senior US official since the war began. The trip seems to 
be aimed at mending fences with allies who fell out with Washington over the 
war, the BBC's State Department correspondent Jon Leyne says. 

The Iraqi authorities say two buses carrying American and European "human 
shields" have been attacked by a US warplane on the Baghdad-Amman highway 

The Kuwaiti military says an Iraqi missile fired at Kuwait has been shot down 
by a Patriot anti-missile battery over southern Iraq 

The US Army announces the indefinite suspension of a programme to give 
military training to exiled Iraqi dissidents at a Hungarian airbase 

Saddam Hussein says no members of his close family have fled abroad, after 
the Pentagon says there is evidence that relatives of senior Iraqi officials 
have been trying to leave the country 

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, says 
his organisation is the sole body with legal authority to verify the status 
of any nuclear programme in Iraq; his comments came amid reports that the US 
is setting up its own group to hunt for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction 




Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/2904911.stm

Published: 2003/04/01 11:53:26

© BBC MMIII