[Peace-discuss] what liberation looks like, phase 3

[Ricky Baldwin]

[Related to this story, this morning NPR reported
demonstrations in Nasiriyah of around 4000 people,
angry that they are not being represented in the US
occupation's Iraqi 'stakeholder' meeting.  Apparently
no US troops fired on THAT demonstration, or at least
the reporter didn't mention it. - RB]

At least 10 killed in Mosul shooting, US denies
accusations it is to blame

April 15, 2003

MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) - At least 10 people were shot dead
and scores wounded in the northern Iraqi town of
Mosul, a hospital doctor said, with witnesses claiming
US troops had opened fire on a crowd after it turned
against an American-installed local governor. 
Those charges were denied by a US military spokesman
here, who said troops had come under fire from at
least two gunmen and fired back, without aiming at the
crowd. 
Dr. Ayad al-Ramadhani said at the city hospital that
"there are perhaps 100 wounded and 10 to 12 dead"
following the shooting near the local government
offices in a central square. 

Three witnesses questioned by AFP and casualties who
spoke to hospital staff said US troops had fired on
the crowd, which was becoming increasingly hostile
towards Governor Mashaan al-Juburi as he was making a
pro-US speech. 
An AFP journalist saw a wrecked car in the square and
ambulances ferrying wounded people to hospital, while
a US aircraft flew over the northern city at low
altitude. 
At US Central Command's war headquarters in Qatar,
Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told a press briefing
he had seen no military reports of the incident and
could not confirm it. 

But the military spokesman in Mosul later said "there
were protesters outside, 100 to 150. There was fire.
We returned fire." 

He said the fire came from a roof opposite the
building, about 75 metres (yards) away. 
"We didn't fire at the crowd, but at the top of the
building," the spokesman added. "There were at least
two gunmen. I don't know if they were killed. The
firing was not intensive but sporadic, and lasted up
to two minutes. 

A man who said he was a witness told a different
story. 

"We were at the market place near the government
building, where Juburi was making a speech," said
Marwan Mohammed, 50. "He said everything would be
restored, water, electricity, and that democracy was
the Americans. 

"As for the Americans, they were going through the
crowd with their flag. They placed themselves between
the civilians and the building. 

"The people moved toward the government building, the
children threw stones, the Americans started firing.
Then they prevented the people from recovering the
bodies," he told AFP. 

At the hospital, where angry relatives of the dead and
wounded voiced hatred of Americans and Westerners, a
doctor gave a similar account from patients. 

"Juburi said the people must cooperate with the United
States. The crowd called him a liar, and tempers rose
as he continued to talk. They threw objects at him,
overturned his car which exploded," said Dr. Said
Altah. 

"The wounded said Juburi asked the Americans to fire,"
he said. 

Ayad Hassun, 37, another witness, said the trouble
broke out after the crowd interrupted Juburi's speech
with cries of, "There is no God but God and Mohammed
is his prophet." 

"You are with Saddam's Fedayeen," retorted Juburi, to
which the crowd chanted that "the only democracy is to
make the Americans leave." 

He explained that 20 US soldiers escorted Juburi, an
opposition leader installed as Mosul governor, back
into the building as the situation ran out of control
with the crowd's protests growing louder. 

"They (the soldiers) climbed on top of the building
and first fired at a building near the crowd, with the
glass falling on the civilians. People started to
throw stones, then the Americans fired at them,"
Hassun said. 

"Dozens of people fell," said the witness, whose own
shirt was blood-stained. 
According to a third witness, Abdulrahman Ali, a
49-year-old labourer, the American soldiers opened
fire when they saw the crowd running at the government
building. 
A few hours after the incident, the building was
guarded by US troops as an angry crowd was kept 100
metres (yards) away. 

In an interview Monday, Juburi said a deal with local
Arab tribal chiefs saw most of Saddam Hussein's forces
peacefully put down their arms and disband in Mosul,
which fell to US control last Friday. 

Juburi, head of the Damascus-based Patriotic Iraqi
Party, said he had regularly addressed Mosul's
residents over radio and television before entering
the mostly Arab city with Kurdish forces. 

"Every day, I said I would threaten no one's security,
whether they were a member of the Baath Party,
intelligence, police or supporters of Saddam. Mosul
residents trust my family," he said. 



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