"Now Everything Is Messed Up" – Killings by U.S. Troops Outrage Iraqis [View All]

[kskiska]

FALLUJAH, Iraq, Sept. 13 -- Hundreds of angry residents sprayed an armory's worth of bullets into the air, brandished rocket-propelled grenade launchers and vowed to initiate a new wave of attacks against American forces during funerals today for eight Iraqi police officers mistakenly killed by U.S. soldiers.

U.S. troops steered clear of this tense Sunni Muslim city along the Euphrates River during the brazen show of force. Police officers and members of a municipal militia, deputized by American commanders to maintain order, joined young boys and middle-aged merchants in firing AK-47 assault rifles to express their outrage at what one officer called "a horrible crime."

This afternoon, about 36 hours after the shooting, the U.S. military issued a statement expressing "deep regret and apologies" for the incident. Fallujah's mayor, Taha Bedawi, said U.S. commanders also offered to make "blood money" compensation payments to the victims' families. But those steps did little to mollify people here, even pro-American city officials, who said Fallujah's already bad relationship with the occupation forces had plummeted to a new low.

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"Even when things were bad before," he said, pointing to several men blasting large-caliber machine guns toward the sky, "you didn't see things like this. Now everything is messed up."


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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6532-2003Sep13.html