Jittery new U.S. troops in Iraq kill fleeing girl, wound mother, sister

[enough]

As I read this, they shot at them because they were running away. Will this nightmare ever end?

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/8065740.htm

In Iraq, a violent beginning
Posted February 29
Jittery new troops in a volatile region shoot woman, two daughters, killing one.
By Hannah Allam
Philadelphia Inquirer Foreign Staff


KIRKUK, Iraq - Shaha Saleh and four of her daughters were planting peas when they heard the explosion last week near a U.S. military convoy passing through their speck of a village in remote northern farmlands.

Saleh grabbed her daughters by their hands and hair, desperately trying to drag them out of range of American soldiers firing back at faceless attackers. But they did not run fast enough, Saleh said Wednesday from her bed at a hospital in Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad.

The soldiers left one daughter dead, another unable to walk, and their mother with a leg so mangled it had to be severed at the knee. This was the village's introduction to the 25th Infantry Division, based in Hawaii, which arrived in northern Iraq just weeks ago as part of the largest troop rotation in U.S. military history.

Within minutes, the goodwill that previous soldiers had worked a year to earn was destroyed. The freshly arrived troops must start from scratch in the tiny community a few miles from Hawijah, a stronghold of the northern anti-American insurgency.

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[indepat]

1. No, the nightmare will never end

[qanda]

2. Absolutely terrible!

My heart goes out to that poor mother.

[Mari333]

3. I posted this the other day, glad to see it hit the US press

and its true...the kids over there dont know their ass from a hole in the ground..my stepson is over there and he is just a scared kid..they will make stupid mistakes, and the Bu$h administration will NOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS
they ignore it like the plague..all these people dead, these soldiers terrified teenagers with guns from the guard and reserves
all of these lives ruined beyond repair.
bring them home now, stop the slaughter.
http://www.bringthemhomenow.com
http://www.occupationwatch.org

[enough]

6. Mari, sorry I missed your post.

I think of you and your family whenever I read about what's happening in Iraq.

No question the responsibility lies on the ones who put our young troops in this impossible position in this atrocious occupation.

[Leilani]

4. This is tragic

How can we make the case that the Iraqi people are now better off?

And our national guard, never expecting, nor trained to go into this guerrila war occupation.

To the neocons who plotted & hatched this war, these people are all just pawns to be used in their game of global dominance.

[DuctapeFatwa]

5. that's what they're paid to do, that's what a crusade is for

and the US press is paid to call opposition to it an "anti-American insurgency."

[mike1963]

7. "The soldiers perceived [that] the women were a threat,

"The soldiers perceived the women were a threat, based on their evasive action," said Master Sgt. Robert Cargie...

How sick is that?
:grr:

[Skittles]

9. Iraqi people are no longer allowed to behave in a human fashion

because our soldiers aren't allowed to either.

[Broadslidin]

11. Our Common Human Traite: Blood Revenge.

Our U.S. military is trained only in the art of the efficient Kill.
and not becoming bogged down, going through the motions of acting like professionally trained police officers.

And when the victims of blood revenge are secretly returned
to our Homeland in the dark of the night,
we follow the example of our Fearless self anointed
Bush Pontifex Maximus and merrily continue to wander about reinforcing our Narcissism.

Standard and Poors ranks Diebold's common stock as a Buy.

[pansypoo53219]

8. welcome

to the world of being the bad guys.

[Toots]

10. The rotation of troops is deliberately designed so no contact

is established with troops leaving Iraq and new ones arriving there. What the hell kind of logic is that? They said they didn't want the new troops demoralized immediately.