US regrets if civilians killed in Baghdad raid

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2007/September/focusoniraq_September201.xml§ion=focusoniraq

BAGHDAD - The US military said on Saturday that it regretted if women and children were killed in an air strike on a Baghdad Sunni neighbourhood but that it had targeted a group of men firing mortars.

Iraqi officials said at least 10 people, including two women and four children, were killed in the air strike early Friday in Baghdad’s southwestern Dora district, a hotbed of Sunni insurgency.

“We targeted men firing mortars,” US military spokesman Major Brad Leighton told AFP.

“Surveillance elements saw the group firing their weapons. We regret when civilians are hurt or killed while coalition forces search to rid Iraq of terrorism.”

[IDemo]

1. "We regret when civilians are hurt or killed while coalition forces search to rid Iraq of terrorism"

And such a statement rolls off the tongues of military or White House spokespersons without even a tinge of genuine regret.

And the outrage and irony of such a statement is lost on much of America.