Iraq Files: Pregnant women and the mentally ill killed for coming too close to checkpoints

[Panaconda]

Video: Iraq files reveal checkpoint deaths
Almost 700 civilians, including pregnant women and the mentally ill, killed for coming too close to checkpoints.
Gregg Carlstrom

October 24, 2010


In September 2007, an Iraqi in a car ventured too close to a US patrol in Baghdad. The soldiers honked their horns; when that didn't cause the car to turn away, one of the gunners fired a warning shot. The bullet - intended to harmlessly hit the pavement - instead hit a bystander.

Gunner fires one warning shot from his M4. The bullet ricochets and hits one local national (9 year old girl). Patrol stops traffic at the intersection.

Andrew Bacevich, a military historian and retired US army colonel, wrote in 2006 that "such mistakes have occurred routinely, with moral and political consequences that have been too long ignored." That assessment is borne out by the leaked reports, which describe almost 14,000 "escalation of force" incidents – the army's euphemism for often-violent altercations that occurred at checkpoints and near patrols.

About 680 civilians were killed in these incidents between 2004 and 2010, with more than 2,000 wounded.

...

http://english.aljazeera.net//secretiraqfiles/2010/10/2010102216241633174.html

[JonLP24]

1. Very interesting article

September '07 1 month after I left and maybe the RoE changed but it was show, shout, shove, and shoot. If you can shove you can also shoot. Show indicates showing your weapon. The article doesn't say the RoE wasn't followed and they probably did follow the rules in most cases. A deaf or mentally ill person may not respond as well to "shout" as an overall healthy individual would.

on edit-I don't remember anything significant about warning shots. You either shoved or shot the person. Then again I wasn't a gunner.

[kgnu_fan]

2. kick

[blindpig]

3. The 'mistake' is insurgent warfare

The 'mistake' is occupying another peoples' country.

It weren't no mistake.

[maryf]

4. K&R