Откуда: Санкт-Петербург, Россия (не надо рая, дайте Родину мою)
Немного крови для Буша и Саддама
[re: smotrelkin]
2003/04/02 16:53
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You just killed a family, the officer yelled 02.04.2003 [15:41]
America yesterday stood by the actions of soldiers who shot dead at least seven Iraqi women and children when their vehicle failed to stop at a checkpoint.
At Central Command headquarters in Qatar, Brig Gen Vince Brooks said money would probably be given to relatives of the victims as an expression of regret, but he denied there was any evidence that the troops had violated the rules of engagement.
He went on: "There is increased vigilance because of the tactics that we've seen used throughout the battlefield by the regime and the death squads that are out there.
"We always maintain the inherent right to self-defence. That is the start point for any of our rules of engagement."
Capt Frank Thorp of the US navy, a spokesman for Central Command, said: "The most horrendous thing about this is that it is the result of what is apparently the strategy of the regime - to challenge us at checkpoints - which has caused us to be on our toes and ensure that these are not suicide bombers. The blood of this incident is on the regime of Saddam Hussein."
US troops manning checkpoints are known to have been on edge after the driver of a taxi detonated a car bomb in a suicide attack that killed four soldiers.
The victims died at a vehicle checkpoint near Najaf in the early hours of yesterday when soldiers from the US 3rd Infantry Division opened fire on a four-wheel-drive vehicle which failed to stop. They are reported to have fired into the vehicle's engine before pumping cannon shells into its side.
A Washington Post reporter at the scene disputed the official death total, saying 10 people had been killed, including five children. He also said the American officer in charge of the checkpoint had accused his men of failing to fire warning shots early enough.
"Fire a warning shot," the officer ordered. Then as the vehicle kept coming, he demanded that a round be fired into its radiator. Then, as nothing happened, he shouted into his radio: "Stop [messing] around."
Finally, with the vehicle close to the US troops, the officer ordered: "Stop him, Red One, stop him!" The vehicle was then hit by a dozen 25mm cannon shots from a Bradley infantry fighting vehicle. The captain was then said to have shouted over the radio at a platoon leader: "You just [expletive] killed a family because you didn't fire a warning shot soon enough!"
In the agonised minutes after the incident, several of the US soldiers at the checkpoint said warning shots had been fired but were not heard by the captain and had been ignored by the driver. Sgt Mario Manzano, a 26-year-old medic, said: "It was the most horrible thing I've ever seen, and I hope I never see it again. One woman who survived the gunfire was found holding the bodies of two dead children and refused to leave the vehicle."
He and other medics treated survivors, and a pregnant woman suffering from superficial head wounds was flown by helicopter to an American field hospital. Hours later an unarmed Iraqi driver died in a separate checkpoint shooting involving US marines near Shatra.
The Americans say their men showed "considerable restraint" before opening fire but the recent suicide attack is likely to have resulted in their troops being more willing to open fire. Central Command has not ruled out the possibility that the women and children were being used as human shields.
Despite Gen Brooks's claim that the rules of engagement have not changed, US commanders in the field are understood to have issued instructions that drivers and passengers must be ordered out of their vehicles with their hands raised before being searched. Civilians with hands in their pockets also face being shot if they refuse repeated orders to show them.
Senior coalition commanders are known to be concerned about the possibility that tougher tactics could alienate civilians.
Источник: Neil Tweedie/The Electronic Telegraph
Вот этим и страшна война.Осуждать солдат не буду. Но г -н Буш и Саддам смерть детей на ваших руках. Может раскажите -каково это в кровавой ванне купаться? И как вам -сладко спится -кошмары не мучают? А ребят с блок поста надо менять -не дай бог застреляться
"Мы, бояре, народ работящий! Такая уж наша боярская доля... " /www.politsoccer.com