MARINES COMBAT HEADQUARTERS, Iraq - U.S. Marines have detained 300 Iraqi civilians in a new campaign to crush pro-Saddam gunmen who are resisting the U.S. occupation of southern Iraq.
Some detained Iraqis could end up imprisoned at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners from Afghanistan have been held.
Marines also are weighing whether to issue weapons captured from Iraqi soldiers to anti-regime civilians to help them defeat Saddam loyalists and protect the U.S. rear guard when American forces move against Baghdad, said Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, commander of all Marines in Iraq.
The roundup of suspect civilians signaled a change in the Pentagon's Rules of Engagement (ROE) for the Iraq campaign, a thick document that drew a sometimes excruciatingly complex line between military and civilian targets.
Signs of resentment against British forces surrounding Basra are bubbling to the surface as Iraq's second city seethes under bombing and shell-fire.
"People see this as an occupation. If the government gives us weapons we will fight the Americans and the British," one local man at a British checkpoint said yesterday.
Contrary to American and British expectations, many of the 1.5 million populationare directing their resentment at the invading forces, rather than the regime of Saddam Hussein. "They came here and they bombed innocent families," one man said.
"The Americans and British fired their weapons at our electricity pylons. They cut off fresh water supplies from near the airport," another man said. "Why?"
Washington Post wrote:"Fire a warning shot," he ordered as the vehicle kept coming. Then, with increasing urgency, he told the platoon to shoot a 7.62mm machine-gun round into its radiator. "Stop around!" Johnson yelled into the company radio network when he still saw no action being taken. Finally, he shouted at the top of his voice, "Stop him, Red 1, stop him!"
That order was immediately followed by the loud reports of 25mm cannon fire from one or more of the platoon's Bradleys. About half a dozen shots were heard in all.
"Cease fire!" Johnson yelled over the radio. Then, as he peered into his binoculars from the intersection on Highway 9, he roared at the platoon leader, "You just killed a family because you didn't fire a warning shot soon enough!"
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"It was the most horrible thing I've ever seen, and I hope I never see it again," Sgt. Mario Manzano, 26, an Army medic with Bravo Company of the division's 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, said later in an interview. He said one of the wounded women sat in the vehicle holding the mangled bodies of two of her children. "She didn't want to get out of the car," he said.
Seven civilians, including three children, were killed by US Marines last night after they opened fire on a truck that refused to stop at a checkpoint south of Baghdad, an American television network reported.
The alleged incident was reported by an ABC News correspondent travelling with a marine unit early this morning.
"Огласку в штабе коалиции получил и случай пятидневной давности, когда трое морских пехотинцев в пригороде Эн-Насирии при ночной зачистке города в одном из домов застрелили хозяина дома, после чего изнасиловали и застрелили его жену. Об этом случае командование отряда узнало через одного из своих осведомителей. После допроса пехотинцев их отправили в Катар для дальнейшего расследования."
http://www.conservator.ru/project/iraq/ ... 0405.shtml
В деле распространения здравых мыслей без того не обойтись, чтобы кто-нибудь паскудой не назвал. (М. Е. Салтыков-Щедрин)
