It is common in Iraq for troops to fire at civilians, and both sides are usually at fault.
By Associated Press
Published March 8, 2005
BAGHDAD - They're told every day across Iraq: tragic stories of people dying in hails of gunfire, shattered windshields and car seats covered in blood.
Friendly fire, often at U.S. military checkpoints, is taking a toll on the United States and its allies, as the shooting deaths of an Italian intelligence agent and a Bulgarian soldier highlight the terrifying reality of Iraqi roads. But Iraqi civilians are getting tangled up in the violence as well, at an alarming rate.
"They're just cowboys," an infuriated Abdullah Mohammed said Monday of U.S. troops who killed his brother Feb. 28 in Ramadi. Mohammed said his brother edged too close to an American patrol. "They killed him without any reason, they suddenly shot at his car."
In a country where insurgents strike daily, there's no doubt some of the force is justified.
Weary of suicide car bombers, U.S. military vehicles in Iraq carry signs in Arabic warning civilians to keep a distance or risk "deadly force." Similar warnings are affixed to fortified, tank-manned U.S. checkpoints around the capital.
But despite such warnings, Yarmouk hospital, just one of several large medical facilities in Baghdad, receives several casualties a day from these types of shootings, said Dr. Mohamed Salaheddin.
On Saturday, American soldiers fired on a civilian vehicle in Baghdad, killing a woman and wounding her husband, said Iqbal Sabban, a police officer.
But both sides are often to blame, she said.
"Soldiers carry signs asking people to stay away, but people are sometimes careless," Sabban said. "The Americans are sometimes jittery and open fire at civilians just like that."
While shooting deaths of Iraqi civilians are so common they're rarely reported in the media, deaths of foreigners can grab headlines and increase pressure on America's allies to pull out.
On Friday night, U.S. troops raked a car with gunfire that was carrying Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena to Baghdad's international airport, wounding her and killing an Italian intelligence officer who had just negotiated her release from insurgents.
The Bush administration described the shooting as a "horrific accident" that came after soldiers at a particularly dangerous checkpoint tried to motion to the speeding car to stop, thinking it may have been carrying suicide attackers.
The White House rejected Sgrena's claim that American soldiers gave no warning before they opened fire and that soldiers may have targeted her car because the United States opposes Italy's policy of negotiating with kidnappers.
"It's absurd to make any such suggestion that our men and women in uniform would deliberately target innocent civilians," countered White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
He said the airport road "has been a place where suicide car bombers have launched attacks."
"It's been a place where (former Saddam Hussein) regime elements have fired upon coalition forces. It is a dangerous road and it is a combat zone that our coalition forces are in. Oftentimes, they have to make split-second decisions to protect their own security," McClellan said.
That same day, a Bulgarian soldier was shot to death with a machine gun. Bulgarian Defense Minister Nikolai Svinarov said Monday that coalition forces likely shot the soldier by accident.
Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov summoned the American ambassador, James Pardew, and complained about the lack of coordination among coalition troops. And Svinarov insisted "the coalition partners undertake emergency measures to improve coordination."
In both Bulgaria and Italy, the deaths sparked debate over keeping troops in Iraq. Bulgaria has a 460-member infantry battalion in Iraq; Italy has deployed about 3,000 soldiers.
A U.S. spokesman, Marine Sgt. Salju Thomas, said every incident involving U.S. troops and civilians that has a loss of life or injury will be investigated.
"If there was an actual law of war or rule-of-engagement violation, the service member involved would be prosecuted; it depends of course if it was negligence or premeditated," he said.
Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman, said the rules of engagement at checkpoints in Iraq are built around the concept of "escalation of force." Soldiers are taught to warn a potentially threatening vehicle before shooting at it.
Soldiers who shoot at vehicles are told to try to disable it by hitting the engine block, he said. But routine guard duty can turn into deadly combat with lightning speed, and soldiers often must make split-second decisions.
Venable said the rules are "a guide to help our soldiers bear the responsibility of pulling the trigger or not."
Asked if rules of engagement changed after the Italian agent was killed, Thomas said: "I can't discuss rules of engagement for operational security. But we're constantly evaluating our procedures."
An Interior Ministry official said police have published newspaper ads warning drivers to keep away from convoys and not to pass them. Police tell citizens to turn on hazard lights when approaching checkpoints at night.
Italian officer's funeral
ROME - Italy paid homage Monday to an intelligence officer killed by U.S. fire in Iraq while escorting an ex-hostage to freedom, with a state funeral in a Rome basilica drawing as many as 20,000 mourners - some bringing flowers, some waving flags - and all of the country's top officials.
The killing of Nicola Calipari, 50, fueled anti-American sentiment in a country that was strongly opposed to war in Iraq and prompted Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a staunch supporter of the U.S.-led military campaign, to demand that Washington provide a full explanation of the shooting in Baghdad.
The Santa Maria degli Angeli basilica, which was originally designed by Michelangelo on the ruins of the Baths of Diocletian, and the surrounding piazza were packed with mourners. Berlusconi and U.S. Ambassador Mel Sembler were among dignitaries at the service.
An honor guard slowly carried the casket draped with the tricolor Italian flag into the church. In the front row, Calipari's relatives, including his wife, Rosa, and his children, Silvia, 19, and Filippo, 14, gripped each other's hands and dabbed away tears. Several buried their faces in their hands.
Attacks kill 33
BAGHDAD - Iraqi insurgents set off bombs and fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at military convoys, checkpoints and police patrols in a spate of violence Monday that killed 33 people and wounded dozens.
The terror group al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for much of the bloodshed that killed 15 people Monday in and around Baqubah, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. The assaults included a car bomb, three roadside bombs and small arms attacks on three checkpoints, one of them just south of Baqubah in Muradiyah, said police Col. Mudhafar al-Jubbori. A car bomb also killed 12 people in Balad, southeast of Baqubah.
In Baghdad, gunmen killed two police officers and wounded a third, while two civilians were killed when a roadside bomb targeting a joint U.S.-Iraqi military convoy exploded in the Baghdad neighborhood of Amiriyah.
