U.S. Helicopter Shot Down in Iraq; Soldiers Kill 2 Civilians
By EDWARD WONG
Published: January 13, 2004
HABBANIYA, Iraq, Jan. 13 - In striking signs that large swaths of Iraq are
still violently opposed to the American occupation a month after Saddam
Hussein's capture, guerrilla fighters apparently shot down an Apache
helicopter here today, while two Iraqi civilians were killed by American
soldiers opening fire during an anti-American protest in a volatile town
east of here, family members and a doctor said.
The two pilots in the helicopter "seem to be alive," said Brig. Gen. Mark
Kimmitt, a spokesman for the United States Army Command, adding that initial
reports showed the helicopter was brought down by hostile fire. The attack
took place about 9:30 a.m. local time near an American military base at Lake
Habbaniya, which lies 50 miles west of Baghdad and is surrounded by dusty
mesas and electric-green patches of farmland.
Like northern parts of the so-called Sunni triangle, this entire area
remains virulently anti-American, as was evidenced by a protest that took
place at noon in front of the city hall in Falluja, 10 miles east of here.
During the protest, Iraqis began shooting, prompting American soldiers to
return fire, killing a nearby woman and a man in a passing car, according to
family members and the dead man's younger brother, who was also in the car.
He and his father were injured when the car rammed into a truck, said Omar
al-Rawi, a doctor at the main hospital in Falluja.
An American military official said commanders of the 82nd Airborne, which
controls the area, had received no reports of any demonstration or related
deaths. He said that a convoy in Falluja was attacked with three
rocket-propelled grenades at midday, and that three Iraqi civilians were
injured in that attack and taken by policemen to the hospital.
Even in the south, where the largely Shiite Muslim population has been more
accepting of American rule, riots continued for a fourth day in Kut over the
lack of jobs. The precariousness of Shiite support for the American-led
forces has been underscored in recent days by unemployment protests in
various southern cities and by a declaration by Grand Ayatollah Ali
al-Sistani, the country's most revered Shiite cleric, opposing the American
blueprint for creating a transitional government by July 1.
All this adds up to a tense situation across Iraq that is keeping allied
soldiers on edge. Since American-led forces invaded Iraq last March, 495
American soldiers have died, 343 of those from hostile incidents, according
to Department of Defense statistics. The number of deaths since May 1, when
President Bush declared that major combat operations had ended, is 357.
General Kimmitt said the average number of daily attacks against coalition
soldiers had fallen to 17, from a high of 50 in mid-November. There were
just over two attacks daily against Iraqi security forces and one a day
against Iraqi civilians, he added.
But several of the attacks on American soldiers have been spectacular,
especially those in this area west of Baghdad, called Al Anbar province. On
Jan. 8, suspected insurgents shot down a Black Hawk helicopter with a rocket
near Falluja, killing all nine soldiers on board. That came just six days
after a Kiowa helicopter was shot down in the area, killing the pilot.
The tense security situation is also underscored by reports from Iraqi
civilians and policemen that American soldiers have killed innocent
civilians.
On Sunday night, soldiers in Humvees shot a family in a car at the site of a
roadside bomb explosion, killing two people and injuring four others, a
police officer and family members said. But General Kimmitt said in an
interview today that initial reports based on soldiers' photographs at the
scene showed that bomb shrapnel was responsible for the deaths and injuries,
and that an investigation was continuing.
The photos showed body parts and heads blown off, he said.
The incident in Falluja today took place after a crowd had gathered in front
of the city hall to protest the detention of a local woman by American
soldiers during a house raid. The woman was quickly released, but that
apparently did not quell the irate crowd.
Naji Abid and his two sons, Mahmoud Naji, 20, and Ahmed Naji, 25, were
driving near city hall in a minivan when American soldiers opened fire,
hitting the car, said Mahmoud Naji.
"All of a sudden there was shooting on our car," Mr. Naji said as he lay
naked in a hospital bed, his face covered with dried blood, his left arm
wrapped in a thick bandage. "I couldn't feel my legs anymore. Then I lost
consciousness."
He said he did not know what had happened to his father or brother.
Dr. Rawi said Ahmed Naji was hit by bullets, though he could not identify
the bullets as ones from American guns.
The father was critically wounded when the car slammed into the rear of a
truck, Dr. Rawi said. He was taken to a hospital in Baghdad and appeared
likely die, the doctor added. Mahmoud Naji suffered a broken left shoulder
and broken left leg.
Dr. Rawi pointed to a gurney in the hospital's lobby that was covered with
blood, supposedly from the body of Ahmed Naji. An angry crowd had gathered
near it.
"They were shooting indiscriminately," said Qais Naji, 35, an older brother
of the victims, who live in the nearby village of Abu Zdera. "They even
killed a woman who was standing on the balcony of her apartment building.
The Americans claimed that some of the mujahedeen attacked them."
Mr. Naji fought back tears, then hugged a man next to him.
Earlier in the day, about two dozen men were seen standing in the middle of
Falluja's main street staring at a blue minivan whose front half was
completely wrecked. It had rammed into a white truck in front of it, and it
was apparently the car Mr. Naji's family had been driving. A thick pool of
blood lay in the street.
People had removed the wreckage and cleaned up the area by dusk.
nytimes.com
--
"From the brief time that we did spend occupying Iraqi territory
after the war, I am certain that had we taken all of Iraq, we would
have been like the dinosaur in the tar pit - we would still be there,
and we, not the United Nations, would be bearing the costs of
the occupation. This is a burden I am sure the beleaguered
American taxpayer would not have been happy to take on."
- Norman Schwarzkopf, from his 1993 autobiography, "It Doesn't
Take a Hero."
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