Friendly fire killing U.S. credibility
BAGHDAD, Iraq – 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 Iraq’s roads. But Iraqi civilians also are getting tangled up in the violence at an alarming rate.
“They’re just cowboys,” an infuriated Abdullah Mohammed said Monday of U.S. troops who killed his brother on 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.
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’d just negotiated her release from insurgents.
Italy paid homage Monday to the slain officer 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 Premier 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 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 spokesman Scott McClellan.
He said the airport road “has been a place where suicide car bombers have launched attacks. … 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.”
That same day, a Bulgarian soldier was shot to death with a machine gun. Bulgarian Defense Minister Nikolai Sviranov 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.”