March 31, 2006
Iraq at the 11th Hour
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
The fate of the entire U.S. enterprise in Iraq now hangs in the balance, as the war has entered a dangerous new phase. It is the phase of barbaric identity-card violence between Sunnis and Shiites. ... There is only one hope for halting this slide and that is the formation ... the deployment on the streets — immediately — of massive numbers of troops and police, both Iraqi and American, to prevent more of these tribal killings. ...
<http://select.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/opinion/31friedman.html?hp>
Iraqi girl tells of US attack 8.58PM, Thu Mar 30 2006
A young Iraqi girl has exclusively given ITV News a shocking first hand account of what witnesses claim amounts to mass murder by US troops in the war-torn country.
Ten-year-old Iman Walid lost seven members of her family in an attack by American marines last November. The interview with Iman was filmed exclusively for ITV News by Ali Hamdani,our Iraqi video diarist.
If Iman's story is true - and it has been disputed by the US military - human rights workers say it is the worst massacre of civilians by US troops in the country.
Iman tells of screaming soldiers entering her house in the Iraqi town of Haditha spraying bullets in every direction.
Fifteen people in all were killed, including her parents and grandparents. Her account has been corroborated by other eyewitnesses who say it was a revenge attack after a roadside bomb killed a marine.
US authorities have launched an investigation to determine whether the killings were the result of self defence, crossfire or murder.
Initially, the US marines issued a statement saying that a roadside bomb had killed 15 civilians, while eight insurgents had been killed in a later gunbattle.
US military officials have since confirmed the 15 civilians were actually shot dead.
<http://www.itv.com/news/index_1460729.html>
Carl