[Marxism] Protests in Fallujah and Kut; another US helicopter shot down

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Al-Jazeera

http://www.aljazeerah.info/

US Helicopter Shot Down

Naseer Al-Nahr

Arab News



BAGHDAD, 14 January 2004 ? A US Apache attack helicopter was shot down
yesterday because of hostile fire ? the third aircraft lost this month
in
the volatile region west of Baghdad. Coalition troops killed three
Iraqis in
restive cities outside the capital, relatives and police said.

In Fallujah, also west of the capital, hundreds of Iraqis protested in
the
streets, shouting ³Bush, you coward!² after US troops detained a young
woman
while searching for a Saddam Hussein loyalist. The woman, who
relatives
acknowledged was handled only by female soldiers, was released after
several
hours questioning.

Ukrainian troops opened fire yesterday to disperse a crowd of several
hundred protesters in the southeastern city of Kut demanding jobs. One
man
was killed and two other people, including a woman, were wounded in
the
second straight day of violent protests in the mainly Shiite city.

The AH-64 helicopter gunship from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment
crashed
near the town of Habbaniyah, but the two crew members escaped injury,
military spokesman Col. William Darley said.

³It was apparently downed by enemy fire,² he added.

Following the demonstration in Fallujah, gunmen fired rocket-propelled
grenades at US troops guarding the city hall. The soldiers returned
fire,
killing two people and injuring four, witnesses, police and hospital
staff
said. The dead included a 33-year-old woman shot inside the home of
her
sister, and a 37-year-old motorist whose car crashed in a hail of
gunfire.
The driver¹s brother and father were seriously injured, police Capt.
Taha
Al-Falahi said.

³Our rights are gone and lost. See how beautiful democracy is. They
take the
women away. They kill the youth. We are living in luxury,² said Khalil
Ibrahim at the hospital.

In Baghdad, US troops fired at a car Monday following a roadside
bombing in
which an American soldier was killed. The driver and a 10-year-old boy
were
killed, the boy¹s relative said.

³The Americans have ruined an innocent family, children and women,²
said
Wijdan Abdel Wahab, the boy¹s aunt. ³They didn¹t even bother to look
back at
them after shooting them.² She said the family is fed up with the
situation
and wants to ³leave Iraq because of the Americans and the
(US-installed)
Governing Council.²

Officials of the 1st Armored Division, in charge of security in
Baghdad,
said they were looking into the Monday shooting but said they were
unable to
confirm any of the details.

The report emerged as the US military is investigating another
apparent
shooting of civilians by Americans ? four Iraqis, including a
7-year-old
boy, killed in a taxi near Tikrit on Jan. 3. A battalion commander in
Tikrit, Lt. Col. Steve Russell, said yesterday it was ³likely² the
victims
were killed by coalition forces.

Unrest among the Shiites has grown as their spiritual leader, Grand
Ayatollah Ali Al-Husseini Al-Sistani, has spoken out against a
US-backed
formula for transferring power to the Iraqis.

But the top US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, said Monday the
Nov. 15
pact is ³the best way forward to return sovereignty to the Iraqi
people.²


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