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

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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


_______________________________________________

This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from
http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm


_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism