Iraq Says Innocent Victims Unavoidable

[unhappycamper]

Iraq Says Innocent Victims Unavoidable
Associated Press | October 13, 2007


BAGHDAD - Iraq's Shiite-dominated government said the killings of 15 women and children in a U.S. attack on a Sunni area were a "sorrowful matter," but emphasized that civilian deaths are unavoidable in the fight against al-Qaida in Iraq.

The comments Friday by government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh appeared to be tacit approval of Thursday's raid northwest of Baghdad. They suggested the Iraqi government holds the American military to a different standard when it comes to assaults against suspected Sunni insurgents.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government has complained loudly to U.S. military officials when Shiite civilians have been killed in American attacks against Mahdi Army militants, and tensions have been high over recent shootings of Iraqi civilians by private security contractors protecting U.S.-government-funded work.

On Friday, al-Dabbagh said the area targeted by American forces was a known base for insurgents, whom he accused of hiding among civilians.

"The issue of 15 civilian victims is a sorrowful matter, but confronting al-Qaida is an essential and vital issue," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "They shouldn't have any place among the civilians."

"We are in a war against those diabolical and wicked groups; therefore during military operations there might be innocents killed," he added. "The victims are an unavoidable matter in fighting al-Qaida."


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,152619,00.html?wh=wh



uhc comment: It is indeed a "sorrowful matter" when civilians are killed during military operations.

[RC]

1. The first line of the story excuses the Blackwater murders -- NOT!

Cold blooded murder of unarmed civilians is still murder. If those Iraqi men, women and children had been Shiites, we would be hearing a different version of what happened.

Blackwater is home grown and Iraq is a training ground for them and they are getting away with murder. Blackewater has a history of shooting at unarmed civilians. That should scare the hell out of us.