NYT: Confusion on Deaths After Fighting in Sadr City

[ProSense]

Confusion on Deaths After Fighting in Sadr City

Two men are visited in the hospital after being wounded in a raid in Sadr City Sunday. The American military
said it did not believe there were any civilian deaths as a result of the fighting.

By ALISSA J. RUBIN
Published: October 22, 2007

BAGHDAD, Oct. 21 — American forces on Sunday came under heavy fire in three locations in Sadr City, the Shiite enclave in Baghdad, and returned fire, killing 49 militants, according to an American military official and a military statement about the episode.

Iraqi witnesses said that 17 people had been killed, one of whom was an elderly woman who died of her wounds, and that of 40 people who had been wounded, a number were children. At least four of the wounded children were at Imam Ali Hospital in Sadr City, where family members helped the overtaxed hospital staff and anxiously hovered over the children.

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said in a statement that the American military should avoid using excessive force that ran the risk of harming civilians and that the government would investigate the episode. However, he did not condemn the attack outright. The Iraqi government has given tacit approval for a number of similar American raids on both Sunni Arab and Shiite militants.

In the operation, American soldiers were searching for an Iraqi who is believed to be in charge of a kidnapping ring. “Our objective was to go in and locate one high-value target responsible for an extensive Iranian-backed kidnapping ring,” said the military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the military is still gathering data about the attack.

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US: Raid of Baghdad's Sadr City kills 49

By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer
Mon Oct 22, 4:14 AM ET

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military said its forces killed an estimated 49 militants during a dawn raid to capture an Iranian-linked militia chief in Baghdad's Sadr City enclave, one of the highest tolls for a single operation since President Bush declared an end to active combat in 2003.

Iraqi police and hospital officials, who often overstate casualties, reported only 15 deaths including three children. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said all the dead were civilians.

Al-Dabbagh said on CNN that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, had met with the U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, to protest the action.

Associated Press photos showed the bodies of two toddlers, one with a gouged face, swaddled in blankets on a morgue floor. Their shirts were pulled up, exposing their abdomens, and a diaper showed above the waistband of one boy's shorts. Relatives said the children were killed when helicopter gunfire hit their house as they slept.

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The body of Ali Hamed, who was killed in a raid in Baghdad
by U.S. troops, is prepared to be washed for burial in the
Shiite holy city of Najaf, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south
of Baghdad, Iraq on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007. U.S. ground forces
and attack helicopters killed an estimated 49 militants
during a raid on Baghdad's Sadr City Shiite enclave to capture
a militia chief who lead a kidnapping ring, the military said.
Iraqi officials said at least 13 people were killed, including
women and children. The military said ground forces were unaware
of any civilians killed in the Sadr City strike, and the vast
difference in reported death tolls could not immediately be
reconciled. (AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)

[PDJane]

1. It can't be reconciled.........

because the whole damned action is against civilians. This is a legitimate uprising against an occupying force, and it's all civilians.

[soothsayer]

2. Jeez, that cute little kid. I'm heartsick.