Iraqis Say U.S. Patrol Killed Girl, 8, in Crowd

[sabra]

Source: NY Times

BAGHDAD — An 8-year-old Iraqi girl was killed Saturday and several other civilians were wounded when gunfire from an American military convoy struck a crowd of Shiite pilgrims traveling to the holy city of Karbala, witnesses and Iraqi officials said.

In a statement on Saturday, the American military said that there had been an accidental discharge of a weapon and that it had reports of two people wounded in Diwaniya, the area in central Iraq where the shooting took place. It said it was starting an investigation, but declined to give any details.

The shooting came at a delicate time for American forces in Iraq, after a security agreement between the United States and Iraq set new ground rules that greatly limit American military actions. When American forces are operating outside their bases, the agreement requires them to consult directly with their Iraqi counterparts.

Iraqi officials have said that the Americans violated the agreement twice in recent weeks by attacking Iraqi criminal suspects without consulting Iraqi forces.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/world/middleeast/09iraq.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

1. I really do wish I could believe it was genuinely accidental.

To have even the smallest doubt about it says a lot about a great many things.