BlogWood: MT Archives

Faluja update

Details emerging from Faluja seem to confirm the sniping of Ambulances by American troops, which I first read about here.

The head of mission of a European humanitarian agency with staff in Falluja told BBC News Online that, according to his staff, two of their ambulances had been shot at.

"By who? The probability is by US snipers," he said.

Asked whether these were warning or attacking shots, he said: "One was shot two or three times - a sniper does not shoot an ambulance three times by mistake."

British aid worker Jo Wilding said an ambulance she was in, with flashing lights, siren blaring and "ambulance" written on it in English, was hit as it drove to collect a woman in premature labour.

Ms Wilding is sure the shots came from American troops.

"You can tell the shape of US marine from a mujahideen - even if you can only see a silhouette, the helmet and flak jacket are quite distinctive. Also, we were in a US-controlled part of town," she told BBC News Online.

Iraqi doctor Salam al-Obaidi, a member of the Doctors for Iraq humanitarian society, worked in Falluja for six days during the fighting.

Speaking to BBC News Online, he described seeing colleagues blown up in an ambulance - also clearly marked - travelling in front of him as his team tried to enter a US-controlled area.

"I saw the ambulance disappear - not all of it, but the front of it, the side where the driver and paramedic were," he said.

Some homes were destroyed in the fighting
He said he and two more colleagues were injured in a second explosion. He still does not know the fate of the two people in the first ambulance.

In a separate incident, Dr Obaidi said, a driver and paramedic in an ambulance were shot in a US-controlled area - one in the chest, the other in the eyes.

The injured civilians inside the ambulance bled to death during the next two days as warning shots were fired when the team tried - four times - to return to collect the ambulance, he said.

Meanwhile, the Marines may be attacking Faluja soon, but not until W himself gives the word:

AP reports that the US troops around Najaf have dug in for the long haul. It notes,

' Senior officers say the order to attack Najaf will be made "at the very highest levels of the U.S. government," an indication that President Bush may have the final word on whether soldiers here fight, or keep on waiting. '

Another reason for which the decision must be made by the President is the severe divisions in the US establishment in Iraq. Civil administrator Paul Bremer is said to have vehement and frequent disagreements with Gen. Rick Sanchez of CENTCOM.

There are also rumors that Bush himself made the decision that Fallujah would have to be massively punished for the desecration of the bodies of the US private soldiers of fortune killed there, and that Gen. John Abizaid strongly agreed.

That decision backfired badly from a political point of view, both in Iraq and the region, and the British in particular have signalled hard that it is time for the US to negotiate.

It’s a shame that US soldiers are being used as fodder to avenge the deaths of highly paid mercenaries who were in Iraq by choice.