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Excessive force cluster bombs { April 1 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,926934,00.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,926934,00.html US troops accused of excess force Steven Morris Tuesday April 1, 2003 The Guardian Correspondents in Iraq have come upon a number of incidents in which the US military, especially the marines, have appeared to act with excessive force. Here are some examples. The bridge at Nassiriya After suffering heavy losses in the southern city of Nassiriya, US marines were ordered to fire at any vehicle which drove at American positions, Sunday Times reporter Mark Franchetti reported. He described how one night "we listened a dozen times as the machine guns opened fire, cutting through cars and trucks like paper". Next morning he said he saw 15 vehicles, including a mini-van and two lorries, riddled with bullet holes. He said he counted 12 dead civilians lying in the road or in nearby ditches. One man's body was still on fire. A girl aged no more than five lay dead in a ditch beside the body of a man who may have been her father. On the bridge an Iraqi civilian lay next to the carcass of a donkey. A father, baby girl and boy had been buried in a shallow grave. Franchetti said the civilians had been trying to leave the town, probably for fear of being killed by US helicopter attacks or heavy artillery. He wrote: "Their mistake had been to flee over a bridge that is crucial to the coalition's supply lines and to run into a group of shell-shocked young American marines with orders to shoot anything that moved." Cluster bombs A surgical assistant at the Saddam hospital in Nassiriya, Mustafa Mohammed Ali, told the Guardian's James Meek that US aircraft had dropped three or four cluster bombs on civilian areas in the city, killing 10 and wounding 200. He said he understood the US forces going straight to Baghdad to get rid of Saddam Hussein, but added: "I don't want forces to come into [this] city. They have an objective, they go straight to the target. There's no room in the hospital because of the wounded." When he saw the bodies of two dead marines, he revealed that he cheered silently. Meek also told the story of a 50-year-old businessman and farmer, Said Yagur, who said marines searched his house and took his son, Nathen, his Kalashnikov rifle and 3m dinars (about £500). The marines argued the money was probably destined for terrorist activities. After protests by the father, who rose up against Saddam Hussein after the last Gulf War and had his house shelled by the dictator's artillery, they let the son go and returned the gun and money. The road to Baghdad Reporters have seen more than a dozen burnt-out buses and trucks and the bodies of at least 60 Iraqi men on the road north of Nassiriya. A photograph carried in the Guardian last week showed a bus which had been attacked by US troops. Bloodstained corpses lay nearby. Reuters journalist Sean Maguire said there were four bodies outside the bus and - according to the marines - 16 more inside. The Americans told him the dead men wore a mix of civilian and military clothing and were in possession of papers "that appeared to identify them as Republican Guard". But Brigadier General John Kelly admitted to Maguire: "We have very little time to decide if a truck or bus is going to be hostile." The reporter described the bullet-ridden bus and the bodies as "evidence of the ruthless efficiency with which lead marine units are clearing the road north of Nassiriya to make way for a military convoy". Exuberance A British officer was alarmed when the American marines who were escorting him through the port of Umm Qasr let loose a volley of rifle fire at a house on the outskirts of town. The officer told Reuters reporter David Fox: "They said they had been sniped out from there a few days ago so they like to give them a warning every now and then. That is something we [the British] would never condone." A US special forces officer said it was sometimes difficult to contain the exuberance of men doing the actual fighting. "You got to realise these guys are single-minded in their training. It's look after yourself and your buddies. How do we know who the enemy is?"

1700 iraqi civilian deaths { May 18 2003 } 36 dead civilians bahgdad bombing { March 27 2003 } 4000 dead civilians one week { March 27 2003 } 50 die market blast Accuses us targeting civilians Baghdad blasts kill 17 civilians { March 27 2003 } Baghdad hospital bombed { April 2 2003 } Baghdad market world cries { March 29 2003 } Baghdad marketplace hit Bathed in blood { April 6 2003 } Bloody checkpoint marines weeping { April 6 2003 } Bombed maternity hospital Boy without arms [jpg] Boy without arms2 [jpg] Chick got in the way { March 29 2003 } Children die checkpoint { April 1 2003 } Cluster bombs liberate children Concern grows for iraqi civilians { April 6 2003 } Counting iraqis dead { March 25 2003 } Cruise missile residential area { March 26 2003 } Denies targeting baghdad marketplace Errant missile hits iran { March 22 2003 } Excessive force cluster bombs { April 1 2003 } Explosions dismemberd iraqis { April 3 2003 } Face of war [jpg] Forces kill 7 woman children High civilian death toll { May 22 2003 } Hilla hospital cluster bombs { April 3 2003 } Hit marketplace 3 26 03 [jpg] Hospitals overwhelmed Humanitarian effort disaster { April 7 2003 } Hundreds reported dead Iran says building hit { March 22 2003 } Iraq shows casualties hospital { April 3 2003 } Iraqi civilian deaths 10 000 Iraqi wounded too high to count Marketplace death us missile { April 2 2003 } Mirror appeal boy without arms Missile strikes baghdad market friday Missile strikes house family { March 25 2003 } Nasiriya bridge slaughter { March 31 2003 } Outrage over damage homes cluster bombs Proof marketplace us missile Rutba hospital bombed { March 31 2003 } Saddam bombs hit homes Slaughter bridge death Target baghdad marketplace Tours hospitals wounded Vegetable market bombed Women children killed highway9 { April 1 2003 } Files Listed: 50

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