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Pastimes : My House -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Solon who wrote (6550)	4/1/2003 8:04:40 AM
From: Augustus Gloop	Respond to of 7689

Its a killer (oops no pun) book!

To: Solon who wrote (6550)	4/2/2003 5:52:15 PM
From: Lazarus_Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7689

War's awful tragedies Survivors tell of checkpoint tragedy Couple say 11 children, relatives were shot dead ASSOCIATED PRESS April 2 — Surviving members of a family whose van was fired on by U.S. troops in Iraq said they were traveling toward allied lines because they thought an air-dropped leaflet had advised them to flee for safety. IN A REPORT published Wednesday in the Miami Herald and other Knight Ridder newspapers, Bakhat Hassan said American soldiers had waved his family’s car through a checkpoint as they left their village Monday. But at the next checkpoint, the soldiers fired. “We were thinking these Americans want us to be safe,” Hassan, 35, said through a translator. Hassan, interviewed Tuesday by a Knight Ridder correspondent at the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital near Najaf, said 11 members of his family were killed in the incident — his daughters, ages 2 and 5, his son, 3, his parents, two older brothers, their wives and two nieces, ages 12 and 15. His wife, Lamea, who is nine months pregnant, said she saw her children die. “I saw the heads of my two little girls come off,” said Lamea Hassan, 36. “My girls — I watched their heads come off their bodies. My son is dead.” U.S. officials originally said seven were killed; reporters at the scene placed the death toll at 10. Hassan’s father later died at the Army hospital. A brother who is being treated there may not survive, a doctor said. Another brother, a sister-in-law and a 7-year-old child were released to bury the dead. The soldiers who fired on the family were following orders not to let vehicles approach checkpoints, U.S. officials said. Troops in the area were on edge after an Iraqi army officer posing as a taxi driver killed four soldiers in a suicide attack Saturday. Hours later, at another checkpoint, soldiers shot what turned out to be an unarmed Iraqi who had sped towards them in a pickup truck. The U.S. military later said it was taking steps to create “more separation” at checkpoints in order to avoid such incidents. ‘MISCOMMUNICATION WITH CIVILIANS’ The Hassans said they decided to make the journey after an American helicopter dropped fliers over their farming village that showed a drawing of a family sitting at a table, eating and smiling, with a message written in Arabic. Sgt. 1st Class Stephen Furbush, an Army intelligence analyst, said the message read: “To be safe, stay put.” But Hassan said he and his father thought it just said, “Be safe.” To them, that meant getting away from the helicopters firing rockets and missiles. “A miscommunication with civilians,” said an Army report written Monday night. The family of 17 packed into its 1974 Land Rover. Hassan’s father drove. In his 60s, he wore his best clothes for the trip through the American lines: a pinstriped suit. “To look American,” Hassan said. They planned to go to Karbala. They stopped at an Army checkpoint on the northbound road near Sahara, about 25 miles south of Karbala, and were told to go on, Hassan said. But “the Iraqi family misunderstood” what the soldiers were saying, Furbush said. A few miles later, a Bradley Fighting Vehicle came into view. The family waved as it came closer. The soldiers opened fire. ‘OUR LIVES ARE OVER’ CASUALTY COUNTS Iraq has emphasized civilian casualties by U.S.-led forces in a bid fuel opposition to the war, including organizing a tour for foreign correspondents last week of a Baghdad market it says was hit by a U.S. cruise missile. Iraq’s ambassador to Russia, Abbas Khalaf, said Monday that 589 Iraqi non-combatants had been killed in the war and that 4,500 others had been wounded. There is no way to confirm or disprove the reports. As for military casualties, there are no estimates of Iraqi deaths or wounded. The United States reports 46 fatalities, 38 in combat and 8 accidental, as well as 109 wounded. Britain is said to have lost 27 troops. msnbc.com