<h3>Iraqis killed in anti-US protest</h3>
At least 13 Iraqis are reported to have been killed in the town of Falluja when US forces opened fire on demonstrators on Monday night.
There are conflicting reports as to what happened in the town, which lies 50 kilometres (35 miles) west of Baghdad.
A US spokesman said soldiers started shooting after people in the crowd fired on them - but Iraqi witnesses said the protesters were unarmed.
The reports from Falluja came as US Central Command announced that an adviser to Saddam Hussein and former oil minister had been taken into custody.
Amer Mohammed Rasheed is said to have handed himself in on Monday - he is the 14th Baath official whose capture has been announced.
He is married to Dr Rihab Taha - a microbiologist known as Dr Germ - who is believed to have been a senior figure in one of Iraq's biological warfare programmes.

Saddam's birthday
American forces are reported to have entered Falluja for the first time two days ago.
A local Sunni cleric, Kamal Shaker Mahmoud, said the demonstrators were unarmed and had gone to a local school occupied by US forces to ask them to leave, Reuters news agency reports.
"It was a peaceful demonstration. They did not have any weapons. They were asking the Americans to leave the school so they could use it," the cleric is quoted as saying.
Witnesses quoted by the French news agency, AFP, said the demonstrators had been marking Saddam Hussein's birthday when the Americans opened fire.
The report said protesters were carrying portraits of their ousted leader and Iraqi flags when they approached a school manned by US troops.
US Colonel Arnold Bray said American forces had come under fire from the protesters.
Seven people had been killed in the incident, he said.
According to local residents, several children were among the dead.
A Reuters correspondent in the town said mourners chanted "Our soul and our blood we will sacrifice to you martyrs" as burials got under way.

'Dr Germ' link
The latest Iraqi official to be taken into US custody is number 47 on America's list of the 55 most wanted and the six of spades in the deck of cards issued to coalition forces to identify Iraqi leaders.
Mr Rasheed is alleged to have been involved in the production of secret weapons before rising to the post of oil minister in 1995.
The official reason given for his removal from that ministry in January was that he was beyond Iraq's mandatory retirement age of 63.
But reports at the time suggested his sudden departure in the run up to the US-led war could have been connected to the role of his wife.
Dr Taha was believed to have been near the top of a list of biological weapons scientists that UN inspectors wanted to interview.
She is thought to have carried out work at the top-secret biological research lab al-Hakim in the late 1980s on germs that cause botulism poisoning and anthrax infections.
Weapons inspectors who interviewed her in the mid-1990s gave her the nickname Dr Germ.
She is not on the US list of 55 most wanted Iraqis, but American officials are thought to be keen to interview her.

<h6>Source: BBC</h6>

Well when you fire on American soldiers you should be prepared to get return fire.

There have been a number of occasions recently when crowds have opened fire on American troops. What I would like to know is, are the Iraqi people the most inept people in the world at firing guns or are American troops just incredibly lucky?

[ 04-29-2003, 08:31 AM: Message edited by: Donut ]

There were some civilians who were not quite as lucky - kids too I understand.

<font color = lightgreen>This unfortunate type of "we said, they said" is why it is such a good idea to embed journalists with military personnel. That way, at least the incident could be captured on film and substantiate someone's claims. As it is, we have no way of knowing whether the protesters were or were not armed.

No one can deny that there are going to be plenty of Iraqi people who were genuinely supportive of Saddam. These people are going to become troublemakers both for Coalition forces and the next new government in Iraq.</font>

Watch Blackhawk down and you will see people in that area of the world are just really inept. I mean Mogadishu, Iraq, it's all the same. And Americans are lucky. Because we are God's chosen. Quite simple, really.

Amateurish. I hope it turns out that they were unarmed (quite like we won´t find out).

Watch Blackhawk down and you will see people in that area of the world are just really inept. I mean Mogadishu, Iraq, it's all the same. And Americans are lucky. Because we are God's chosen. Quite simple, really. </font>[/QUOTE]Smileys??

Tragic. :(

I wonder if any of the children who were allegedly killed were weilding AK-47s.

I also wonder why the U.S. forces didn't take cover in an armored vehicle and/or fallback in order to de-escalate the situation and determine legitimate targets?

Is shooting back the first and only option, particuarly where civilians and children are concerned?

This is why you do not use the military for policing duties. There first inclination is to use deadly force. Which is completely understandable since they are trained to win via the application of overwelming force.