Foreign Policy Blogs

More allegations of abuse against the US military

US soldiers have killed three members of a family in Tikrit, after US officials said that the troops were fired on before entering the house. However, The New York Times is reporting that an AP correspondent quoted a relative as alleging that the US soldiers kicked open the door of the house and began firing with no warning. This is comes on the heels of yesterday's statement from the US that the nine civilians killed in Iskandariyah were in fact not insurgents, but mostly checkpoint guards. The Tikrit area is north of Baghdad, unlike Iskandariyah which is to the south and not the focus of the US insurgent clean-up.

The US is dealing with a string of accusations of abuse lately that are dominating the headlines far more than the political logjam of the country or of the intra-Shi’ite fighting in the south of the country. After the twin bombings in Baghdad, the heat is on for the US to polish their lacklustre campaign in Iraq this year.  Despite US assertions that violence levels and casualties are going down, the headlines suggest something quite different.