- BAGHDAD (AP) ÷ A U.S.
military investigation found no misconduct by U.S. soldiers who earlier
this month killed eight Iraqi policemen and a Jordanian hospital guard
near Fallujah, the U.S. commander in Iraq said Thursday.
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- "The initial findings are that the soldiers acted
within the construct of the military's rules of engagement," Lt.-Gen.
Ricardo Sanchez told reporters.
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- "The initial reports were clear," Sanchez said.
"There was initial fire and it was a 30-second engagement. At the
end of it, the policemen were dead."
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- His remarks contradicted accounts by Iraqi policemen
injured in the Sept. 12 shootout.
-
- Several of them said the incident began as several Iraqi
police vehicles approached a U.S. checkpoint near the Jordanian military
hospital on the outskirts of Fallujah, 50 kilometres west of Baghdad. The
police were chasing a car known to have been involved in highway banditry.
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- The policemen said they begged the American soldiers
to stop shooting, screaming in Arabic and English that they were police.
The Americans kept firing for 30 minutes, the policemen said.
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- Fallujah is in the heart of the dangerous Sunni Triangle,
the region north and west of Baghdad where support for Saddam Hussein runs
deep and attacks on U.S. forces happen daily.
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